Sitting in her office in Republic City, listening to her secretary read out loud today's endless stack of messages and letters, Toph Beifong hated what she'd become. She hated the muggy coastal air wafting in through her open window, she hated people's endless reliance on goddamn pieces of goddamn paper that she couldn't read, and she hated that for every minute she had to sit listening to messages about "new council regulations for annual budgeting" and so-and-so's request for the promotion of their son was another minute she wasn't intercepting an actual criminal. But mostly she hated the mundanity of it all. Of clean and practical stone furnishings that she felt every day, of her secretary's friendly greeting in the mornings, of the same three food carts whose smells filled the road in front of the station. It was simple, and wholesome, and consistent, and she hated it.
Who'd have guessed that after getting basically everything she'd ever wanted, after teaching Aang and winning the war, that she'd miss the days of living on the road, scrounging for supplies, arguing with Katara, and constantly in danger of being captured or killed by the fire nation? Those days were hard, and scary, but they were also free. No rules, no expectations, no political dramas. Life in Republic City was good. She had a spacious ground-floor apartment downtown, a department of officers under her command that even she had to admit were not too pathetic most of the time, and she had Lin. Beautiful, startling, incredible Lin. Lin was like warm sunlight in a time when Toph had thought the world was only getting colder again.
But except for when she thought about her daughter, Toph constantly felt this itch under her skin. The sameness, the order, the stress of running- no, creating from scratch the first-ever police department for the first-ever unaffiliated city in the history of the world...it made her want to leave in the middle of the night, to take Lin and go feel the world under her feet again.
"...give Lin all my love, and I can't wait to see you this weekend! Signed, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe." Toph was pulled from her thoughts as the secretary finished a letter, and there was a rustle as he went to pick up another one.
"Wait, Jee. Go back." she said. "Read that one over again."
There was a pause and another rustle, but Jee had the decorum not to sigh at the request. "Yes Chief. A message from Air Temple Island, delivered this morning by messenger hawk." he began, slipping into the rhythmic voice he used while reading, the one that could put Toph right to sleep after a long day on the streets.
"Dearest Toph, Tenzin's 5th birthday is in three days, and we are holding a small celebration in his honor. Aang and I would be honored if you and Lin would attend. The party will be late afternoon, and there will be plenty of activities for the children so that the adults can enjoy themselves as well. Please send a hawk back with your response. Give Lin all my love, and I can't wait to see you this weekend! Signed, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."
Jee closed the scroll. "Would you like me to compose a response right away?"
Toph gave a small laugh. "You'd think after 20 years of friendship Sugar Queen would stop sending me written letters, but I guess some things never change." She felt Jee shift, he was smiling too.
Toph stood up from her desk, and walked over to the window. Through the stone floor she could feel large crowds of people in nearby streets leaving their shops and businesses, and the officers in the bullpen of the station were starting to rise from their desks to switch with the incoming evening shift. The work day was over. "No thanks, Jee. On my way home I'll take a trip out to the island and answer Katara myself."
Jee made a small humming noise. Toph assumed he was looking over the still-unread messages in the pile on her desk. She always put off letter-reading until the end of the day, much to Jee's chagrin. It was partially because she loathed it so much, but also because sometimes she got lucky and the work day was done before they'd finished, so if she wanted to she didn't have to listen to them all and could just go home. It was a childish reason, but she still thrilled at the little victory over responsibility.
But...
She sighed, and half-smiled. "If you're willing to work a little overtime Googles, let's tackle the rest of those letters before I go."
Regardless of her feelings, letters had to be read. Responses had to be drafted. She was the greatest earthbender in the world, Chief of Police in Republic City, and responsibility was her job. She'd be damned if she didn't do it correctly.
She settled back into her desk chair as Jee, relief apparent in his voice, started in on the next message.
A full hour later (Oma and Shu she hated letters) Toph walked with purpose towards the ferry station. Still in her uniform, citizens moved out of her way as she passed. Toph felt a surge of pride that despite the domesticities of full-time employment and motherhood she was still feared and admired by people who knew better. Chief of Police was almost better than being the Blind Bandit. Almost.
