A/N: Important author's note at the end of this chapter (since I owe you all an explanation). But hopefully this chapter and news on future updates will make up for the absence? (Probably not but I can try).
OOO
Chapter 12
Similarity
OOO
Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!
Aang reached out and yanked on a curtain hanging over the awning of a booth selling fabric so that it floated backwards and flew right into the face of a very large, very fast, and very, very angry baker who was dead set on making sure that he left Gaoling today with Aang's hands as trophies to hang in his living room tonight. The diversion Aang created only bought the boy a few seconds before he looked back to see a pair of meaty hands quickly pull the cloth out of the way.
The teen cursed and turned a quick corner, maneuvering through a narrow side street filled with crates and old, broken carts that were abandoned and left to collect dust. The baker, however, just as easily passed through the labyrinth of wood and was doing an excellent job at keeping up with the speedy street boy. Aang emerged from the street, looked back and forth, and bolted left.
He wasn't paying attention when he grabbed all those biscuits and rolls. He honestly thought that the man was selling these things by himself. While he was occupied with a customer Aang—hiding behind the booth—reached across and start filching as many things he could fit into his coat pockets. Unfortunately, the man had a young assistant that had just come back to the booth and caught Aang red handed. The baker's face turned a mix between bright red and mottled purple as he sprinted after Aang in complete anger.
It was justifiable. Aang pulled a jerk move today. He was carrying at least five silver pieces worth of food. That meant he needed to be more careful and he wasn't. Miscalculation. Just perfect.
Shit, Aang inwardly cursed. This was not part of the plan when he came out to get some dinner. Now, he was going to be late.
As if some higher being suddenly opened its eyes and realized just how damn inconvenient this chase was, Aang turned another corner and was met face to face with a tall wall that was separating the residential twists and turns from the north side of the main avenue.
Aang pulled the bread from his arms and tied it as securely as he could while still running. He flung the load clear over the wall, jumped up, planted his foot well into the stone of the wall, and scaled up to the top as quickly as he could. Not two seconds after both his feet touched the top, he heard the thud of the man colliding with the wall and trying to catch up with the thief. Aang didn't look back to check if he had made it over after all.
The bread was scooped up as Aang started running through the main streets of the city, making confusing and sharp turns to make sure that he would lose the baker in case he decided to follow. Luckily, after about two minutes, Aang finally looked behind him and saw no large men trying to chase after him.
Aang slowed to a job and doubled over with his hands on his knees, trying to gulp in enough oxygen and catch his breath. "Crap, that was close," Aang muttered to himself out loud. He had to admit, he hadn't been chased for that long in a while, and he was kind of getting scared that he wouldn't get away with that steal. But so far the coast was clear, and Aang could enjoy a quick meal on the way to his destination.
He turned around and looked over his shoulder, realizing with a sigh that he would have to do a bit of backtracking to get back to the main square in time. With a wary look back towards the wall, Aang ignored the cursing of the baker and started walking the long way back to the center of the city.
If he was being completely honest with himself, Aang really had very little natural talent when it came to entertaining girls in any matter. Let alone that he could probably spin a great many pretty words and also find gifts that would no doubt leave most starry eyed for days, there was something so damn awkward about hanging around a girl all the time. However, it never felt necessary until now, given the recent development with Toph, and it didn't feel nearly as romantic or oversaturated as it normally felt with all the other girls he'd even fancied.
There was just something niggling in the back of his brain and keeping him awake for a couple of nights at the thought of her finding that note that filled him with a double dose of fear as well as a sense of completion. Half of it had to do with the guilt of being so horrid to her when she was only trying to help—despite how hard he tried in the moment to show that he was being stupid and that he really appreciated her—and the other half was simply due to an unnamed feeling that was pushing him to not let this tentative bond fizzle out and die before it even got the chance to get itself off the ground. He was still trying to figure out what that meant, exactly, but at the very least this would be a good chance to show Toph that he wasn't ungrateful. What this wound up making them afterwards was beyond him. He was banking on "friends" for now, but even that thought had his heart jumping like he wanted more.
