Huge thanks to Nerdy J Fics on FanFiction here for reading over this and helping me! I highly recommend you check out her own stories, especially her excellent work on some of the recent Zutara Week prompts.


Toph crept over to the sleeping Zuko and gave him a sight poke. Zuko made an annoyed grunting noise but didn't wake up. Toph grinned as she watched him.

"Sparky," Toph repeated quietly each time as she jabbed in him in the side of the head. On the fourth poke he swatted her hand away and leaned back from her. He gave his eyes a quick rub and looked up at her.

"Toph?" Zuko mumbled groggily, "What are you doing in the Royal Palace?" Toph looked at him weirdly as he blinked a couple more times. "Wait, we're not in the palace?"

"No, you must of fell asleep, although considering the city isn't on lock down they either don't care or know you're safe," Toph told him, sitting down next to him.

"Where's Suki?" Zuko asked, looking around the room for his personal bodyguard.

"In Snoozles' bed, thankfully it seems they've both just fallen asleep," Toph explained, raising an eyebrow at the worry in Zuko's voice.

"Oh okay," Zuko muttered, lightly drumming on the table with his hand. "Apologies, it's odd not having at least one Kyoshi Warrior with me, especially now that we're outside the palace." He picked up his tea and heated it with his firebreath.

"Don't get too dependent on guards, you still need to be able to fight yourself," Toph stated, leaning back and putting her feet on the table.

"Of course, I spend most of my time training, usually I wake up early and will train with Suki or Ty Lee. Other days I have small sparing matches with the soldiers and generals," Zuko said, sipping slowly on tea.

"I guess that's good enough," Toph said with a shrug. "So how's the whole being Fire Lord business treating ya Sparky?"

"I think I've settled into it now, although these trips are taking their toll," Zuko replied, running his hand through his hair. "Having my mother and the rest of my family coming along helps."

"You still have to introduce me to Ursa." Zuko gave a small nod as he finished his tea. "Also, if you hear anything about the Runaway during the festival, just ignore it." Zuko raised his eyebrow at her, but decided it was best if he didn't know.

"I should get back to the palace, they are probably worried about me," Zuko said, standing up and heading for the door. "Tell Suki that she has the next few days off to enjoy the festival with Sokka." Toph bit her lip as he began to head for the stairs.

"Wait up," she called after him and got up. He looked back as the blind girl quickly walked past him and stopped at the end.

"Are you feeling okay Toph?" he asked, looking at her with concern.

"I want to talk," Toph told him, standing impatiently at the entrance of the house. Zuko raised his eye at her. "Hey you owe me, I still haven't got my life changing field trip." Zuko's head dropped, a slight smile on his face as he walked down the stairs and out of the house. A couple of minutes passed with neither saying anything.

"Toph, you said you wanted to talk, so talk," Zuko said, looking at the girl as she pulled softly at her bangs with one hand.

"I'm thinking, give me a second," Toph responded. Zuko was about to say something when Toph stopped and looked at the ground.

"So... you know stuff about guys right?" Toph said nonchalantly.

"I'd like to think I do," Zuko joked, looking down at himself.

"Okay..." Toph said, trailing off. "What about relationships? I know you and Mai were together for a while, sorry to bring it up." Zuko's eyes widened at her quesition.

"Is there a reason you're asking-"

"Just answer the stupid question Sparky!" Toph snapped at him.

"I guess I know a bit about them, I've gone through a few breakups," Zuko said quickly. "What do you want to know about them?" Toph stared at the ground again.

"What... what would you do if you liked someone?" Toph asked. It was Zuko's turn to have trouble finding words.

"If I liked someone?" Zuko repeated. "Well it depends, if their single I guess I'll ask if they want to do something. Compliment them and give them gifts. that type of stuff."

"What if they weren't single?" Toph asked, hiding her face from Zuko ever further. Zuko froze at her question, the events of the party at Gaoling replaying in his head.

"Why would you want to know that?" he managed to croak out. Toph immediately stood up straighter and turned back towards the house.

"Nevermind, good talk. See you tomorrow," Toph said, walking quickly away from him.

"Toph..." Zuko called to her, walking after her. "Toph!" She stopped at the second try and turned back to him, pulling at her bangs again. Zuko spotted the badgermole toy in her other hand and he put the pieces together in his head. "How was your night with Sokka?"