Although she couldn't see eyes, she'd learned how to sense when others looked at her. A stutter in a step, a rotation of the body as she went by. Time had made her taller since her Earth Rumble days, but not much. Compared to her friends she was still the shortest by nearly a head. But where youth had left her slender, adulthood and a lifetime of bending had filled in with strength. Toph had felt her arms, she knew they were impressive. She knew her shoulders were broad for her height and her legs were sculpted and toned. Men admired her stomach in bed, muscled and flat again thanks to Katara's healing after Lin was born. They also admired her breasts, which had not been small before pregnancy and had grown even further. This was more of an annoyance than anything else, but day-to-day Toph kept them bound close and tight where they wouldn't interfere with the athletic aspects of her work and bending her metal breastplate a little larger wasn't really a problem. Her uniform was impressive, too. The sharp lines of well-oiled plate armor that moved silently as she walked cut an imposing figure and stood out from the fabric and fur and leather silhouettes of the townspeople.
She walked onto the pier and approached the ferry ticket office, cutting to the front of the line.
"Good evening Chief Beifong," the ticket lady said pleasantly. "Are you heading to Air Temple Island this evening?" Toph taking the ferry after work and on her days off was not an uncommon occurrence. The ticket lady's tone always reminded Toph of the Joo Dees in old Ba Sing Se, but she ignored that.
A few of the people Toph cut in line grumbled unhappily. She ignored them too. "Yes, I am. When does the next one leave?"
Toph could feel the woman tilting her head, probably smiling. Toph returned the look with her usual stony expression. "I'm very sorry Chief Beifong," the woman said sweetly, "the last ferry to Air Temple Island left 40 minutes ago, at sunset. It should be arriving back shortly with its last passengers. As I'm sure you know, if you'd like to come back tomorrow our services to Air Temple Island will resume at an hour after sunrise."
That damn head tilt again. Toph ground her bare heel on the stone underneath her, hidden by the tops of her fake boots. She considered shouting, throwing around her credentials. She also briefly entertained the thought of encasing Ferry Joo Dee in an earth pyramid and leaving her there until 'services resume tomorrow.'
But no. She ground her teeth. She was Chief of Police, and above all of that.
She really, really wished she wasn't.
Not giving the ticket lady the satisfaction of a reply, Toph turned on her heel and stalked away.
This was fine. She needed to get home to Lin anyway. Not that Huiyin would be having any trouble, the live-in nanny put Lin to bed by herself many times when Toph was working late, but most days Toph liked to hear about Lin's day at school and spend a little time with her before bedtime. She had been looking forward to visiting the island though, and giving Katara a (mostly friendly) piece of her mind regarding paper invitations to parties. And seeing Aang who was usually home after a long day of Important Avatar Work. Mostly though, she felt the familiar annoyance at being told what to do, or what she couldn't do.
As she walked back down the stone pier, she felt how seamlessly the pillars were earthbent into the floor of the bay. Beautiful work. Not as good as hers, but comforting in the way great bending always was. Great bending.
She smirked to herself.
She dropped into a stance and shoved. Water rushed and moved, and people nearby scrambled to get out of the way of the displaced wave, but Toph was already gone, riding a wave of earth over the newly-bent stone path through the bay to Air Temple Island.
As she surged forward she destroyed the path behind her into big, splashy slabs that fell into the water, and a particularly grating shriek told her that the ticket office had been soaked. Toph's smirk turned into a full grin.
Being above things was for airbenders.
On the beach of the island, Toph wiggled her toes in the sand. Twisting her feet to anchor them, she bent the last of her pathway back down to the floor of the bay. No sense in leaving an unsecured pathway directly to the Avatar's home and young children.
She adjusted the pieces of her bun that had come loose from her trip, and grimaced at the salt spray that had dampened her hair and uniform on the way.
She turned and bent herself up the sheer volcanic cliff that was the back wall of the beach, reaching the top with the temple in a few short moments. As she walked towards the main building, she reached out with her seismic senses and felt the movements of the small air bison herd on the other side of the island, and various other animals that called the place home. Appa was resting peacefully in his open-air stable, which meant Aang was home. Looking at the other side of the island always gave her some trouble, and she frowned in concentration. Volcanic rock was...echoey. All edges and facets. Even with a cushion of soil and plants on top it gave her a jarring picture, and it made smaller vibrations harder to catch. Combined with the dulling effects of the water all around, her 'eyes' were fuzzy on the solid ground and they stopped a few frustrating meters from shoreline.