Aang shook his head to dispel the thoughts, bit off a large piece of bread, and started chewing on it thoughtfully. He raised a brow at the flavor—he didn't know bread could have a spice to it…was it from another country?—and looked around for something to wash it down with. Conveniently enough, he saw a small establishment with a wooden bar table as its only form of seating, and a tray of cups filled with water that looked like they were about to be given out to the few patrons sitting there. With a practiced ease and slight of hand, Aang discreetly took a cup and slipped it underneath his coat without slowing his step. The owner looked preoccupied with his customers and didn't seem to see anything, and yes Aang was sure there were no other mysterious employees to catch him this time.
He was about to lift the cup to his lips and take a large drink before an arm reached over his shoulder and plucked the cup from his hands before he could blink or say anything in protest. He turned around quickly, prepared to push the offender away from him and make a run for it, but instead he was met with a pair of bright green eyes filled with mirth staring at him with mild reproach. He blinked for a moment, not expecting her to sneak up behind him and scare him like that, but she looked amused more than anything else
"I saw that," Toph smirked, holding the cup away from him while he blinked in her direction, trying to figure out how he had not noticed her presence. "I have to admit, you almost make it look easy."
Aang grumbled under his breath. "You should have seen me like ten minutes ago. Then you can come back to me and talk about how 'easy' it is." He furrowed his brows for a moment, looked back at Toph and questioned, "Wait, how did you—?"
Toph pulled out a familiar piece of parchment from her pocket, and Aang immediately felt heat rush into his cheeks once he realized that it was the note that he had left her a couple of days ago in the books she was picking up from the tea shop. She held it in between her middle and index fingers, waving it around like an incriminating piece of evidence while she smiled at his embarrassment.
"This was your doing, wasn't it?" she teased. "The main square of the city, right after sundown. You're late, by the way. So I wandered around looking for you. You popped out from behind a building and I saw you stealing a drink," she laughed, looking into the cup in her hands and sniffing what was inside.
Aang scowled through his embarrassment and hoped his exasperation would cover up the blush. "Look, I'm not that bad," he said, frowning at the action.
Toph laughed and handed the drink of water back to him. "I was just making sure," she smirked deviously. "I never know with you."
Nerves got the better of him, and Aang scratched the back of his head out of a nervous habit. "Come on, lay off. It's way too early for that," he said trying to avoid eye contact with her. He frowned in frustration, took a large bite of his bread, and guzzled down the water before she took it away from him again.
Toph started walking back in the direction of the square and looked back over her shoulder at him. "Where did you get the bread?"
Aang rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny," he scowled.
"Ah, I see," Toph nodded. "This was that 'ten minutes ago' ordeal? What fun."
"You have no idea," Aang continued. "It's the highlight of my day."
Toph raised a brow. "And I thought I was heavy with the sarcasm."
"Well, when you hang out with the right people, the sarcasm kind of comes automatically," he shrugged.
Toph chuckled and nodded as she stuck her hands in her pockets. "Tell me about it."
Aang jogged in front of her until he was carefully walking backwards in time with her steps. She rolled her eyes at him, smiled, and asked, "So, can I know what I'm doing here?"
"Hm?" Aang mumbled through another mouthful of dinner.
"Why the meeting?" she questioned seriously. She crossed her arms and looked away from him. "I mean, I don't really care or anything but…"
Aang really didn't have an answer to that if he was being honest with himself. It was a rather rash and out of character move for him now that he thought about, and his rambling thoughts about the matter weren't very helpful now that he thought about it. He wasn't sure what he wanted and wasn't sure what he wanted to come out of this meeting of his that had no structure whatsoever. He shrugged and answered, "I just wanted to meet up with you again," he answered simply, hoping that an honest yet vague response would be enough to placate her. "We got interrupted before, and things felt weird."
"I mean, they were already weird before," she muttered. She reached out and nudged Aang to the right when she saw he was about to run into a woman carrying a basket filled with food. He stumbled slightly, smiled at her, and turned right around to walk next to her. She shook her head and grinned. "Can't exactly call those circumstances ideal, can you?"
