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Chapter 2

Not So Relaxing Day

It was simply a day for lounging around doing nothing in the most comfortable clothes. A mid-drift tank top and khaki shorts to be specific. The summertime sun was the perfect addition to Toph's comfort. She could feel its rays warming her skin through the living room windows as the day slowly dragged on. She half listened to the world around her as everyone moved about the house and just let her mind wander to where ever it felt like.

Ty Lee was in the kitchen talking up a storm as Dwight prepared the day's lunch for everyone. She was doing all of the talking, but Dwight did not seem to mind. Azula and Mai were sitting at the table discussing something and apparently eavesdropping on Ty Lee's one sided conversation while they were at it. Sokka and Suki had been outside in the water all day so far and were not showing any signs of coming in anytime soon without Dwight's lunch being involved. That just left Twinkle Toes.

Twinkle Toes had been moving around the house all day. From upstairs to downstairs and one side of the house to the other. Toph had no idea what he was doing, but it was starting to distract her from the nothing she was trying to get done. On his next pass by the couch, she poked him with an outstretched foot to get his attention.

"This is what summer vacation was invented for," Toph explained from her place on the couch. She stretched out with a lazy yawn before allowing all of her limbs to go limp and flop on the cushions.

"Comfortable?" Aang asked. Toph could hear his smile in his voice and it was just as contagious as usual.

"Could go for some music," she said. "Maybe some company. Other than that I'm good."

"Is that your idea of a subtle hint?" Aang grinned.

"Come on, Twinkle Toes," she sighed. It was pretty pointless of him to pretend he was not going to do it. "I haven't heard your flute in forever."

"Okay, okay," he laughed. "Just let me go and get it."

Aang left for his room and returned not long after, already playing the music Toph so loved to hear. With a content smile on her face she curled her legs up and invited him to join her on the couch. The melody had a faster tempo than what Twinkle Toes usually played, but it was still just as enjoyable as always. The only downside was that this upbeat music was making Toph want to get up and move around whereas what she really wanted to do was lay there like a vegetable. Just as she was about to say something, the music abruptly stopped.

"Ever think about the future?" Twinkle Toes suddenly asked.

"What brought that on?" she asked as she sat up. Clearly he was not going to relax anytime soon. Or let her for that matter.

"I dunno. Maybe it's cause this is gonna be our last year of high school. Ever think about what you're gonna do after?"

"Whatever I want," she answered flatly.

"So what do you want to do? Anything specific?"

"Not really," Toph shrugged. "I know there's gonna be a very long and loud 'talk' with Dad about Bei Fong Industries though. I am not going to spend my life in an office."

"Yeah," Aang laughed. "I can't picture you as the CEO type."

"What about you? You've obviously been thinking about this. Any idea?"

"I'm not sure," Twinkle Toes replied. "I think I'd like to work with kids. Like at an orphanage or help center or something. Somewhere that I can really help them, you know?"

"I don't know if that's such a great idea," Toph teased. "Kids really shouldn't be taken care of by people less mature than themselves."

"This coming from the girl who threw a hissy fit about who was going to stay in what rooms when we got here."

"I don't get why you're complaining, Twinkle Toes. You and Sokka got the master bedroom, didn't you? Dwight got stuck on the couch."

"Sokka and Suki should have gotten the master bedroom," Aang said.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told her. If I don't get my man, she don't get hers."

"And that's not childish at all," Aang said with a sarcastic smile.

"Don't make me hurt you, Baldy."

"Wow. You just love proving my point, don't you?"

"You're toe is barely hanging on to that edge, Twinkle Toes," she warned with an evil grin.

Toph did not even get a chance to react before Aang launched a tortuous preemptive strike. He took hold of both of her ankles and pulled her feet towards him. He wrapped her ankles up in one arm and pinned them to his side to prevent escape, then he did it. He started tickling her feet! Toph squirmed and tried to kick her feet free, but Aang's arm was as tight as a vice around her legs. That and her laughing was taking away a lot of the usual "oomph" she had.

"What's the matter, Toph?" Aang asked innocently.

"I'm - ha ha ha – gonna - ha ha – kill you!" she replied through her laughter.

"Why? It's not like you're mad or anything. If you were mad, you wouldn't be laughing now would you?"

"I'm not laughing!" she laughed louder.

Just when she thought she could not take anymore, the feeling on Toph's feet changed. There was a firm pressure being applied to the ball of her foot. A tingling sensation of the sweetest kind of ecstasy engulfed her senses as Aang began massaging her feet. It sent a shiver up her spine that made her shudder in delight.

"Like that?" Aang whispered almost seductively.

A soft moan of pleasure was all Toph was able to reply with. Hearing that sound escape her own lips caused a rush of heat to flow into her cheeks. Gently, Aang rose her foot off of the couch. Very tenderly he placed a soft kiss on the sole of her foot. It tickled slightly and coaxed a smile out of her. Next he kissed her toes. Then the top of her foot. She cooed as her sightless eyes instinctively closed. Next was her ankle as he hand continued to caress her foot. Then a kiss was placed on her shin and both of his hands followed closely behind.

Toph could easily see the pattern that was forming here. She felt her heart beginning to race as Aang's burning touch trailed up her leg and he kissed her thigh. His hands traced a trail all the way to her hips next before his lips skipped up to her exposed stomach. That sort of tickled too, but more so it filled her stomach with butterflies. Butterflies that quickly turned into a whirling tornado as one of his hands rested upon it.

She waited for him to continue, but that was as far as his kisses went. She felt his head lay down upon her chest where her heart pounded. She felt the weight press into her, but it was not uncomfortable. She felt the rise and fall of his breathing and slowly her breaths came to match his, as did her heartbeat. Without even thinking about it her hand began to stroke his head and neck as the two of them lay there wrapped up in each other.