Thankfully Aang had constructed the temple and courtyard out of traditional stone, so when inside and nearby her feet could see them clearly. It made visiting bearable. As Toph neared the main door she felt for a quick inventory of where everyone was. It was after sunset, so the kids were in bed in their rooms, although Bumi seemed to be awake and sitting up. Maybe reading? Kya and Tenzin were fast asleep and Amka, Katara's housekeeper and chef, had retired to her own apartments in the rear wing of the complex. Katara and Aang were in their room against one of the walls, moving togethe-
Oh.
Toph stopped in her tracks.
Well.
She turned around, back towards the cliffs. Bad timing. She should have known better than to show up unannounced after the kids were in bed. She'd been planning to ask for a ride back to the mainland on Appa but no matter, she'd just bend back the way she came. She'd have Jee compose a message back to Katara first thing tomorrow morning, and her friends would never know she'd been there.
Toph's feet crunched softly on the gravel of the path as she walked back to the edge of the cliffs to descend back to the beach. Wiith luck, tonight Lin might have procrastinated her bedtime with Huiyin and would still be awake when Toph got home. She smiled at the thought. Lost in her thoughts and hurry to leave, she was startled by a person ascending the path from the beach, closer than she would normally have noticed had it not been for the cursed lava stones. She whipped her head around, listening.
Footsteps (Boots. Heavy, long stride. Male.) crunched their way towards her. It was after dark, Aang and Katara clearly weren't expecting visitors. Toph's mind immediately ran through the possibilities.
Yakone, or one of his men. The crime boss was getting stronger and stronger every passing year, to her endless chagrin. But she didn't think he'd be so stupid as to send a lone agent to the Avatar's home in the early evening.
A tourist who didn't board the last ferry back to the mainland. Possible, although not likely. Tickets were always round-trip, and the ferry captain was a trustworthy woman who was diligent about loading and reloading the same number of passengers every time. But a motivated person could still slip through.
Someone else. An unknown threat. The most likely option. Toph was no stranger to unpleasant surprises.
There was a small bend in the path that would currently be obscuring her from view but the stranger was nearly around it. Sunset wasn't that long ago so there was probably some light still in the sky, although she hoped it wasn't much. If it came down to a fight her uniform would make her harder for a seeing person to track in the dark.
Toph listened, and waited.
As the stranger rounded the bend in the path, she stepped and lifted. Earth sprang from the ground on all sides of the man and pinned him immobile up to his neck. She readied her stance for a responding push of bending.
"I'm Chief Beifong of the Republic City Police, and you're under arrest for trespassing. State your name and nationality." she spoke firmly, but quietly.
She heard him gasp in shock.
"TOPH?" an unmistakable voice, cutting through her concentration like a water-whip through meadow-grass.
"Sokka?"
She came to herself enough to push the earth back down. A rush of footsteps and then she was swept up into a hug that ripped her feet off the ground and plunged her into darkness.
"Spirits, Toph! It's so good to see you! I had no idea you'd be on the island, are you living here now too?"
"Down. Feet." she ground out between her teeth, as the air was lovingly crushed from her lungs. She flicked a wrist and bent a short pillar underneath Sokka's boots, throwing him off balance. He stumbled and let her go, and her feet found spirits-blessed ground again.
Undeterred, he reached for her again to continue the hug, but this time she sidestepped him and punched him in the arm, hard. Metal glove and all.
"Ow!" He held his shoulder, and kept his distance this time. His smile was big enough she could hear it. "Man, I never thought I'd miss your punches but that one took me right back."
"Sokka, what the fuck."
"Hello to you too."
She shook her head. "I thought you were someone coming after Aang or Katara or the kids!"
He laughed, deeply and easily. "Well for half a second I thought I was going to die in an earthbending ambush at my famous brother-in-law's fancy island temple, so I guess we're both pleasantly surprised to be wrong."
She flexed her toes and took a second to feel him, proximity helping her see clearly. He was wearing thick traveller's boots, and the soles were worn down from heavy use. He had a pack and bedroll on the ground nearby that he'd dropped when he'd went to hug her. He was thinner than the last time she'd seen him, leaner, but his stance and posture and heartbeat felt strong and healthy.
