A/N: Italics are mainly for what happened in the past/flashbacks. I think I've gone insane with this story O.O .
Chp.38: April, the Fraud
April, a young 20 year old woman, sat on a chair inside her home, stirring tea with a spoon. Mai approached April from in back of her with a stack of photos in her hands. "I found them," Mai says as she stops and sits down next to her cousin. She hands the stack of photos to April and takes a sharp breath. April flips through the photos, unamused.
"So this is him. This is your love, Zuko," she rolls her eyes. April and Mai shared several qualities. They both had long, sleek, and black hair, for example. April had side-swept bangs, though, while Mai sported heavy bangs. April wore thick eyeliner and red lipstick. She had pale skin and hooded eyes the shade of dull brown. Her slender fingers poked at the edge of the photos, examining the man in them closer. April picks up her speed in flipping the pictures. She stops at a particular photo where Mai and Zuko are shown kissing. "How many years have you been pregnant? Like 4 or something?" Mai glares at her cousin.
"It's 4 weeks, April, not years."
"Same thing...," she laughed and turned to a different photo.
"What's so funny?"
"Not bad, Mai. He's pretty hot. Little Zuko there, in your stomach, better be twice as hot. Not like I'd check, though."
"Little Zuko?"
"Yeah."
"It's not little Zuko. It's little Gil..."
"Whatever. Thank god we made up a lie to him, though."
"Who?"
"Zuko! I mean, what an idiot. He actually believes we took you to a club that night. Pathetic. You were already knocked up." Mai looked around the room.
"I was just barely even pregnant, so it doesn't matter."
"It doesn't. What he doesn't know, doesn't hurt him. What about that Toph chick, again?"
"Oh, her. I guess Toph and him used to have a thing. I don't know if they still do, though."
"I'll give you a heads up if I ever see them."
"You don't have to," Mai shook her head.
"No, I want to. Trust me, cousin, I know you enough to notice that you want me to, too." Mai shrugged absently and trailed off in thought.
"You're going to love this, Mai," and a wicked smile perched on the woman's face. April stood from the bench and walked away from the park, she began talking once she passed the drug store. "I just found your loverboo with his own lover." The smile vanished and she regained her blank face.
"What?" Mai breathed out from the other end. "What are you talking about?"
"I just saw Zuko with Toph at the park; kissing."
"What?"
"Looks like they do have a thing together. You're not mad are you?"
"No... no, of course not. He's allowed to live his own life."
"Are you sure...?"
"...No." Her wicked smile returned again.
"I know what you can do."
Two days had passed since the date Katara had begged Toph to go on with her. Toph and Zuko didn't see much of each other, other than at school. Now Toph was in her room listening to her CD player, her headphones predictably were green. She sang a long to the song as she sat on her floor and fiddled with a piece of paper. She was attempting in finding some new way of origami, but it wasn't coming easy. "In the dark with the music on. Wishing I was somewhere else. Taking all your anger out on me, somebody help. I would rather rot alone, then spend a minute with you. I'm gone, I'm gone. And you can't stop me from falling apart, 'cause my self-destruction is all your fault-." she noticed a tapping on her window and hit stop on the CD player while removing the headphones off. She walked over to her window and opened it, not knowing what to expect.
"Toph-."
"Zuko?"
"-Yeah.-"
"You know, there's a reason why people invented the front door."
"I know. But I knew your parents wouldn't let you with me if-."
"But you're my body guard, Hiraku."
"I know," Toph smiles "; but I was wondering if you... wanted to go on a little adventure." Toph became instantly interested.
"Adventure?"
"Yeah. How about you and your Bandit skills help me?" She glares at him suspiciously.
"Bandit? You want me to steal something?"
"Not steal, get back. And you're not going to be stealing anything, alright? My dime got stolen." Toph just stares at him in awe before she collects herself and responds.
"Oh my god, your dime? NO! We should call the police and threaten the person with a homicide letter for the dime's sake! Wait, let me go get my gun!" Zuko had been glaring at her the moment she said no...
"Its not just any dime, okay! My mother gave me the dime-."
"NO! Why are we still here-."
"Toph!"
"Okay, sorry...," she laughs.
"This dime is worth...," he sighs "; a million dollars." Toph begins choking from mere air.
"MILLION BUCKS!?" She manages to say as Zuko pats her back frantically.
"Yes. It's old and... I don't know, but someone stole it from me and gave it to the museum."
