Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.

34

"You're going to be mad," Toph said brusquely as she collapsed into the empty chair Aang had saved for her.

Aang eyed her warily. "Oh yea?"

"I told my parents that I want to drop out of college and apply to an Auto Technician School-"

Aang smiled, clapping her on the shoulder in a congratulatory gesture. "That's great, Toph!"

She slapped his hand away. "Let me finish. My parents kindly informed me that I'm mistaken; I, in fact, do not want that- I want to go to school for business management so that I can spend the rest of my life as a retail manager, having people yell at me as if I was deaf as well as blind."

"I'm so sorry, Toph-"

"For fuck's sake, Aang, can I finish, please?" she huffed angrily. "I know you feel bad for me- don't say anything else about it. I'll mentally insert the sympathetic comments."

"Okay," he mumbled.

Toph blew a strand of hair out of her face before continuing. "Anyways, I kind of lost it after that. Went insane. They asked who I've been spending my time with- 'our sweet little girl would never speak to us this way'," she mocked scathingly. "They asked if it was you that was making me this way, which is patently ridiculous. As if you could ever achieve the level of vitriol I reached during that conversation; it was peak." She chuckled. "But I digress. They said I wasn't allowed to spend time with you anymore, not even in class."

Aang crossed his arms. "How would they even know?"

"They wouldn't," she answered. "But, I could tell there was something about you that set them off. Probably your notorious bad-boy reputation." She snorted another indelicate laugh, and Aang rolled his eyes. "Anyways, obviously the mention of your name touched a nerve with them, so I did the mature, logical thing that any adult in my position would have done."

"Which is?"

A look of guilt crossed Toph's delicate features, and she shifted in her seat uneasily. "I told them that we're dating, and that I wasn't going to break up with you because I'm madly in love with you."

"You said what?" Aang yelped. His loud voice echoed throughout the lecture hall, and the idle chatter of moments before dropped immediately to uncomfortable silence.

"Fuck, Aang." She winced.

"Why did you do that, Toph?" Aang hissed at her. "How do you think Katara's going to feel about this?"

"I'm not actually in love with you," Toph snapped, though, to her credit, she did look contrite. "Spirits, can you imagine? Me and- and you?"

He frowned at the insult. "You're the one who came up with it."

"I only said that because I knew it would piss off my parents," Toph countered. "And I was right."

"Your parents aren't the only ones that are going to be upset," Aang said. "Katara's going to be furious-"

"I told two people; it's not like I announced our relationship in the newspaper," Toph answered hotly.

She has a point, Aang thought begrudgingly. "So, what did your parents do when they found out about... 'us'?"

Toph grinned victoriously. "They kicked me out."

"What?"

"Oh, yea," she answered. "You're looking at the proud new month-by-month renter of a crappy floor-level apartment."

Aang huffed a half-hearted laugh, no stranger to desperate living situations. "Then, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I would have thought you'd never set foot in another lecture hall again."

"I'm only here to tell you about it. I thought you'd be happy."

"I am happy for you," he grumbled. "Though, I have no freaking idea how I'm gonna tell Katara about this."

There was something kindly in the old man's face, a kind of altruism that was rare to see in a place like Ba Sing Se. It set Sokka's mind at ease a bit, knowing that the new owner of the building wasn't a miser out for money.

"If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me," the older man said. Sokka idly remembered his name was Iroh. "My phone number is on the flyer. And let me know if you're interested in working in the café! The sooner the better!"

"I'm excited about the café," Katara noted as everyone stood to leave. "I think I'm going to apply- answering phone calls for a vet clinic isn't exactly the job of my dreams."

"And being a barista is?" Sokka asked sarcastically, dodging a sharp swat she sent at him.

"Is it only a barista if you're a girl?" Aang cut in, sliding his hand into Katara's. "Like, if I applied there, would I be a baristo?"

Sokka raised one brow. "Are you going to apply?"

Aang shrugged. "I was considering it."

"You already have a job."

Katara scoffed. "You can work two jobs, Sokka. That's legal."

"Sokka can barely contemplate working his own job," Suki laughed, before pressing a mollifying kiss to his cheek.

"Let's see how you'd feel after six months of construction work," Sokka grumbled.

"Part-time construction work," Suki corrected.

"Tell that to my lower back."

Suki snorted a laugh before starting in surprise. "Hey!" she called across the room, causing Sokka to jump, startled.

"Spirits, Suki," he complained.

But Suki ignored him, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to where Iroh and the young man that Sokka assumed was his nephew were standing nearby. "Hello again," Suki greeted the younger man. "I don't think I got the chance to actually introduce myself the other day. I'm Suki." She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

He eyed her almost coldly, and Sokka immediately frowned. "Zuko," he grunted, reluctantly shaking her hand.

"I'm Iroh," the older man introduced himself. He turned to Sokka. "And, you are?"

"Sokka," he muttered, eyes still narrowed at Zuko.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two. Are you prospective tenants, or do you already live here?" Iroh asked politely.

"She lives here; I told you about her the other day," Zuko grumbled in an aside with the older man. "She's the one who can't read flyers."

Sokka scowled, but Suki stepped on his foot inconspicuously to keep him silent. "Your nephew here caught me at a disadvantage the other day," she said pleasantly, "but now that I've gotten the chance to hear your plans for the building, I'd love to apply for a job at the café. So would several other tenants in my apartment."

Iroh beamed at her. "Excellent." He pulled out his phone. "Give me your contact information, so that I can schedule your interviews."

Suki dutifully repeated her name and phone number as Iroh tapped it into his phone.

"Got it," he said by way of confirmation, before regarding Suki with a warm smile. "You're my second recruit! The first one is my nephew, here," he added, nudging Zuko with an errant elbow and dutifully ignoring the dour look his nephew shot him.

Suki eyed him, mirth alight in the brown of her eyes, before taking Sokka's hand firmly in hers. "Nice to meet you two," she said. "Excuse us, though- we have a date."

A/N: the plot perhaps thickens