"What are you doing on the island?" he asked. "Did Aang and Katara have you over for dinner tonight?"
"What am I doing here? It's been nearly 2 years since you last visited. What are you doing here?"
"Spirits, has it really been that long?"
She walked past him and picked up his pack from off the ground. "Yes, you were here for Lin's third birthday and that was the last time we all saw you." She felt the shape of it. It was larger and heavier than the light loads Sokka usually preferred to travel with.
He whistled a little. "You're right. Two years, wow. Man, I can't wait to see that kiddo again. Uncle Sokka's brought her some truly spectacular presents if I do say so myself, and I bet she's grown a whole foot since I saw her last." He walked over and took his pack from her, slinging it over one shoulder. She felt him turn to look up at the temple at the center of the island behind them. "Speaking of which," he said brightly, "I have three little niblings to see who have probably grown just as much, a sister and brother-in-law to surprise, and I'm starving so I'd love to look for any sea prunes Katara might have left lying around in the house. It's getting pretty dark out here, let's continue catching up inside the temple. I'm sure Aang and Katara wouldn't mind you staying a little bit later." He took a step up the path.
Toph's eyes widened as she suddenly remembered why she'd been leaving the temple in the first place.
"Wait!" She grabbed his arm to stop him.
A hint of concern entered his voice. "What is it, Toph?"
She considered the best way to tell him. "Let's just say if you went up there now, you'd really surprise them."
He was serious, now. "Toph, what is it? Is there something going on? Is anyone in danger?"
How sad, she thought bemusedly, that even 20 years after the war we all still assume the worst every time. Just like I did when he was walking up the path.
"No," she said matter-of-factly, "they're just enjoying each other's company at the moment."
There was an awkward pause as Sokka got it.
"...Ah. I see." he said, finally.
"Yep." She realized she was still holding his arm in her hand, and quickly let it go. "I got off work late tonight and was on my way to visit when I realized what they were up to, so I decided to leave and come back another time. That's when I ran into you."
"Makes sense, can't blame you there I..." he stopped himself. "Wait. Did you...hear them?"
She folded her arms over her chest. "Technically I felt them. A stone temple carries vibrations very well."
Sokka's response was slightly horrified. "Does this happen...often?"
"Look," Toph continued, "I see things using vibrations in the ground. At quite an impressive range, I might add. Great for Earth Rumbles and avoiding Fire Nation ambushes, but a side effect is that I overhear a lot of sex. At this point in my life I'm very used to it. We're all adults, it's not a big deal. Although," she smirked, "part of getting used to it involved doing my best to ignore your canoodling with Suki when we all used to travel together."
Sokka chuckled, with genuine mirth, and his stance relaxed. She heard the smile return to his voice. "You know, that feels like a lifetime ago and yet I'm still extremely happy that you didn't tell me until now. Teenage me would have been so mortified at you hearing us that I probably would have just let Azula barbecue me to avoid facing you ever again!"
She laughed with him, this time. It felt good. Joking around with Sokka was like wearing her favorite cloak, the one that fit just right and warmed her chest. Right now though, that warmth had a twinge of pain in it.
"Well," she said brusquely, suddenly eager to leave again, "give them a little while before you head up to the temple and you should be good. I'm going home. It's great that you're back, Sokka. We should do lunch in the city sometime before you leave again."
She turned on her heel.
He grabbed her arm, this time. "Hey, not so fast." His hand was gentle, and so warm she could feel it through her armor. "At this hour Lin's probably in bed already, right? And Huiyin's there?"
Toph paused. "Yes," she admitted.
"Like you said," Sokka continued, "I have to kill some time before going up to the temple. Why don't we find a bench under a tree somewhere and we can keep catching up while I wait? Anything to distract me from thinking about the love-sparrowkeets I'm waiting for. And then once you use your feet-sense to give us the all-clear you can come up to the house and say hi, and get something to eat before you go."
She hesitated. She did actually want to get home to her apartment, and her bed, and Lin's tiny toddler-snores. And she didn't necessarily want to make small-talk with Aang and Katara so soon after hearing them doing each other. But, Sokka was her friend. And she was interested in grilling him about his time away. And coming home a little bit later wasn't going to make a difference...
