Disclaimer: Did you ever hear that joke about a girl who went by the name of Lola of the Peaches who owned everything to do with ATLA? Well, here's the punch line: it was all a lie!

Read on…


Toph's pov

To do my style of earthbending, patience is key. I always waited and listened. Any change in my opponent's stance, in the direction of the wind, or a change in pressure of my surroundings would alert me to danger and I'd act almost instinctually. It was an indescribable feeling that surged through my body whenever I fought against an opponent. I'd feel so secure in who I was and what I was doing that everything was simply effortless. It made me happy.

But for some reason, patience seemed to fluctuate like the tide with me. Sometimes I'd have a high patience, and most of the times I'd have a low patience. It all depended on who I was with, what I was doing, or what we were talking about.

Currently the tide of patience seemed to be in my favor. And knowing Toto, I definitely needed it.

We were at the Indian burial grounds again because I had asked him to take me there. I thought it was the only place where he'd answer all my questions, and his, truthfully. Seriously, who would lie in a cemetery? That's just asking for some bad joojoo.

"So what did you want to talk to me about that was so important as to make me waste gas?" he said quickly, clearly not wanting to be here. He wasn't very happy with me in the first place, seeing as how I ate a cake that was supposed to be for his class project and accidentally threw away all his notes.

I shrugged. I figured a blasé attitude would be best applied here.

"What's got your panties in a knot?" But blasé really wasn't me, so instead I went for the direct approach.

I heard him sigh heavily. "I just…. Do you know why Aang wants to talk about feelings?"

It took everything I had not to burst out laughing. I shut my mouth, took a deep breath, and replied in a cool tone.

"It's because I have no feelings. Twinkle Toes makes up for that."

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had annoyed him today.

He snorted. "He makes up for too much of your lack of consideration. Let's sit over there."

I took a step and felt him point in the direction of a small stone bench I hadn't noticed before. I shivered when I took another step towards it. My insides were getting cold again.

As I went to sit down on the bench, I felt almost guilty for being there. The chill germinating from my insides felt like my soul was slowly suffering from hypothermia. If I thought about it too much the feeling constricted me and would no doubt suffocate me from the inside out. Not the most pleasant way to die, I would think.

I tucked my feet under me, wanting as much space between me and the ground as was possible. It was just…creepy to feel all the bones underneath vibrate against each other. If anything, it had to be the most gruesome scene I'd ever seen. And I was blind.

"So really," Toto said, "for what reason does Aang feel the need to speak about such private matters?"

"Because, Mr. Eloquent, he's worried about you."

"Me?" his tone was incredulous, as if he couldn't understand why anyone would care for him.

I nodded. "Yeah, you."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously. "Have I done anything to make him think I'm not fine?"

I took a moment to think about that. Well, I couldn't rightly tell him that he was next on the Avatar's Fix List. And I didn't really think he showed any sort of troubling signs to Twinkle Toes.

I settled for a vague but truthful answer.

"He just feels that you're not as happy as you could be, but he doesn't know why."

"And you do?"

I nodded.

"Alright, diagnose me future psychoanalyst."

I lifted my hand to punch him, but it came back down quickly. Man, I was so not enjoying this place. The guilt flared when I even thought about doing some sort of physical action against Toto, which was probably why I asked him to bring me here.

I knew that if I told him once more what I thought about him not pursuing his interest in Ana, he'd be all evasive and defensive leading to my fist connecting with his shoulder. But that wasn't what he needed right now. In pure Twinkle Toes's fashion, Toto needed someone to listen to him.

"I can feel your heartbeat climb whenever Ana's around. You would literally go to the ends of the earth for her–"

"So would a lot of best friends," he defended as I knew he would, "so I don't see why–"

"Let me finish," I warned. "You two are best friends but, while you love her, you're completely frustrated with her inability to see what you feel. But you know that's not entirely her fault because you're not putting a lot of effort into showing her. Despite you're frustrations you would always be there for her regardless of your own commitments. But you know that there will come a time when that wouldn't be possible. My question for you is: can you stand to see her live her life with another guy in fairytale land, while you get stuck in the shadows?"