Aang shivered in his coat and pulled the collar up around his neck. "No, I guess not," he chuckled. "But still. It's the principle of the matter. Better out here than in there, am I right?" he asked with a knowing smile, referring to the fact that he knew exactly how much she hated staying at home.
She tapped her chin for a moment and looked at him from the side. "I'll let you know by the end of today."
He smiled at the joke, but immediately sobered up when he realized that what he said didn't quite hit the nail on the head. Aang reached across and grabbed Toph's arm, his fingers closing snugly over the sleeve of her coat. She turned her attention to him suddenly and stared at him strangely, her green eyes sharpening with worry and confusion. Their walk slowed down slightly as Aang held her gaze.
"I mean it," he repeated carefully. "This isn't just me thanking you, I…" Aang stopped and breathed out, collecting his thoughts and his nerve. "I just thought we could stop skirting around each other and just…you know…"
"Act normal?" Toph finished for him.
"I guess that's one way to put it," Aang assented. He figured that overthinking it and talking about it too much would make this whole outing seem rather uncomfortable. He was happy enough with the fact that ever since the two of them had a heart to heart in the middle of Katara's living room, all the bad blood and previous annoyance that their relationship—if you could even call it that—was built upon melted away into something a little more substantial. He figured that he could at least take advantage of it as opposed to forgetting that any of it ever happened.
The noble nodded and dodged a little boy running off with a handful of apples in the opposite direction. She started wringing her hands in the sleeves of her coat and swinging them back and forth. "I suppose I could handle that. If I really think about it, I've met worse people," she smirked.
He rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."
They kept walking in amicable silence while Aang started buttoning the collar to his coat closed and adjusting the clasps. He snuggled into his coat a little bit, and he turned to see Toph grin at him. "So do you like the coats? I was afraid they weren't going to fit right or something."
Aang tugged on the shoulder of her coat and gently tucked her head down. They walked underneath a large dresser that two men were carrying across the street and turned another corner to a quieter street.
He looked at her with bright eyes. "They're brilliant, Toph. Don't even worry about it. I told you all this last time."
Toph held the stare for a moment and then looked away from him sharply, keeping her head down and moving her lips really quickly, like she was berating herself. For some reason, his chest started aching at the memory of "last time" and a slight light headed feeling started to cloud up his head like cotton, and he could have sworn her cheeks were growing pink. Though to be honest, he couldn't tell if it was because she was embarrassed or because it was cold outside. He was willing to bank on the first one seeing as how the two of them suddenly acting so friendly was surreal if nothing else.
He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to think of something else to say.
"So…" he started awkwardly. "When do you have to be back home?" he wondered aloud to her. "I could walk you back later once you're tired or something. I don't want your parents worried if they decide to check on you."
Toph scoffed at the comment and immediately snapped out of her momentary slip up. "Oh, trust me. Those two probably won't notice I'm gone until well into the afternoon tomorrow. I haven't figured out if that's a good or a bad thing yet," she muttered bitterly, "but my alibi was pretty good, I think."
Aang started on another roll of bread. "Whatcha tell 'em," he spoke through a mouthful. He squinted his eyes and saw that they were finally approaching the square. It looked like the lanterns hanging across the buildings and around the fountain were just lit, and people were starting to litter the quad.
"Oh," Toph looked up in wonder. "I told some really elaborate sob story about how I was behind in my tutoring assignments and I needed to be alone for the rest of the night. I'm actually kind of shocked they bought it," she chuckled to herself. "It was kinda corny."
Aang laughed and rolled her eyes at her as they stepped into the bath of lights. He spotted an empty bench to the left and quickly slipped past the couples that were already eyeing it. He jumped on top of the seat and motioned for Toph to come and join him. Toph grinned at him and hopped up on the bench along with him. Aang leaned back against the wall of a building and stood standing on top of the bench. Toph laughed and followed suit. A few passing civilians gave the pair curious looks, but left the two alone.
"I hate sitting on these stone benches, don't you?" Aang asked her, splitting a piece of his bread and offering it to her.
Toph shook her had and took the offered food. "Whatever you say, Twinkle Toes."