"I'm not even going to pretend to know what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone years from now," Aang said. "But as long as you're in my future, I'm pretty sure I'll be happy."

"Pretty sure?" Toph asked.

"Well, you can be mean sometimes." Toph pulled on his ear playfully. "Ow! See? Mean."

"I don't know why I put up with you," she sighed with a smile.

"You just like me for my looks," he replied as they both laughed. "And you were right. This is exactly what summer vacation was invented for."

Twinkle Toes' little shower of affection was great and all, but the goof ball had gotten her thinking. One thing she did not want to do at the moment. What was she going to do after she finished high school? She was going to have all of the freedom she could ever want at that point, but what would she do with it? College? It did not seem likely, but there were still some things she would like to know more about. Then again, there was nothing she wanted to know more about that she could not just go and learn in person rather than some stuffy college classroom.

While pondering this, the realization that Aang had fallen asleep on top of her came to Toph's attention. If she had not been annoyed with him before, she definitely was now. He got to relax after making her head spin and on top of that he had her thinking of the future. Not fair at all. She was tempted to smack him one to wake him up, or maybe nudge him right off the couch. Rather than doing either of these things however, she settled with sneaking her way out from under him. The task would not have been so difficult if she had not enjoyed the situation so much.

"If you're going to make out, at least have the common courtesy to take it to your room," Azula said as Toph sat down at the table.

"Instead of being jealous, you could just drag Dwight to your bedroom," Toph countered.

"I heard my name and someone's bedroom," Dwight said as he popped his head out of the kitchen hoping to get a laugh.

"Whatever your perverted little mind is thinking, you had better stop now," Azula warned. "You're lucky you can still walk after this morning."

"Do I wanna know?" Toph asked.

"Azula came downstairs for breakfast," Mai explained. "I don't think he was expecting anyone to be up as early as she is."

"It's not like I was doing anything indecent," Dwight said.

"You were walking around in your underwear!" Azula growled. "Show some decency!"

"I was showing decency," he defended. "I usually don't--"

"If that sentence is going to end the way I think it is, I don't wanna hear it," Toph said.

"I second that," Mai added.

"Talk and be castrated."

"Such a lovely bunch of women," Dwight said as he returned to the kitchen.

"So what do you want anyway?" Azula asked, returning her attention to Toph. "You don't usually come looking for my company."

"Who said I was looking for your company?"

"Ty Lee and the idiot are only a few steps away and you decide to sit here with us instead. I highly doubt you're looking for conversation with Mai."

Azula saw straight through her, as usual. She was so infuriating. Not just because she was right almost all the time, but because of the smugness in her voice and walk that she always put out there. Unfortunately she was also someone Toph could trust not to bother sugarcoating anything just to spare her feelings.

"What do you think I'd be good at?"

"Excuse me?"

"Just tell me," Toph sighed.

"Why the sudden interest? Panicking now that you realize you have no plans for yourself?"

"Not really. It's just that you and Sokka both have your futures more or less figured out, and of course Suki's got a full time gig keeping Sokka under control. Katara's busy trying to make her dream a reality while Zuko's working his way into being a cop. Even Aang's got a pretty good idea of what he wants to do. That just leaves me and Ty Lee that don't really know what they want to do yet."

"I see," Azula said. "You're afraid of being left behind."

"I'm not afraid," Toph replied. "I just don't want to be standing still while everyone else is moving forward. So what do you think I'd be good at?"

"What does it matter what you're good at? Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you'd want to do it for a living. Take me for example. I excel at everything I do, but that doesn't mean I like doing everything."

"Your humility could use some work," Mai pointed out. "Why worry about it anyway? You've got money. You can afford to take your time and figure out what you want to do."

"That's not good enough," Toph said.

"I don't even know why you're looking for an answer to your question here," Azula sighed. "If you want an answer go and find it yourself instead of trying to get someone else to give you one. I can tell you one thing though."

"And what's that?"

"You should resign your captain position in that club. I've been wondering for a while now why you would even take on that role."

"Why is that?"

"It doesn't suit you, that's why. You're not reliable enough to be in charge for one thing. On top of that, the responsibility holds you back. A good comparison is that you would do better on the front lines rather than calling the shots. The more responsibility you're given, the less freedom you have. You're someone who craves freedom like a desert vagabond craves water."

This was very true. As usual, Azula was right whether Toph wanted to admit it or not. She kind of liked getting to boss everyone around, but at the same time she had enjoyed the club so much more when the twins Qiang and Rou had been responsible for everything. She did not want to have to think and look out for everyone else. That was fairly obvious when she practically dumped the club members at the suggestion of teaming up with her friends in the tournament.

"Food for thought," she said as she stood up. "Thanks, Princess. Once in a while you're kind of helpful."

"Don't get used to it."

Sure she did not figure much out. She still had no idea what she wanted to do or even what she would really be capable of doing out in the real world, but Toph felt a little more comfortable with that now. She had always known she was not really meant for the role of leader. She was more the type to look out for people she cared about rather than lead them. There was one person she did not mind ordering around as though she were in charge of him though.

"Wake up, Twinkle Toes," she ordered.

"What's up, Toph?" he mumbled, still half asleep. "Lunch ready yet?"

"Not yet. But in the meantime you can give me another foot rub to make up for ruining my relaxing day."

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the Taang-y goodness I threw in there! I feel so embarrassed when I write that kind of stuff. That's another reason I won't be doing full on lemons in any of my fics by the way. Reviews please!