007: Taste
One would think that it would be louder to slam a door shut rather than open one. In most cases this is true, but as Sokka threw open the door that evening, Toph was only reminded of how backwards that man was.
She turned her head towards the direction of the door, where Sokka was now removing his boots and singing loudly and off-key. A wince brought itself to her face accompanied by some snickering as he appeared in the door.
"Toph! What are you doing home so early? I thought classes weren't over for a while." The warrior exclaimed in surprise as he entered the kitchen of their small home. Lately Toph had been teaching Earthbending classes while they stayed on Kyoshi Island. Pretty much every member of the Gaang traveled most of the time (and often together), but they owned small houses in several places so they could be more comfortable about it. They all had houses on Kyoshi Island, however, as it was such a nice peaceful place to stay and so that they could all be together still.
"I came home early just so I could hear your amazing singing," Toph responded dryly. Sokka looked cheered for a moment before he caught on to the sarcasm in her voice.
"Hey-"
"I let them out early for the festival tonight." She cut in, truthfully this time. "And since I'd be home, too, I thought maybe I'd try baking something for it."
Dead silence met this announcement. Sokka gave a nervous gulp.
"B-bake something? Really? Why would you do that?" He spoke slowly and looked wary, as if preparing himself to jump away from any incoming Earthbending strikes in retaliation. Toph merely glared towards him before turning to the stove.
"I know, I know, I don't do the whole cooking thing. Or other 'wifey' things," She said the word "wifey" like it was toxic, and seemed to have made the word up on the spot. "But we're supposed to bring something. I was going to just make you cook, but I didn't think you'd be home in time." Sokka had been taking advantage of their staying on an island to fish to bring in some extra money, and he was lucky, because she was perfectly capable of "making" him do anything, with her strength bending, and… other things.
His wary looked never leaving, Sokka quickly went through several outcomes in his mind. Either the entire festival died of food poisoning, or they all got sick and banished them from the island. Or maybe they'd start a food fight with whatever she had made, and-
"I know what you're thinking, so stop it!"
"Do not!"
"Do too! Come on, just try it!" She sounded impatient, and almost eager. Sokka took a deep breath. Maybe if he ate it all now he could spare the rest of the island. Yes, that's it. He would have to take one for the team. He marched towards the table with a resigned look on his face that went unnoticed by his blind wife, who slammed a plate down in front of him.
It… Almost resembled some sort of fruit pie. It was… blue… But it had crust! And…
Oh, who was he kidding? He was NOT going to be able to do this! He made to scramble out of the chair, but a strong grip kept him in place.
"You're going to eat this and you're going to like it." Toph stated simply, an almost evil grin on her face, her grip never leaving his shoulder.
"…Ouch."
With a trembling hand he reached for the atrocious-looking thing, putting it in his mouth like it was going to be the last thing he ever tasted. It was a few long, heart-pounding seconds before he spoke.
"Wow, you know, that was actually pretty good!""Really?" The eager sound was back in her voice as she replied.
"Yeah, amazing!"
"You can have more, if you want. Screw the festival, we're hungry."
As Toph went back towards the tray of "food", Sokka spit out what was in his mouth, cursing his horrible luck at the same time he thanked his wife's being too excited to realize just how badly he was lying.
AN: This one's really short and bad, and Toph is seriously out of character, but i'm just trying to get back into the groove of things. I can imagine Toph being a REALLY bad cook, but still wanting to do it just to prove she was better than those "wifey" types. She was so hopeful/eager that Sokka would say it was good that she didn't notice his lying- OR MAYBE she did, and is planning revenge for later? Next one will be better, I promise!