Immediately, I could feel a rush of anger coming off of him. I wanted to tell him to stop because his anger was just adding on to my guilty feeling, making me feel even guiltier because I was the one who made him angry. I shivered and held my sides. I wanted to run far away from here and never come back again. But I couldn't. It was the only place where Toto would stop and think.

His angry silence told me he was thinking about my words. I hoped he wouldn't dismiss them.

"I'm not having this conversation with you," he clipped. He began walking away and out of reflex more than anything I used my earthbending to stop him.

Now give me a little credit here. It's not like I encased his body in earth or struck up a large wall. I simply put a small, barely noticeable, barrier around his feet making it impossible for him to move. However, should he notice, I began speaking to distract him.

"Why?" I asked. "It's not like you're going to have this conversation with anyone else. No one else knows about your feelings and for you its better that way. But I know. And I won't allow you to walk away from them because it's too hard to deal with them."

His fists clenched as if trying to restrain himself from lashing out. I winced as the unwelcome guilt of what I was doing flowed into my broken arm, pricking it every so often. He had already admitted his feelings about Ana to me, but now he needed to do something about it. Why was I making him do something about it? Well, as Twinkle Toes said, I was going to be the nudge that pointed him in the right direction.

"I already told you that I like her. What more do you want from me?" he followed with a serious of mumbles and protests against his stupid legs that wouldn't let him move.

"I want you to actually do something about it yourself instead of having to rely on others. At that dance, I know you would have been happier knowing that nobody had to influence you to ask Ana to dance. But I did, and yeah you may have had a fun time, but that was because I was your crutch."

"I like crutches, they're fun to swing on," he said flippantly, pissing me off. I took a deep breath to calm down as another pinch made me wince.

"Well then, sucks for you, because I'm not going to carry you throughout the rest of your life as you follow after Ana like a love sick puppy. Everyone deserves a little bit of happiness. But for some reason, every chance that you could possibly have at happiness gets crushed under your big, stupid, head."

"Look," he exclaimed, finally allowing his thoughts through, "I can't just go up to her door and say, 'hey Ana, look I've been wanting to tell you something for quite some time now and well, here goes: I love you.' That's just asking for rejection plus some laughing and pointing on the side."

I let out a little chortle of laughter.

"And so it begins," he moped.

I shook my head. "No, you idiot. Look, I'm not saying that you have to tell her right this second. Spirits know that if you could wait a couple of years, you can wait a few more days. What I'm saying is to show it to her, little by little, but do not be subtle about it. Ana doesn't get subtle. Be daring and stop holding yourself back. But if you're too forward about it she'll run for the hills. Trust me on that. You just gotta find the right balance. If you don't you'll regret it."

I had some personal experience with that. When I had a crush on Sokka, I never really did anything. Except for that time when I was planning on kissing Sokka after he rescued me from drowning in the Serpent's Pass. But we all know how that turned out. From then on I promised myself to always check who it was I was kissing, not that I've done much of that over the years.

However, it was because I had done nothing to show him how much I liked him that he was able to move on from that moon gal so quickly. If I had told him I'm sure he would have thought twice about Suki…or at least let me down gently. I grew resentful and purposely ignored Suki whenever she would speak to me after the ending of the war.

One night, I was walking towards the small courtyard garden because it was a shortcut from my room to the training grounds where I was supposed to meet my men for a midnight lesson. Earlier that morning a few of them had mumbled curses at me and this was their punishment. I was in a pretty good mood, considering the fact that I'd get to use corporal punishment. Even before I stepped into the courtyard, I could feel two very familiar shapes underneath one of the trees.

Tea man had taken up strolling the garden when he came down to visit from his tea shop in the Earthkingdom. He told me that most of the trees in this particular garden were called Flame trees because of their unique leaves and pink-seed capsules.