The boy choked on his bread and turned to her sharply. "Twinkle Toes? Is that a nickname or something?"
"Mmhm," Toph mumbled through a mouthful of bread. "Get used to it. I give everyone I know nicknames."
"Hm…okay," Aang accepted, still trying to puzzle out the strange name and how she could have possible connected it to him. "What does it even mean?"
Toph snorted with laughter. "My nickname, my reasons. Figure it out for yourself, or don't ask."
Aang shook his head and decided to drop the subject. He shrugged and brushed the remaining crumbs off his hands. It wasn't exactly a bad nickname, he supposed. It sounded sort of wimpy, and he hoped that this wasn't the origin for such a name, but for some reason he didn't really seem to care too much. If she hadn't given him one until now—something that she apparently gives to everyone—that must have meant some type of progress was made between them, even though he didn't really know what to make of it. Just this simple little banter between the two of them brought a pleasant smile to his face. His chest filled with the knowledge and decided not to make things more complicated than they needed to be.
"You mentioned assignments?" Aang questioned Toph, looking over the heads of the people bustling around in front of them. "That must be fun."
Toph immediately rolled her eyes at the mention of the work 'assignments' and hung her head. "It's torture," moaned Toph. "The arithmetic isn't all that bad—tedious, but not that bad. I'm good with numbers. But all the family biographies, philosophers, poets, and theorists get to be a bit much. Plus there's all the writing you have to do…" Her spirits seemed to be dulled a tad just from the mention of it all, and Aang winced for bringing the topic up in the first place.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek and decided to skirt around the subject. "Philosophy isn't too bad. It's just a bunch of old men ranting about the world and the people around them by writing riddles. If you read it the right way, they can be kind of funny."
"I just hate being forced to read something," Toph explained. "If I went out and did something for myself as opposed to having it thrust upon me, I feel like there'd be more relevance in that. I mean, what does essay writing prove?" she asked.
Aang smiled and held a hand out. "See? Philosophy! You just did it without realizing it."
"You make it sound so simple," Toph grumbled, ripping off her share of food and nibbling on them distractedly.
Aang tilted his head and hazarded a question that had been bugging him for a while. "Why do you like reading so much?"
"Hm?" she mumbled.
The boy shrugged and pulled and the sleeve of his coat. "I dunno. Blame my horrible stereotypes, but I never thought that was something you would occupy your time with…" he finished nervously.
Toph smirked. "You're not that far off from the truth actually," she admitted. "The most reading any of the people my age do are what the tutors assign, and that certainly doesn't include any of the fiction I like to pile on. I guess it's just not interesting enough when you can get so many expensive things to fool around with at the snap of a finger."
Aang half wondered what such amusements consisted of but decided to let it alone. "So what's your excuse?"
He watched her bite her lip and lean her head back on the wall so that she was staring up at the sky. She was hesitating, probably debating whether it was worth confiding such information to him, almost as if she was entrusting him with a family heirloom that could easily fall to the ground and shatter to pieces if it wasn't handled properly. She shook off the thoughts and faced him properly. "Overactive imagination, I guess." She laughed lightly to herself. "Whenever the maids read me bedtime stories, I'd always take them too seriously. You know, running into mom's closet to hide from monsters, wearing her bracelets like they were armor, things like that."
For some reason, that image seemed to appropriate and so easy to envision, that Aang couldn't help but grin at how endearing it sounded.
"When I was old enough I started reading the stories myself, and the habit stuck," she continued to explain. "Granted your tastes refine over time and fairytales don't cut it anymore, but either way."
Aang's thoughts turned briefly to the titles he had glanced at when he had snuck into the back of the shop and he nodded in understanding. "I get that. I used to have my head in the clouds with that stuff when I was little too. I think it took me longer to get out of it though."
Toph poked him in the side. "I dunno. I think you still have a hero complex," she teased.
"What are you talking about now?" he questioned with a small frown on his face.
The girl laughed in response. "What? You don't think gallantly hopping off a building and defending the honor of a poor defenseless damsel is just a tad storybook?" she asked.
"Fine, next time I'll let you wriggle out of a situation like that. Then we'll see how much you appreciate my 'hero complex,'" he muttered.
