Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.
37
Aang looked nervously around the crowded restaurant, lines of college students gathered for the lunch rush. His booth was secluded around a corner, hiding him from view as he waited to meet with Toph, who had agreed to join him for lunch. They had a lot to talk about.
Nervously, he spun his bowl of veggies and rice around, picking at bits and pieces here and there with his fork. This meal was crucial; he had an eight hour shift at the gym after class, but, for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to eat. This meeting with Toph was one that had been weighing on his mind. Lying- or really, omitting the truth- to Katara was giving him an intense kind of anxiety. She'd nearly found out that morning, when she had asked him again what was bothering him with Toph, and he had started sweating so profusely that she had cocked one perfect brow at him.
Sokka was probably right- it genuinely was not that big of a deal, provided that Toph didn't tell anyone else, but he knew these things had a way of getting out of hand. The spirit in which he had kept the situation from Katara was purely to spare her discomfort, but he was starting to think that a few minutes of uncomfortable conversation might be worth it.
A shadow fell across the table and he looked up, expecting to see Toph's delicate features frowning down at him. Instead, it was a different frown altogether, and his jittery anxiety was replaced instantly by a poisonous sort of anger.
"Where's Katara?" Jet sneered. "Paying for your lunch?"
Aang scowled. "I can pay for myself. And she's not here."
"Right," Jet said. "Well, I'm glad she's not here. I think you and I have some things to talk about." He sat down in the booth, facing Aang across the table, arms crossed over his chest.
"Fine. Talk," Aang answered savagely. "You do have some explaining to do. But make it fast; I'm expecting someone."
Jet raised a malicious brow. "Oh? Another date?"
"No. A friend. Not that it's any of your business."
"Can't eat alone, can you? Otherwise, who would buy your meals for you?" He laughed at his own jibe.
Aang rolled his eyes. "You already made that joke. Seriously, what do you want?"
"I want to know if Katara was cheating with you," Jet answered quickly, his palms settling on the table. He leaned forward. "It seems awfully fast to me."
Aang could (somewhat) empathize. Katara had insisted that it wasn't too fast for her, and that was all that really mattered to him. However, he understood how it might appear to Jet that something untoward had happened behind his back. "She didn't cheat," he said after a moment. "The night you threw beer on me was the first night I met either of you."
"Then why the fuck are you already dating?"
"What is it to you?" Aang snapped. "I think you lost the right to any information about her."
Jet's expression, previously somewhat mollified by Aang's promise that Katara hadn't cheated, turned murderous. "I'm trying to protect her from a fucking asshole like you."
"You're the freaking a-hole," Aang said venomously, before blinking in surprise at the intensity of his own response. "This is pointless. If you're just here to call me names, you can go."
"I just want to know the truth," Jet answered, glowering.
Aang lifted his chin, making direct eye contact, willing Jet to understand the sincerity that rang with each word he said. "The truth is that I was there to pick up the pieces after you hurt her. I asked nothing of her in return- because I care about her, and how she's feeling, and what she wants. And right now, she says she wants me." He looked down at his hands for a moment. "And I want her... I'll be with her as long as she'll have me."
"I know you're using her," Jet said intensely. "And I know about your homelessness-"
"Yea, I know that you know," Aang said, scowling. "How did you find out about that, anyway?"
"What's it to you?" Jet sneered, mimicking Aang's question from earlier.
"What do you mean, 'what's it to me'?" Aang asked acidly. "You're using one of the darkest times of my life as ammunition against me, among people I don't even know. Please, just tell me how you heard."
Jet leaned forward again. "I'm just telling the truth about you. Does Katara even know?"
"Of course she freaking knows-"
A loud sound, the sound of metal striking metal, clattered shrilly in Aang's ears. His head whipped to the end of the table, where Toph stood, a look of pure fury contorting her features. "Who the fuck are you?" she demanded of Jet.
Jet glared at her. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm his fucking friend," Toph hissed. "And I heard the way you were talking to him. You can fucking go, and you can fucking go right now."
"This conversation doesn't concern you-"
"I'm sorry, what part of 'you can fucking go' sounded like an optional fucking statement?" Toph demanded hotly, her knuckles white as she squeezed her cane. "Get the fuck out of here."
Jet gestured between himself and Aang. "I'm not done here."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm not-"
"You are."
Jet began to speak, and Toph cut him off again. His hands clenched into fists above the table, but after a moment, he stood, turning back to Aang. "Talk again soon," he almost crooned.
As soon as he left, Toph dropped into his empty seat, her murderous expression shifting quickly and easily into a grin. "That was fun," she laughed. "I haven't gotten to intimidate anyone in, like, three weeks."
Aang shifted uneasily in his seat, his discomfort doubling. He was already nervous about his pending discussion with Toph, now compounded by the after-effects of his confrontation with Jet. "I didn't need your help," he grumbled.
"You should have fucking decked that guy," she commented offhandedly.
Aang's eyes rolled almost of their own volition. "I told you, Ba Gua is not for me to punch out anyone who pisses me off-"
"Then what good is it?"
"It's about focusing your energy- controlling your thoughts and feelings- and it's soothing, because of the-" he abruptly broke off. "That's unrelated. I asked you here for a reason."
She leaned back into her seat. "What, then?"
A/N: the ominous return