"Fine." she conceded. "But only until you're ready to head up there, I'm not going to stick around after that."
He let go of her arm, happy. "Deal."
She picked a stone bench a short walk away that was a little ways back from a cliff edge, and led the way. Its location meant it probably had a beautiful view overlooking the bay. By now the sky had to be completely dark but based on her own cycle Toph knew it was a few days shy of a full moon, and judging by the way Sokka didn't have any trouble picking his way around rocks and shrubs to get to the bench, she was pretty certain there was enough light for him to see by.
The bench was bent out of a beautiful piece of quartz that was a sharp contrast to the volcanic rock it sat on. It was smooth and solid with a curved back and graceful armrests that were decorated with embossed air symbols and cloud shapes. Toph sat down and ran her fingers over them, admiring the craftsmanship.
Sokka dropped his pack and stretched, groaning theatrically. He plopped down on the bench next to her and whistled softly. "Spirits, that's beautiful. Say what you will about airbenders, but they have great taste in beautiful views."
"Eh, it's not that great." Toph quipped. "I've seen better."
He laughed, and she smiled. "I'm sure you have, Chief. I'm sure you have." he said, leaning back and stretching out his long legs. "All right, how long do you think we've got until they're, you know, done?"
She grimaced. "It's hard to see the details from this far away because volcanic rock is finicky, but they're definitely still in the thick of things."
She heard him grimacing back, but his tone was thoughtful. "You know, you can put your feet up here so you don't have to listen to that the whole time while we're waiting. I'll keep an eye out for anything dangerous."
Toph paused. She hated having her feet off the ground, but the bench was stone so even with her feet up she could still see Sokka. And it's true that she didn't want to feel Aang and Katara on the edges of her sight for who-knew-how-long. Her ingrained paranoia flared briefly, and she considered the possibility of an ambush...but they weren't at war anymore. Life was different now. And she trusted Sokka to be alert and aware, for all his teasing and lightheartedness he was still a warrior, a veteran, a brilliant leader, and her best friend.
"Alright Snoozles, but no falling asleep at the helm. I don't want to be surprised by a bunch of baby flying bison licking the back of my head." He chuckled in response as she kicked off her bottomless boots and swung her legs up onto the bench. It was small enough that she couldn't quite fit on her own side unless she curled up really tight, so she reached her feet across and rested her legs on Sokka's lap. He didn't seem surprised at the familiarity, and she didn't feel weird about it. This was his idea.
She wiggled her toes, enjoying the feeling of having her knee-high boots off and the breeze rustling the fabric on her legs. Her senses were mostly dark, but the stone of the bench against her back and around her body gave her a comfortable view of herself and Sokka, and she could still hear the sounds of the ocean and the wind and the peaceful nighttime noises of living things. And, thank spirits, she couldn't feel the couple in the temple anymore. Not even a rustle.
One of Sokka's arms stretched along the back of the bench, and his other hand came to rest just above her ankle. "That's probably a lot better." he said.
"You're right, it is." she admitted. His hand was large and warm where it fit over her leg, and she thought she could almost feel his heartbeat through the fabric of her trousers. If he was touching her directly, she definitely would. She'd feel his heartbeat, and if he moved his hand she'd feel the callouses on his fingers on her skin...
Oma and Shu. What the fuck. She pushed the thoughts away as quickly as she could, startled. If a hand on her ankle was giving her thoughts like that, she desperately needed a date. When was the last time she'd had sex? A couple months ago, maybe? There'd been that travelling merchant she'd met at a bar by her apartment, but that was a while ago. She'd hit up her off-and-on friend with benefits, Botan, first thing tomorrow morning and set a date to relieve some tension. Sokka had barely been back in town for half an hour, and she didn't need horny teenage thoughts causing problems. Sure, she was attracted to Sokka. She had been since puberty, really. But they were adults, and friends, and she'd spent 20 years ignoring that attraction so she wasn't going to start humoring it now.
She was shaken out of her reverie by the man in question sighing dramatically. "I swear sometimes you'd think they were still newly married the way they are together. It's indecent, really." he said.
Right, that's why they were here. Waiting for their friends who were actually getting some regularly. Toph couldn't help but feel a little jealous.