It was under one of those trees that I felt the familiar figures.

It was Sokka and Suki. They were talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then I felt Suki move in closer and kiss him. I felt like I was going to start crying but I held in my tears, walked towards my men, and gave them a workout that they still haven't forgotten and cringe whenever they hear the slightest mention of it.

Sure, it made my men more respectful of me but that wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted Sokka to notice me so I took up the position of Field Marshal. He was impressed, but still hung out with Suki, the eldest of the Kyoshi warriors.

He hurt me in ways that he'll never know, but I hurt myself in ways that I wish I didn't know and hadn't done. But I knew that I had been deluding myself since the beginning. Sokka was irrevocably in love with Suki, it was obvious to anyone who saw them together. Despite that I still held out some hope that he'd see me differently. That he wouldn't see me as his friend.

But the case was different with Toto. He loved Ana. He didn't just have a crush on her; he truly loved her with all his heart and soul. If Ana wasn't so oblivious then she'd notice that. I didn't want Toto to suffer the same hurt as me, or greater hurt I should say, he had way more on the line than me.

He just needed to get his head out of his ass long enough to actually use it productively.

There was a reason why Twinkle Toes wasn't the one telling him this, and why I didn't tell him about my meeting up with Toto. If he knew, there'd be no telling what kind of mess he'd create with Ana. If he let her down easy, instead of her realizing she doesn't really like him, then she just might go off the deep end.

Birdie was finally letting her heart accept another guy after her apparently previous crappy relationship. Aang, no matter how gently he would undoubtedly do it, would still be rejecting her. So it was just better for all of us if Twinkles didn't know to reject her, and Toto just swooped in and swept her off her feet on his own terms.

"I just…" he trailed off, finally giving up on fighting with the ground so I let him go. "I feel like I would weather her over like a smooth rock if I advance even the slightest. She doesn't think of me in a romantic aspect–"

"Then make her!" I forced out, tired of his self-pity. "Seriously man, stop trying to justify doing nothing by saying it's for her own good because it's not."

I wished for a moment that I was in his face while saying this, but I didn't want to be near the ground. Up high on my bench was just fine for now.

"Why?"

I nearly smacked him in the head with a twenty pound rock. "Because you'll both be on the path to misery if you don't–"

"No," he clarified. "That's not what I meant. I meant, why do you care so much? Is there a reason you don't want Ana to fancy Aang?"

"Whoa, no one said anything about fancying each other okay? They're both way to young for that."

He chuckled, "I didn't mean it like that. I'll put it in layman's terms: is there a reason why you don't want Ana to be Aang's girlfriend?"

I blanched.

Yes, there was a reason. The reason was because when we go back to our world, whenever that would be, there's no way we could take her back as well. She wouldn't even know the first thing about surviving in our world. She wasn't a bender for one. And if she was Aang's girlfriend, well, she'd be in trouble all the time from crazy Avatar fangirls. How would she protect herself? He needed someone who was fine with him leaving for weeks or months at a time, someone who could take care of herself, someone who would knock him back to earth if his head got too full of hot air.

I had no idea what to give him as a reason that wouldn't sound…stupid.

My ever reliable instincts however, came up with one that could at least pass for an excuse.

"Well, because you and Birdie are just so good together. You guys understand each other on a level that's bordering creepy."

I could hear the incredulity in his voice. "Right. And that's the only reason you care to share?" he said almost tauntingly.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion, "Um…yeah. That's basically it."

He chuckled, "Are you sure?" he goaded.

I groaned. "Yes, I just said that." Now it wasn't only the site I was on that was making me uncomfortable. I felt like he had a point somewhere but he was sure taking his sweet time in getting to it.

"Are you sure you don't have another reason? One more…personal, I guess you could say."

"But I didn't say and I don't have another reason. If you're trying to say something, go ahead and say it."