Toph nudged his shoulder to let him know that she was kidding. She pushed herself off the wall and rolled her shoulders back to get rid of the ache from leaning against the stones. "The poetry isn't too bad, I guess," she said, returning the conversation back to Aang's previous question. "My tutor won't let me read my favorites though."
Aang's ears perked at the mention of poetry. "Interesting. Who do you like?"
Toph stared out at the fountain in front of them as a couple of children began leaning over the edge to splash each other with the water spraying out. "Macmu-Ling is my favorite. Her sonnets are beautiful, but her haikus are just exceptional. I don't have many books on her though." Toph popped the last piece of bread into her mouth and shrugged noncommittally. "Whatever, though. There are worse things to be upset about."
He never expected such a brash girl to be so interested and fascinated with literature, but that might have just been an unfair assumption on his part. Still, no matter how hard she tried to look unaffected by it, it didn't mask the fact that she snuck out daily to pick up supplemental hand-me-down books to satiate her desire to do something she was actually interested in. If anything, that seemed to be all that the girl ever did with her time—going out to find something interesting.
Aang tried to think back to the piles and piles of old tomes he had collected over the years either from his father, through less than moral means, or through lucky finds. Be it out of sentimentality or collector's enthusiasm, he hated the idea of ever lending his books out. Not that he really had anyone to lend them out to in the first place. He was the brunt of many jokes from his best friend regarding the fact that he was probably the only homeless person living around in Gaoling that was actually intelligent and read up on books for the sake of culture. Either way, he supposed he could grin and bear it for a good cause. Besides, this was probably the only time his seemingly silly little hobby could actually prove useful.
"So that's it?" Aang asked. "'Whatever'?"
Toph crossed her arms and frowned. "Well, what am I supposed to do? Cry about it?"
Aang sighed with a smile. So defensive. He pushed himself off the wall and jumped to the ground. He held out his hand to her and jerked his head to one of the streets leading back the way they came. "Come on, then."
Toph stared at him strangely. "What? I thought we were hanging out here."
He sighed impatiently and waved her down. "I'm not going to kidnap you. I just want to show you something, okay?"
Her nose wrinkled and she had a scowl on her face, but she relented anyway. She ignored the hand he held out to help her down and instead jumped off the bench herself and marched on ahead of him. Aang rolled his eyes and ran ahead of her, leading her back down the street they had just come down.
Doors were starting to be left open to start letting in the customers and night goers that would be enjoying themselves for the rest of the night, so the streets were quickly starting to clear as throngs of people began filtering out of the streets and making it easier for the two teenagers to quickly make their way out of the busy center of the city and back towards the more residential areas where families were beginning to light candles in their windows and settle in for the night.
"We're leaving the town, are you sure we're going the right way?" Toph called in front of her as Aang slipped through a narrow alley in between two houses.
"You're asking me of all people if I'm sure where we're going?" Aang asked incredulously. "Isn't that my line?"
Toph marched next to him and placed a solidly landed punch on his shoulder. Aang winced and grabbed his shoulder and gritted his teeth at the pain. "Shut up. I was just asking."
"Damn, you have bony hands," Aang muttered. That felt less like a punch and more like being pelted with a rock. She must have taken the comment as an insult because she lifted her fist as if she made to hit him again. He cringed away from her and quickly ran slightly ahead of her before she took anything else the wrong way.
"Just enjoy the walk, huh?" Aang called back to her, missing the frown that she sent him. "I promise, I'm not pulling your leg."
The buildings began getting smaller and slightly more run down and Aang knew that they were getting close to his home. It was still early so he didn't need to worry about any vagrants hanging out in the streets in front of the buildings and giving the two of them a hard time. He was always careful to make sure he wasn't coming and going at odd hours of the day so that no one would bug him about the expensive looking coat he had on his back. It would only be made worse if he was caught walking around with Toph in tow dressed just as nicely as he was. Either way, he waited for Toph to catch up with him and made sure they were walking shoulder to shoulder just in case.