"It was fine, fun," Toph answered curtly. Zuko smiled knowingly as he saw Toph shift the badgermole behind her, out of view from him.

"Is this little talk you wanted to have about Sokka. Do you like him?" Zuko pressed, and Toph gave what she hope was a convincing laugh.

"Oh yeah sure, I'm in love with Snoozles," Toph said through her laugh. "Goodnight." She turned and began to walk away.

"Katara got pretty angry with me after you two left," Zuko said, causing her to stop again. "I mentioned how nice it was that ye went on little dates. Well once Suki was out of the room she exploded on me." Toph looked back at him, running the word date through her mind. "Toph, I grew up with possibly the most dangerous sister the world has ever known, but I still learned a bit about how girls think, before she went insane." Toph was facing him now, with her arms crossed.

"Get to the point," Toph ordered him.

"Alright, you're probably wondering if he likes you in the same way right?" Toph didn't respond, just kept looking at him. "I think he does, in his own little way. He simply hasn't realise it yet." Toph's brow furrowed and she bit her bottom lip.

"Yeah sure he does, that's why he's all over Suki most of the time." Zuko rolled his eyes and bent down to look her in the eye.

"Toph, are you jealous of Suki being with Sokka?" he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. She left out another strained laugh at him.

"You're making a lot of assumptions tonight Sparky," Toph told him, trying her best to smirk at him.

"Toph listen to me for a second," Zuko said, his voice going serious. "You're are growing into a gorgeous young woman and-"

"Whoa, I've already had this conversation with Katara back during the war, I'd rather not hear it again." Zuko's jaw dropped and stared at her.

"I wasn't going to go there. You might be jealous of Suki for whatever reason," Toph was about to protest but he cut her off, "but I'm telling you right now you have no point to be. You're strong, funny and more than capable. There is a reason that I want Kiyi to be like you when she grows up." Toph was still for a couple of moments, until she gave a small nod. "There isn't much you can do about him and Suki being together, It's just the way it is, but if something does happen..." he trailed off, looking off past her to the house. He was about to finish when he looked back at Toph, who was looking at him strangely.

"You okay Sparky?" Toph asked, her eyes narrowing and a grin coming to her face. Zuko frowned at her, not sure what she was getting at. "You like Suki too huh?" Zuko began stuttering, at a loss for words.

"Well she's very attractive yes, but nothing happened between us," he eventually managed to splutter out. He mentally kicked himself as soon as he said it. He let go of Toph's shoulders, who was now staring at him with her mouth wide open.

"No way!" Toph exclaimed, covering her mouth. "What was it, all those long nights spent alone, away from her boyfriend?" Zuko glared at the smirking girl.

"No of course not!" Zuko yelled, then immediately went quiet. "We kissed okay. Well it was more like I kissed her..." The rest of Zuko's face had gone as red as his scar. Toph raised an eyebrow at his last comment. "I was drunk okay," he hissed. "It was a mistake, a stupid thing to do. Don't tell anyone about this, not even Suki." Toph exaggerated her movements as she thought, pursing her lips and tapping her chin.

"You won't tell anyone, especially Sokka about what I talked about with you, understood?" Toph told him, and he quickly nodded. "Alright fine, I won't say a word of what you said." Zuko breathed a sigh of relief and straightened up. He felt Toph's fist connect with his upper arm.

"Thanks for talking to me," Toph said, turning and walking away. "Goodnight Zuko."

"Goodnight Toph," Zuko called out to her. He couldn't help but smile as he watched the young girl walk away. Toph sneaked back into the house and up to her room, careful not to wake any of her friends. She stripped out of her clothes and climbed into bed. She placed the badgermole next to her pillow and began tracing the outline of her bracelet, thinking about what Zuko had said. She eventually drifted to sleep, her hand still resting on her bracelet.


I hope you all enjoyed this part of the story. Tokka is pretty much my favourite pairing, and I thought it was time I did a proper story based on them. Once more if you wish to see the full story of what happened between Zuko and Suki, check out The Gaoling Party on my profile.

Now we get on to the Zuko and Suki part of the story, if you'd rather just continue with the Tokka arc, then take a look at Three's Company.

I would love to hear what you thought of the story so far. I'm planning on continuing this to have a more Zuko and Suki moment during the festival. They'll be having their own little date, might take time to think of the story. Stay tuned!

Big thanks to Campside on DeviantArt for allowing me to use his excellent drawing for the cover photo.