Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.

73

"Well, this has been a lovely evening," Toph said in a falsely jovial tone as Aang helped her into her coat. "Let's do it again sometime."

"You're joking," Suki said in disbelief.

Toph laughed. "I am. Sort of. It wasn't a lovely evening, but I do want to do it again. Try figuring that one out."

"I can't."

"Me neither," Toph said with a grin. She turned to Aang, who's hand rested on her shoulder. "Now that your girlfriend and I are the best of friends, you and I can hang out again. It better not be three weeks until I hear from you."

Aang rolled his eyes. "The phone works both ways, Toph."

"Yea, but it makes me feel more important when you text me first."

"Spirits," he sighed, shaking his head. "Yea, alright. I'll text you tomorrow."

"Do that." She turned and glided through the front door, stopping at the elevator to turn towards 3E's front door. "I don't know what's going on with you and your boyfriend, Suki, but you two should probably talk about it, you know? Get all that shit off your chest. Hold on to stuff like that, and before you know it, you're pissing off four people who invited you over to dinner as a gesture of friendship." She grinned wickedly. "Or so I've heard. I would never do something stupid like that." The elevator bell dinged, and she strode into it, the doors shutting behind her a moment later.

"I genuinely have no idea how," Suki said, "but I actually like her."

"I know," Aang lamented. "I've been saying that for almost three years."

"Are you alright?" Aang asked, pressing a kiss to Katara's forehead as she snuggled against him in bed. "I'm so sorry about tonight."

"I'm alright," she said, resting her head on his chest. "It's okay. Toph and I figured it out, so it wasn't a complete disaster, I suppose."

He chuckled, jostling her slightly where she lay on him. "I'm so glad it worked out for the better. I think you guys could become great friends."

"One day, maybe," she said, yawning.

"One day soon, I hope."

"I love your optimism," she murmured. Stretching, she pressed her lips against his in a kiss that set her heart pounding when he took hold of her face, gently keeping her there so he could sweep his tongue into her mouth. She laughed against his lips. "Somebody's in a good mood."

"I just like seeing things resolved, that's all."

"Resolutions make you frisky?"

"No," he laughed, rolling her over, the strong muscles of his arms flexing as he hovered above her. "You do."

She smiled, wiggling slightly to pull her bralette off and toss it to the floor. "Well, let's resolve that, shall we?"

Sokka looked up from his computer at the knock on his door. It was Suki, leaning in as if she were unsure if she were welcome. Tension radiated from her, and he fought hard to keep a frown from his face at the distance between them. "Toph's gone," she announced. "Just went home."

"Thank fuck," Sokka said, leaning back in his computer chair. "That dinner lasted sixteen hours, I swear."

Suki chuckled before stepping nervously into his room, leaning against the wood molding of his door frame. "I actually like her."

"Of course you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's direct," Sokka replied, shrugging. "Says what she thinks the moment she thinks it, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. It sounds amazing."

Suki raised one brow. "It does sound amazing."

"But it's for show. It's not real," he muttered. "I don't have a lot of patience for brutal honesty."

"What happened to 'honesty is the best policy'?"

"I didn't say that I had no patience for honesty," Sokka said. "I said brutal honesty, and I stand by that. Honesty is good. It's about truth and communication and... and understanding. Brutal honesty is about vanity. People who say they're brutally honest tend to take too much pride in the 'brutal' part, and not enough pride in the 'honest'. At least, in my experience."

Suki walked tentatively to his bed and sat down. "Well, Toph never described herself as brutally honest, so you should be safe." She looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. "And, I'm not brutally honest, either. I said what I thought about marriage because it's what I think. I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"Who says I was talking about that?"

She laughed bitterly. "I do. Even if you didn't necessarily realize it."

"It did hurt," he replied softly after a moment, "It was hard, Suki. Harder than I thought it would be."

Suki brought her knees to her chest. "I would like to state for the record that it's not that I don't believe in marriage. It's just... the prospect of marriage makes me nervous. My parents got a divorce when I was young, and it was a fucking nightmare, Sokka. They barely spoke to one another throughout my childhood." She looked up at him, her heart in her eyes, as if she could get him to understand her simply through thought alone. "I don't want that for us."

Sokka dragged a hand along his neck, rubbing at some of the tension that lay buried just beneath his dark skin. "I'm sorry, Suki. About the way that talk went. It was a disaster, and I've regretted it ever since. It's okay if marriage makes you nervous. I suspected that it would." He laughed humorlessly. "In fact, the reason I didn't bring it up first was because I thought that if I did, you'd go running for the hills."

"I'm sorry I blindsided you," she muttered into her knees, her eyes rimmed with red. "It can't have been easy having that conversation so unprepared."

He stood from his chair to sit next to her, dropping one arm around her shoulders. "It wasn't easy, but we're here now. Speaking again, finally." He nudged her shoulder teasingly, grinning at her when she looked up at him. "I've missed you, Suki. I've missed this. The rest of it... we can figure all that other stuff out later."

"So... we don't have to talk about it anymore?" she asked in a hopeful tone that sent a little dagger cut of disappointment through him. "You're not going to bring it up at the next available opportunity? Because I still have to help with Song and Haru's wedding, and I don't want there to be any buried feelings."

"There's nothing buried." Except the ring in his sock drawer. "We're fine."

"Good." She smiled at him. It went right through him. "Because, the nights have been pretty lonely, lately, and I swear it gets five degrees colder in my room."

"It's not. Iroh had it checked, remember?" He pulled her against him, tucking his arm around her as they lay back on his bed. She tossed one leg over him, wriggling against him til she found a comfortable spot. Sokka suppressed a smile when, moments later, her breathing evened out, and she twitched a little, fast asleep. But when he lay his head back to get comfortable himself, his eyes trained on his chest of drawers, and his mind was drawn to the ring hidden within.

A/N: I'll do my best to stay on top of them, but these may slow down. A lot of my creative energy is elsewhere right now. Thank you so much for your patience and thank you to those of you who of stuck with me.