Instead of saying anything he walked off to his car without another word. I quickly jumped down and followed after him, trying to shut out the gruesome images of bones broken and twisted and scattered every which way. I shivered all the way to the car.

"Hey," I said.

"Hmm?"

"Promise me that you'll never take me back there again."

"Yeah, no problem. You looked really uncomfortable there."

I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, happy to be driving away from the place. "You have no idea."


I got out of the car in front of Ana's place where I felt her somewhere inside the house. According to Toto it was pretty dark outside so he wanted to accompany me to the door. I laughed in his face but let him do it anyways. I put my hand on the doorknob but I didn't turn it because all of a sudden Toto's hands came up to grab my shoulders.

I fought my instincts to knock him out with every fiber of my being, instead I just tensed.

"I think," he whispered, "you don't want Ana to have Aang as her boyfriend because you like him. I know Aang sneaks out every night, and I have no doubt he's doing it to meet up with you. Just what do you guys do every night? Dates?"

Oh, he was so lucky that he wasn't buried ten feet under right now. He had better bow to Twinkle Toes the next time he saw him since it was only because of him that Toto would never get to see the Blind Bandit.

"If you don't get your hands off of me I'll show you what we do every night."

His hands quickly left me but not in fear as I'd hoped.

"Whoa. Don't nobody need to be seeing that kind of stuff on Ana's front porch Ms. Rated R."

My hands fisted harshly. I had to let them relax forcibly when my broken arm started to throb from the effort.

"You son of a–" I didn't get to finish my curse because Ana had come to the door.

"What's rated R?" she asked.

"Well," Toto said cheerfully. "See you later!" He parted with a wave and practically ran to his car, his heart beat jumping slightly above normal.

"Oh, okay, bye Toe-jam."

I stomped past Ana.

"Hey, Toph, where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I'm tired," I clipped.

"Really, 'cause you look like you have a lot of energy."

"Goodnight," I punctuated with a slam of my door.

Distantly, I heard her say, "Oh, great, now I got to beat up Toe-jam for pissin' her off. So inconsiderate. He's not the one who has to deal with her in the morning," she grumbled.

I leaned against the back of the door for a long time, waiting for the Lady to go to sleep. I stomped my foot hours or minutes later and felt her heartbeat. It was even, signaling she was asleep. I jumped out the window.

Now usually I envision my jumps out of windows to be pretty spectacular. But I didn't count on someone putting a bunch of wood underneath my window. My heel just barely grazed the wood but I felt a splinter lodge inside it.

The pain was worse than when I broke my arm. It was the equivalence of someone who was not blind shoving a needle through their eye. I limped towards the training grounds.


When I arrived at the edge of the canyon, I could feel Aang waiting for me.

"Hey Toph. Thought I'd save you the trouble of taking the stairs."

I nodded stiffly and he proceeded to bend us down into an open space. When we reached the bottom he walked off of the platform and kept walking until he realized that I wasn't with him.

"Toph?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

I blew my bangs up. "I got a splinter. Take it out," I commanded, a bit of anger seeping into my voice.

I sat down and held my foot up. He hesitated a moment, probably because of my anger, but nonetheless quickly came over. He held my foot gingerly in his hands. Gingerly: it was a good word to describe him. Actually Twinkle Toes could be ferocious when he had to be so I guess a better word to describe him would be: random. One minute he'd be sad, the next happy, the next angry, and the next he'd have the solution to all the worlds' problems.

If only he could solve mine. It wasn't so much as a problem as it was a slight annoyance that I had to get rid of. I liked him. I mean, he was my best friend, so, of course I liked him. But the way Toto said it made it sound like I was pining after him. Toph Bei Fong does not pine…anymore. Even when I had a crush on Sokka I wasn't pining. There were times when I completely forgot about my feelings because we were constantly on the run from Combustion Man and all our other long-ago enemies.

"Would you like to tell me where it is so I can get it out?" he asked playfully.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't be a smart mouth. Can't you see it? It's right there." I shoved my heel into his face.