After a few minutes, he started to get the sense that Toph was a little on edge over the neighborhood they had entered. Aang had never thought about it before, but he supposed that to anyone else, it would seem like a sketchy and all around dangerous neighborhood to live in. Most people left you alone and there was no need to be frightened, but that was only if you lived around here and were on the same page as all the other thieves and squatters that lived here. Aang was certainly used to it. Toph seemed to be taking it extremely well, not bothering to cling to his arm or hide behind him, but he could tell she was on guard with the way she kept looking down every dark street they passed by.
A familiar lopsided building came into view and Aang was looking forward to finally getting out of the wind at the very least. He motioned Toph forward as he walked towards the back door and kneeled down in front of it.
"Where are we?" Toph whispered, looking over her shoulder at the sound of a stray cat meowing loudly behind them.
Aang ignored her for the moment as he shoved his shoulder roughly into the middle of one of the planks on the door. The old hinges tended to stick when it got too cold and Aang often had to use a little bit of brute strength to get the door open. With a few more rough shoves, the hinges began to creak back to life, and the door finally swung open and banged on the back wall at an angle the way it normally did.
"Woah," Toph breathed when she looked inside. Aang smiled and let her take in the sight of the clutter while he slipped past her and started rummaging around in a few of the boxes that he kept near the door.
Toph moved inside and started running her fingers over some of the books that were piled high along the walls. "Is this where you live?"
Aang poked his head out of a box and turned towards Toph. "What? Oh, um. Yeah, I guess. Home sweet home, if you can call it that." He pulled out a flint and steel that Jet had pilfered for him a few days ago. Aang pointed behind Toph. "Hey, there's a fireplace behind you. I changed the tinder in there this morning, but can you make sure it's not wet?"
Toph furrowed her brows, but didn't say anything as she went and checked up on the fireplace. Aang only really used it when he really needed it. Most of the time he stood out most of the day and only came home to either drop things off or go to sleep. When it was really cold, blocking the windows, staying inside, and layering up with everything that he owned was usually enough. He was used to the frigid temperatures by now. It was only necessary when the windows frosted over or when he was sick and needed the warmth to bring him back to sorts. He didn't like the work it required to keep it going, plus it dirtied up the floor with soot and ash, and that was always annoying to clean.
However, he doubted that Toph would appreciate staying here if it was so cold, so he figured he could at least keep it lit for the night to give her some relief from the cold.
"I think you're fine," Toph called back. "It seems dry to me."
Aang thanked her over his shoulder and started striking the flint and bit of steel together to make sure that it was still making sparks. He leaned over into the small fireplace and started striking the two pieces together as small sparks started flying out of his hand. He stood there for a few minutes trying to get one of the sparks to catch fire until finally a small flame started up in the fireplace. He sighed—usually that took a lot longer—and pulled out a piece of metal roofing that he kept nearby and used as a pseudo fire poker so he could kindle the fire. Toph sat back on one of the boxes and watched him work until he had a decent sized fire going that lit up the room and started warming up the house.
"I have candles in the box you're sitting on," Aang pointed underneath her, and Toph nodded and started shifting through the quilts and blankets that were inside. She came across a set of about twelve candles wrapped up in a thin cloth and handed them to Aang one by one.
He put each one into the fire and started placing them around the room on top of various bits of wood that caught the melted wax of the candles.
"You have a pretty solid setup here," Toph commented. She kept several candles and was helping Aang scatter them around the room as she spoke.
Aang reached up onto a shelf and placed three more candles. "It took a while to make it livable, but I guess it's alright."
"It's great," Toph smiled, her green eyes almost glowing in the yellow light of the candles.
Nestled on top of a particularly long crate filled with books that belonged to his father was a large rug that he had gotten as a gift from another homeless boy who used to live near Aang. Aang had brought the boy over food and water while he was sick for three weeks, and the rug was the thank you. At first Aang wasn't sure exactly what to do with it, but on the days where he felt like lounging around near the fire, it made a nice comfortable seat that worked a lot better than sitting on the cold floor.
He started to roll the rug out in front of the fire and began to unbutton his coat. "Sorry I can't make it any warmer."
