Title: clueless part 3

Summary: the Gaang take a camping trip. Modern AU.

Rating: mature

Warning: language, mild sexual content

AN: so, that's the end of my Tokka three-shot! I hope you all enjoyed it – I know I enjoyed writing Tokka again. I'm definitely accepting prompts now, so shoot them towards me if you'd like! Thank you all.

Sleep eluded her - with the wind picking up outside, the occasional rustle within the trees, and she could've sworn she heard something move outside their tent moments ago. It could've been Aang or Katara, she reminded herself, forcing away the anxiety that was slowly rearing its head. Besides, if there was something potentially harmful outside, it would have heard Sokka's loud snoring and already attacked.

With a frustrated sigh, she shifted uncomfortably, turning on her side so that she was facing Sokka. Despite her irritation with him, his presence was comforting as her anxiety trickled away. She could feel his warmth and fought the urge to curl against him, latch onto him and claim something had startled her and that was the reason for her clinging to him. But she was far too proud to do such a thing, especially when she was still angry with him. The anger wasn't as great as it had been, but it was still there, a slow burn.

She was drifting off to sleep again when she heard something sniffing outside their tent. Her heart pounded in her chest and her mouth went dry. Without a second thought, she grabbed Sokka's arm and began shaking him. "Sokka, Sokka!" she whispered frantically.

"Hmm? T-toph? What's a-matter?"

"There's something outside the tent." She detested how scared she sounded. "I heard it sniffing."

Sokka froze beneath her hand and they both became silent. There was some more sniffing and then Sokka laughed. The laugh shook his whole body, jarring her in the process. Her hand tightened on his arm. "What the hell's funny?"

"Toph it-it's a squirrel."

"How do you know?"

"I can see its silhouette," Sokka answered. He was smiling; she was sure of it.

"Well." She removed her hand and turned away. "How was I supposed to know? I'm blind."

Silence ensued once again. She heard Sokka inhale and exhale a few times before he scooted closer to her. If he moved closer, she suspected, she would be able to feel his breath on her beck. A shiver passed through her and she curled in on herself. "Look, Toph, I've apologized. I don't know what else you want for me to do." He sighed with frustration. "Honestly, I don't know what else there is to do."

He was right, she thought; there truly was nothing else for him to do. He had apologized and, despite her stubborn nature, she accepted his apologies. But this was about more than his having ignored her and his unobservant nature. It was about a hell of a lot more and Toph wasn't sure if she was ready to face it – to face her feelings, the truth. Having spent so long ignoring the butterflies in her stomach at his presence and the ache in her heart, Toph didn't know how to go about her feelings.

It wasn't as if Sokka returned her feelings anyway. His avoiding her was proof of that. Maybe she was simply afraid of his rejection and what that would inevitably do to their friendship? The teenager couldn't handle not being Sokka's friend – to hell with being romantically involved with him. Their friendship was far more important to her.

"I know, Sokka," she whispered finally. "There really is nothing else for you to do."

"Then what's wrong, Toph? There's somethin' else bothering you." He sighed impatiently. "What is it?"

"It doesn't matter," she muttered. "Go back to sleep."

"No." He huffed and moved so that he was sitting up. "It does matter, 'cause whatever it is, it's fuckin' our friendship up. Just tell me, Toph."

…

He couldn't stand this anymore. Something had to be done, to be said.

He watched Toph's curled form with apprehension. She was closing off again and he couldn't fathom why. She accepted his apologies, so things were supposed to be good between them now. At least, that was how he assumed things were supposed to work. With Toph, you never really knew what to expect. It was one of the reasons he loved her so much.

"It's not that fuckin' simple, Sokka," she snapped finally, turning swiftly towards him. Her eyes were angry. Good, he could handle angry. "There's so much more to it than just talking about my feelings."

"Yeah, well, you could always give talking a try. It never hurts to try."

"What – are you a therapist now?"

"Oh, har-har, Toph. I'm trying to be serious."

Her lips were in a thin line and her chest heaved with anger. The strap of her tank-top was sliding down, he noticed absently before shaking away his thoughts. Toph's exposed skin, no matter how soft it looked, was not in line for thought at the moment.

"Uh…Toph? Your strap's slidin' down a bit," he finally said.

Her expression transformed from livid to confusion. "The hell? I thought you were tryin' to be serious," she scoffed, tugging the strap up roughly.

"I was. I-I am," Sokka defended. "It was just…distracting."

"Whatever, Sokka," she snapped, turning her head. He could have sworn her cheeks were colored red from a blush.

They lapsed into another tense silence. Try as he might, Sokka couldn't tear his eyes from his best friend's face; her stubborn pout, her furrowed eyebrows, the blush that lingered on her cheeks. His eyes traveled downwards, to her chest, before he furiously turned his attention back to Toph's face. She began to bite her bottom lip, a gesture she made only when she was nervous. What did she have to be nervous about?

He grasped her shoulder, causing her to flinch and tense. Her skin was soft beneath his fingers. "Toph, look, are you okay?"

She licked her lip. "Yeah, Sokka, 'm fine."

"Stop lying."