"Okay okay," he said quickly. "Sheesh, Toph, what's the matter with you?"

I gave him my 'are you serious' face. "No, I'm perfectly fine. I mean it's completely normal having a splinter in my eye. So you know what, don't even take it out. It's not like it hurts or anything."

When he touched it I pulled back, afraid that it'd hurt even more than it already did.

"No, I mean, you seem disturbed. And I don't mean just because of the splinter," he said the last part quickly to interrupt another of my sarcastic remarks.

"That's really the only thing 'disturbing' me Twinkles."

Two minutes passed.

"Would you get it out already!"

"I would but you keep taking your foot out of my hand!"

"It hurts!"

"That's why I'm trying to take it out," he forced out, frustrated with my reflexes about as much as me.

"I can't help my reflexes Twinkles."

Before I could move my leg away from his touch again, I found my arms, torso, and legs bound to the floor. Using my good arm I quickly smashed through the bonds before he could touch the splinter. I was just about to pull back out of his hands again when I heard him say gently:

"Toph. It's out."

I got to my knees and threw a punch to his shoulder.

"Never do that again."

"Then watch where you're stepping next time," he retorted back.

I went to stand up but when my foot touched the ground I felt a slight burn so I quickly lifted up my foot from the ground.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"No, I like standing like this."

He began to walk away, tired of my sarcasm. I knew he was just trying to help but Toto's words were still in my head. I was so frustrated with Toto. I was so frustrated with Aang because of his stupid: don't show anyone we're benders, rule. If it wasn't for that I would show Toto what it is we did every night and I'd definitely be sure to get him an exclusive taste.

I didn't want to stand like this anymore so I called out to him.

"Twinkle Toes, come back and fix me. Look I'm sorry, okay. I'm just annoyed right now."

When his voice sounded right next to my ear I jumped. Curse his airbending.

"At what?"

"Just…it's a girl thing Twinkle Toes." If he knew I was frustrated because of him I'd probably never hear the end of his I'm-the-Avatar-and-I'm-doing-this-for-the-greater-good speech.

He stayed silent for a bit.

"Sit back down," he ordered gently.

I did as he said very unceremoniously. He sighed.

He sat down across from me and took hold of my foot again. I felt his hands warm up and tensed up, waiting for the pain to shoot up my leg should he touch the ache. However, after a while I was tensed for a completely different reason.

His warm hands massaged the area where the splinter had been in gentle circles. I felt my heart speed up slightly and butterflies teased my stomach.

"Relax Sifu T. It won't work if you're all tense."

Whatever he was doing I was sure it was working, just not in the way I quite expected. His fingers accidentally pressed a sensitive spot and I bit my lip to hold back a sound that threatened to expose just how much I was enjoying this. But it was the fact that I was enjoying this so much that made me feel even more uncomfortable than standing at an Indian burial ground had. I pulled out of his hands roughly.

"Toph?"

"So…training?" I asked. I stood up, no longer hurt, and walked off towards a clearing.

Earthbending would be just what I needed to get my mind off things.

"Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"You know you can tell me anything. I'm your best friend. If there's something bothering you…you can tell me."

I turned around and smiled at him, truly happy to hear those words. I mean, I knew it but it was nice hearing it nonetheless. Before I met him there was no one I trusted to talk to. Actually, the entire world didn't even know I existed until I met up with the Gang. It was a bit disconcerting to know that I could talk to these essential strangers more than I could my own parents.

I counted my blessings that I decided to lie and runaway. Iroh once said, "even the most deceitful pasts can lead to the right one." I had a feeling he was talking about Zuko and his whole Blue Spirit identity, but it also applied to me.

"I know."


A/N:

Sorry it's been forever since I updated, and even then it's just a filler chap. I'll work on trying to update by Saturday but I have some family things going on so I'm just not sure.

Hope you enjoyed nonetheless.

Love: Lola and the Peaches

=]