Toph shook her head and patted him on the head. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure I can handle a little bit of nippy weather. But if you don't mind my asking, why are we here?"
"Oh!" Aang gasped, and crawled over to the opposite corner of the room where neat rows of books were piled up. Aang brushed his fingers over the spines and was muttering the titles to himself. Toph watched him pick up a few books and place them next to him before he kept crawling along the floor on his knees and sifting through the piles some more.
The noble girl was gaping at the sight. "You have so many books…"
Aang chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. I like to read, and my father liked to read too. Most of these are his that he passed down to me, but a lot of them I've collected over the years by myself. I think I've just about read all of them by now."
Toph smiled at the sight of Aang's enthusiasm as he spoke of what looked to be one of his few joys living the way he did. She didn't think she'd ever seen him so excited over something in a while. Toph opened up her own coat, but decided to leave the hood of her cloak on while she crossed her legs on the carpet and waited for Aang to finish. After a few more minutes of rustling through the old books, Aang walked back over to the rug and sat next to Toph with an armful of about twelve books.
"Alright," Aang grunted as he dropped himself down on the rug and sat opposite Toph. He took off the first five books and placed them in between the two of them. "Here are all the official anthologies of poetry that Macmu-Ling has ever published. Her haiku edition is this green one on the bottom," Aang told her, pointing to the faded green spine of one of the books. He took two more books off of the main pile and placed them next to the five anthologies. "These two are collections of various poets, but they both have Macmu-Ling poetry in them. I thought that maybe you might find some other poets in there you liked."
He looked about ready to show her the other five books he had behind him, but Toph grabbed his hand and stopped him before he could continue on. "Woah, woah, wait a minute. Where did you…how did you get all this?"
"I told you, my father loved to read," Aang explained simply. "It was funny that you said Macmu-Ling was your favorite because my father loved her too. He always read her poetry out to me and would go crazy trying to find all of her poems. I figured you'd want to look through them."
Toph's eyes widened as she picked up one of the anthologies and started sifting through the pages. They weren't as well kept as the brand new books that she had in her own room, or even the borrowed books that Yin would give her. These were definitely weathered and very old. Some of the spines were bent, the titles were a little faded, and the pages were already yellowing. But, it was clear that the books were well looked after and that Aang treated each of them with care. None of them were falling apart or looked like they had been abused, and she smiled to herself when she came across a page that had been folded over, probably so that Aang could mark his place where he had left off.
Immediately, her eyes started to rove over all of the poems that she had never even read before and wondered why on Earth she had waited so long to go out and look for them. She lifted her eyes from the pages for a moment as she looked at the other five books Aang had brought over. "What are those?"
Aang lifted his head as he stopped skimming one of the books she had been referring to. "Oh, these? They're just some novels that I wanted to look through again. I used to read them all the time a couple of years ago, but for some reason I can never find the time to sit down long enough and give them another read."
"Is that one any good?" Toph questioned, gesturing to the book that he was currently skimming.
Aang peeked at the front cover and he automatically broke into a wide grin. "Impeccable, actually," Aang commented. "The story itself is beautiful, but I don't think any other author could do it justice. The writing is just absolutely amazing. The descriptions and the metaphors just make the book seem so artistic, and it all flows so well into the plot. I really do think he was meant to be a poet, but the way it's built into the story is just so charming."
Toph held her hand out for the book and looked at the front for the name of the story. "Speaking of stereotypes from before, I never would have thought a market thief would have a library at his house. Don't get me wrong, but I didn't see this coming."
Aang's cheeks heated up a little from embarrassment. "Most don't. I'm sort of the brunt of a lot of jokes around here because I practically kill myself if I see a book on sale. I guess no one really expects someone like me to want to learn a little, you know?"
"I didn't mean it like that," Toph frowned. "I just didn't think a hobby like that could be so extensive. I don't think I have this many books in my own room."
Aang somehow found that hard to believe but decided not to say anything. Toph seemed perfectly happy sitting here on the floor with her coat draped around her shoulders reading old poetry books that he's had here for years. He smiled at the fact that she really didn't seem to mind the setup and was happily settling herself in the home of a squatter. It was like she had been waiting for the opportunity to be something different for so long, she embraced it as it came to her.