She turned her head and grunted, her teeth continuing to dig into her lip. Her eyes were closed. She jerked her shoulder out of his grasp and only then did he realize that he hadn't let it go. He sheepishly let his hand fall and was about to speak when Toph whipped her head towards him again. "Okay. If I tell you this you – you can't mention it ever again, okay?" She wrung her hands nervously. "You've gotta forget that I ever said anything, got it?"

What was so severe that he had to experience memory loss? He didn't care at the moment, however; he was taken with the need to know what was wrong with Toph so he could fix it. "Okay, okay, deal."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Now tell me."

Toph seemed to wrestle with her decision to tell him; she breathed deeply a few times, continued wringing her hands, and began tearing at her lip. "So, you remember the girl you were dating before life got so hard that you couldn't manage to call me?" She didn't give him time to answer. "Well, I-I was jealous of her. For…more reasons than the fact that she took up a shitload of your time."

It was perfectly sensible for her to have been jealous, Sokka wanted to say initially, but then the weight of her words – the emphasis, the reluctance – hit him like a ton of bricks and he fell silent, blue eyes wide as he stared at Toph – his best friend – in shock. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

"Annddd, now is the time for you to forget that I said that, okay?" Toph said pointedly, turning her back to him as she lay down again.

"You – you like me, like me?" Sokka finally managed to squeak out.

"Dunno what you're talkin' about."

"Toph, you like me?"

"When's the amnesia gonna kick in? I need my beauty rest."

"How long?"

Her posture was stiff. "Night, Sokka."

"Toph," his voice was strained now as he looked down at the hunched figure of his best friend. "You can't just tell me that and go to sleep."

"That was the deal, Sokka."

"I don't care."

"Sokka, it's just a crush. No big deal. Jesus."

He threw his hands up, gesturing wildly. "It's a big deal to me, Toph!" he snapped, scowling. "Besides, if it was 'just a crush', why are you actin' so weird about it?"

One moment, Toph was lying down. The next moment, her hands were fumbling for his shirt as she jerked his face towards hers, her eyes glaring daggers. He swore that she could see through his soul in that moment, her lips turned into a snarl and her nails digging into him painfully. "I said to let it go," she seethed, "so drop it, Sokka."

He was speechless. His mouth moved, but no words came out. Toph was close – too close. He could smell her shampoo, a mixture of lavender and vanilla. Her breath smelled like fresh mint. Her lips were red and swollen from her biting. And, God, the strap of her tank-top had fallen down again. From his view, he could see down her shirt. He swallowed and forced his eyes back to her face, his eyes landing on her lips.

A thought struck him and he acted immediately, moving his head to tug Toph's lips against his own. Her lips were soft against his own and he felt her gasp and tense before relaxing. Her hand remained curled into his shirt and she jerked him closer, her other hand cupping his neck. He grasped her face, silently reveling in the feel of her against him, of the warmth that spread throughout him at the small contact.

But then she pulled away.

"The hell was that?" she breathed, eyes wide in surprise.

"Uh…" Sokka choked out, his face heating up. He wanted to pull her back against him. "Us kissing?"

"Don't be a smartass, Sokka," she snapped, her cheeks flushing again. "Why?"

"Because…I dunno, it felt right."

She blinked, confused, before licking her lips. (God, he wanted to kiss her again.) "Did you – did you like it?"

"Yeah." He swallowed, his eyes trained on her lips. "A lot."

Her lips drew into a grin, the classic Cheshire grin he was accustomed to seeing on Toph's face and Sokka felt as if he would weep with happiness. She was back, he realized, his Toph was now before him, no more secrets or awkward silences. He wanted to grab her and never let go.

Instead, she grabbed him, her hands grasping onto his shirt as she pulled him against her. Their faces were inches apart. "Wanna do it again?" she whispered, her lips achingly close to his own.

She didn't give him time to answer before crushing her lips against his.

…

Katara walked out of the tent she shared with Aang and yawned. Her back ached from sleeping on the ground and she was in dire need of coffee, something she had somehow forgotten to pack. She moved slowly, grumbling when she nearly stripped over a rock. Camping wasn't something she was fond of, she was coming to realize. It looked like fun on all of the television shows, but it was a mess in reality: the packing, the planning, the wildlife at night. Next time, she vowed, they would go to an amusement park for a weekend or do something that would involve actual beds.

She walked toward Toph and Sokka's tent, wondering if the two had made-up last night. She had worried that Toph's standoffish behavior and Sokka's cluelessness would put a damper on the trip for them. Yesterday, it had. Today was a new day, however, and Katara hoped that her plan of throwing them into a tent together had worked.

"You guys awake?" she called. When there was no response, she unzipped the tent. What she found almost took her breath away.

Sokka's arm was wrapped around Toph's waist, tucking her snuggly against him. Her head lay on his chest and her leg was thrown over his waist. Both wore relaxed expressions as they slept. Katara beamed down at them before she noticed the large bruise on Toph's neck and realized Sokka sported a mark as well. With a grimace, she zipped the tent up and forced unwanted images out of her head.

Perhaps she was going to get more than she bargained for.