"Yes, two married people who love each other having sex in their own home after their children have gone to bed. Indecent, that's how I'd describe it." she joked.
"Hey! That's still my sister and my friend we're talking about, I don't know if I'll ever not be weirded out by the idea of them having sex."
"You're just jealous, I bet you haven't had a good lay in weeks. Travelling from the South Pole takes a lot longer when you don't have a flying bison to ride."
Toph felt herself slip back into the familiar banter, the tease and the back-and-forth. Talking to Sokka was easy, always had been.
He feigned hurt feelings, hand against his chest. "Toph! You cut me to the core! It's actually been months, because helping your grumpy elderly dad retire from his position as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and supervising the council's election of his replacement is actually very bad for dating. Not to mention the fact that even though the tribe is doing incredible these days and there are many transplant families from the North, there's very few people our age. Sort of a gapped generation because of the war, I think."
Hmm. Months for him, too. Poor guy.
He turned, and she felt him looking at her. "I really wish you could see it, you know. It looks nothing like the village I grew up in, it's a real tribe with hundreds of families and buildings, proper buildings. We even have a few satellite villages now, along the glacier. So many people that they want to live away from each other! Absolutely amazing."
Toph folded her arms, feeling a little defensive. "I'm blind on ice. Actually blind. Even if I visited I wouldn't be able to see it, and I can't just pick up and move away from the city like you did. I have a life here."
He was quiet at that, and shifted in his seat.
She felt a twinge of guilt, so she brushed past that topic and kept going. "So what are you doing back here, anyway? How long are you visiting? And how did you get to the island? The ferry had stopped for the night before I bent myself over here, and you arrived after me. Did you pick up waterbending in the South Pole?"
She felt his shoulders relax. "No," he began, "I just had my chartered ship drop me directly here on its way to dock at the mainland. I actually sent Katara a messenger hawk weeks ago telling her I was coming, but I'm here a bit earlier than she probably expected thanks to spirits-blessed winds nearly the whole way."
"And actually," he continued, and his thumb started rubbing a small, distracting circle on her ankle, "I'm not just here to visit. I'm moving back."
Toph sat up straighter in surprise, and Sokka's thumb stopped moving. "What?" she said, happy but amazed. "You're moving back?"
He nodded. "Even though dad wanted me to stay, I couldn't justify staying in the Southern Water Tribe any longer after everything was settled with the new chief. I couldn't have imagined that the process would have taken over two years when I left, but the tribe hasn't had a new chief since before I was born so there was so much to be done, and we had nearly a year of council meetings just to choose who it would be before any transition could begin. For the record, I think Kanaaq is an excellent choice, and will do a great job. His plans for a continued growth model are absolutely fascinating..."
Toph tuned him out a bit as he went on a political tangent, but she always admired the way he cared about leadership, and how excited he got about theory, and strategy, and legislation. As Chief of Police and a member of the Beifong family Toph was no stranger to politics, and she knew how to work a room of committee members and nobles for favors and information. But she found the intricacies of lawmaking and economics and logistics incredibly tedious and dull. Sokka, on the other hand, was passionate about them, and watching him grow from teenage war strategist to adult politician had been like feeling her favorite apple-peach seedling back home grow from a sapling into a beautiful fruit-bearing tree with deep, water-filled roots. His time in the Southern Water Tribe had apparently only made him nerdier, which warmed her chest pleasantly.
"...so my plan is to run for city council, and hopefully implement some of the strategies in our own economy, just on a larger scale. Cool, right?"
"Very cool." Toph replied, as though she'd paid attention. Sokka being home full-time was great news, and if he was going to be on the council then with her work for the police they'd see quite a bit of each other. She wasn't sad about that. Sitting on this bench with him, the world quiet around them, she felt incredibly peaceful and relaxed.
"You know," his voice went soft and low, thoughtful. His thumb resumed the little circles on her ankle and she was distracted again. "I've missed you, while I've been gone. More than a little. It's nice to spend time with you again. Really nice. It'd be great to see you more often, if we find the time."
Oh. The tone of his voice and the way he moved his hand brought a sudden charge to the air. This was no longer just two old friends catching up. His posture was still casual, only the phrasing and his voice and the way he gently touched her leg told her what was really going on. He was asking questions, carefully feeling out her interest, all-too-aware of the history of their long friendship.