"WHAT!? What a way to spend a million dollars! Oh sure, give it to the museum!"
"Help me get it back."
"Wait so... we're going to steal from the museum?"
"Yeah. So, are you in?"
"Hell yeah. But what am I going to tell my parents?"
"Nothing," Toph smiled devilishly.
"Oh, I'm so in. Move, Sunshine!" He did as told and Toph jumped out the window. "Who took your dime anyway?"
"I think it was Mai's cousin, April."
"Her cousin?" They walked and talked. Zuko nods and scratches his forehead.
"She has a knack for stealing and doing things with it that would piss people off easily."
"Nice girl," Toph says sarcastically.
"Come on, we have to run," Zuko grabbed on to her arm and dragged her a long as he ran.
"Why do we have to run!?"
"So we can get in."
"Oh, okay...?"
They arrived at the museum just as it closed. "Damn," Toph puffed. Zuko looked a head while Toph noticed that he was still holding her arm. "Uh-," Toph was interrupted when Zuko pulled her again, this time to the back of the building. "How are we going to get in?"
"We're going to smash a window," they were coming close to a tiny little corner that sunk into the wall; a perfect hideout.
"Really!?" Toph asked, both surprised and excited.
"No." Her eyes drooped.
"Why do you have to do that?"
"There," Zuko didn't listen to her and pointed out a door that was left a creak open. "Come on-. Damn!" He rushed and pushed her into the corner as a janitor appeared. Toph's back was against the wall uncomfortably while Zuko's body was slightly compressed to hers. Zuko swore he felt his heart beat was visible and tried to hold it back, maybe even just a little. But, not being able to hold himself entirely together, his face grew closer to Toph's. But Toph interrupted.
"Why'd you push me in here!?"
"Ssh!" Zuko begged.
"What?"
"Someones here." Toph nodded in an understanding way and looked away. Zuko tried again. What would it change, right? I mean, he's already kissed her once(more than once, actually). It wouldn't do no harm... The janitor slipped away into the museum and closed the creaked door with a thump, yet, that didn't detract him. He didn't even hear it, his ears were pulsing in his mind too loud.
"I-," she was about to say 'I think he's gone', but Zuko reacted in that instant.
"Ssh."
"Wh-," why did he keep on surprising her like this? Next time he could at least warn her. Zuko didn't think he should, though. He shushed Toph and distracted her with his lips moving against her's, silencing her for a long time. Toph's lips began moving with his, ultimately surprising herself. So then what were they? They weren't dating(at least she didn't think so) and they weren't necessarily friends(something else was there). So then what were they? They started getting a little carried away. What a small little kiss was supposed to be turned into a make-out. Zuko collected himself, though, and pushed his body away from her (everyone say 'Aww man!'). He stared at her only for several seconds, then took off again. He couldn't take it looking at her still shocked face. Toph followed after reluctantly once she was sure he was gone. She didn't know what to do, what to say. Maybe I'll just walk back home without saying a word. Or... maybe I could stick by and hope for another one- SHUT UP! Toph grunted and bumped into Zuko's back, who had stopped. She fell back on the hard ground. Zuko turned around to see what happened and raised his brow at her. He sighed and picked her up by the arm, leading her over to the door. He tried to open it several times, but nothing worked. He became easily irritated, both at the door and himself. Finally, he turned around rapidly and hit his back against the door.
"Okay, look." Toph opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't say anything. Zuko was even thinking about blaming the janitor for making him do that. He would have made up some funky tall tale, like blurting out that the janitor had seen them and pushed him to her so that they'd kiss because the janitor was... a photographer. Yeah, that will work. "What was that?" That's all he managed to say, even though he didn't mean to accuse her.
"Are you blaming me?" Zuko, who was now a little slouched, stood upright.
"No!" He shook his head, then stopped almost immediately, he felt like a complete fool. Toph gulped, then looked away and crossed her arms.
"You're the one that did it, anyway," she muttered.
"You're the one that went a long with it!"
"Yeah, well, you were the one that stopped it-!" She stopped herself quickly and began blushing.
"Alright," Zuko said under his breath and whirled around back to the door. Alright.
A/N: xD sorry about the (everyone say 'Aww man!') I thought of it quickly when I came to that spot and just could not help putting it. Oh, and, who caught the little pun in the chapter? Cookies to those who found it. But for those who didn't, think. Mai... and April?? Like I said, I'm going insane with this story. Then again, insane people have interesting stories to tell. Hoho~ x]