One of the books in his lap was a leather bound book that he remembered his father always carrying around in his cloak wherever the two of them went. Aang fiddled with the strap on the book, undoing and redoing it out of a habit that he developed every time harsh memories started to rear their ugly heads. He hadn't realized he had grabbed it in the pile of novels that he enjoyed, but he laughed mirthlessly to himself when he realized that it was terribly ironic that he had grabbed it anyway. If he looked carefully, he could still see the warped pages that were forever slightly bent due to the many bookmarks that his father used to always place inside this book.
An extensive hobby, huh?, he thought to himself. He had never thought about it that way, but all things considered, he could see how he used it as a cover up. Sokka's obsession with looking for a busy and menial job that would attract all his concentration, Katara's obsession with constantly helping people with all of the time she could spare, and him surrounded by a labyrinth of books in his own home.
"It's distracting," Aang admitted quietly which cause Toph to look up from her reading and stare at him carefully. "They're really wonderful little distractions when you start thinking about things you'd rather not think about. It doesn't make them go away, but it helps."
Her eyes darted back to the wall piled high with all of the reading he had read over and over again and smiled sadly at his statement. "We all do that, though," she explained quietly. "It's not a bad thing. We're only resilient to a certain extent, and sometimes you need a buffer." She huffed through her nose and flipped through another page of poetry. "Hell I do it everyday."
"You mean running away?" he said automatically without thinking of whether he should even bring attention to it.
She nodded stiffly. "Yeah. Among other things. I guess if you can't handle something, you try to ignore it, right?"
Aang wasn't trying to look at her anymore. "By running away from it…"
"Yeah."
He didn't know what caused it, but snake started curling and jumping around in his stomach and he immediately felt a strange and overwhelming warmth come over him that started to make his hands itch to reach across and just touch her—her hair, her sleeve, her cheek, anything. Toph Bei Fong was just full of surprises, and the longer he spent time with her, the more he realized that she actually understood more than he gave her credit for. There was just something so comforting about the fact that maybe he was hiding from something or trying to forget about it—he swore he felt his scar ache—but that she was as well. It was something she was always careful to skirt around, but he did the same with everyone else who pried into his life too much.
It was a little thing. But it was nice to know that Toph wasn't on a pedestal that he couldn't reach. He happened a look up at her and saw her settling against a crate with the book propped up on her knees. She was frowning slightly—probably from bringing up traces of thoughts she didn't want to revisit—but the fire did a good job of lighting up her eyes and revealing that she was drinking in everything she was reading, and was enjoying herself in that way at least. Sitting on the floor in front of a dying fire in casual clothes with her hair piled sloppily on top of her head—she almost looked normal. Sometimes he thought back to that day in the fall when she was sitting on her palanquin, and wondered if this was indeed the same person.
"Sorry," he muttered quietly. "Didn't mean to be all depressing."
She turned another page and didn't waste a breath. "Don't worry, Twinkle Toes. Let me borrow these books and I'll let it slide." She smirked and looked over the top of the book.
Aang smiled at her, and swore that the urge to hold her and kiss her was never as strong as it was in that moment. "No problem."
OOO
A/N: Good Lord, I can't apologize enough for the hiatus, mainly because I didn't tell you all. But let's just say that my senior year was a lot more hectic than I thought it was going to be, and dealing with financial aid applications, school applications, finishing my senior project, trying to pass the last of my exams, and trying to get our goddamn school yearbook published just about had me tied up in ways I couldn't get out of. The good news is that I got a lot of acceptance letters (YAY!) so I'm officially covered in terms of school for the next few years. I'm very excited.
I'll be updating a lot more regularly now since I've written four chapters in advance for Entranced at this point since I felt really bad about falling behind due to work this year. That means I'll probably be giving you a chapter every Wednesday from here on out. I've had a very long time to plan out the story during my absence and outline it in between then and now I'm confident that I can give you updates that aren't every six months.
Thanks for dealing with me and my nonsense. I hope I can make it up to you all soon. orz