Toph had always been attracted to Sokka. And if she was being honest with herself, she knew that he had a thing for her too. She wasn't born yesterday, and over the years she knew exactly how to read his heartbeat, his tones, his teasing, and even his lust. But the timing was never right. He'd been with Suki, happily, for years. And she had her metalbending school, and then all the craziness of founding the police force, and then she was with Kanto for a while until Lin came along. The years passed one after the other, and things just never happened between her and Sokka. And that was okay. She had accepted a life of mutual attraction where their lives would keep them forever circling each other. But if he was moving back full-time, and wanted to keep seeing her, and he could be convinced to move his hand higher…
Well before that thought continued, she needed more information.
"I'd enjoy that." she said, keeping her voice deliberately casual, playing as though she hadn't noticed the sudden tension.
He shifted a little, intrigued or pleased, but also playing it cool.
"Of course," she continued, "I'm really busy with work. And Lin, of course. But hey, I can always make time for my best friend and his wolftail. If you send a message to my office I'll get Jee to add you to my calendar for lunch next week."
He shifted again, this time confused. She had to stop herself from smiling a little bit. Not only was it fun to mess with Sokka, but for obvious reasons she had to interrogate his motives. Was he just lonely and horny after a long time abroad, and projecting his desires on her? If so, fine. She was open to the idea of releasing some long-built-up tension and having some fun. No guarantees their friendship would recover after they both lost interest, but they'd be fine. No problems.
On the other hand, did he come back from the South Pole looking to spend time together in a dating kind of way? Like, explore the possibility of more-than-friends feelings? That would probably also lead to sex, but it was also much more complicated. As much as she loved Sokka, the thought of trying to date him felt like opening a cupboard in her heart full of koala-sheep wool threads all tangled up together, and that was something she did not want to do.
She felt him look at her, probably trying to read whether or not she missed his double meaning.
"Yeah, I'll do that." he said carefully. "But I also brought back some really fantastic dark kelp liquor from the South Pole. Can't get it anywhere else. There's not enough to share with everyone, so don't tell Aang and Katara, but it's no fun to drink alone. I kept my apartment here the whole time I was gone, and although it's not in good shape right now if you give me a few days to get things cleaned up you could come over and we could get drunk and you can fill me in on all the city gossip I've missed. If you want."
Toph let herself smile, now. A sex date, then. Good. Great, even.
"Sounds great, Snoozles. Count me in."
He leaned back, and scootched her legs into a more comfortable position on his lap. "Awesome. Tuesday?" he asked, confidence back in his voice and a smile shaping his words.
"Tuesday." she replied, pleased.
His new position had two of his fingers at the edge of her pant leg, on the bare skin of her ankle, and she was suddenly even more excited for Tuesday.
Suddenly she remembered why they were there. Spirits. With a twinge of regret at the loss of contact she swung her feet off of his lap and onto the ground. Yep, just as she suspected.
"Good news. The love-sparrowkeets are finished." she told Sokka ruefully.
He sighed loudly. "Well, all good things come to an end. We should get up there before they fall asleep and I have to set up my bedroll in Appa's stable." He stood up and picked up his pack from off the ground, slinging it over one shoulder.
"Actually," she said, pulling her boots back on, "I'm going to go. It's late, I work tomorrow, and I'll see Aang and Katara tomorrow at Tenzin's birthday party."
"Tenzin's birthday is tomorrow?" Sokka smacked his own forehead. "Spirits, I forgot! Oh well, I'll just call one of the travelling presents a birthday present and he'll never know the difference."
He held out his arm to help her stand, but she ignored it and felt him smile. "Are you sure you don't want to come up to the temple?"
She shook her head. "I'm sure. Thank you though."
They stood there for a moment, both slightly unsure what to say, the prospect of Tuesday hanging between them.
"Well," Toph said finally, "goodnight, Sokka. It was nice to chat, and I'm glad you're back."
To her surprise, that softness was back in his voice. "Goodnight Toph. Thanks for sitting with me, I really enjoyed it. I'll see you tomorrow."
"And Tuesday." she said quickly, and then regretted it.
"And Tuesday." he replied, the sound of a smile around his words.
With that, Toph turned around and within minutes she was bending her way back across the bay, to home.