This was inspired by omegansamurai's prompt on tumblr, which to write a cute Taang one-shot where Aang notices she looks pretty dressed up (and Toph is confused, shy, but feels happy). First time writing this pairing, so bear with me, haha.

Pretty

He swallows, rubs the base of his neck. The weird feeling won't go away. There are things fluttering in his stomach, his chest. He swallows again and sneaks a glance at his friend. Someone obviously forced her to dress up for the occasion. Her hair is styled more for elegance than convenience, and the black strands contrast nicely with all the spring bud colours enfolding her in flowing cloth.

She looks soft. Pretty.

Aang's heart stutters and suddenly words are spilling from his lips. "You wow look—" A blink. What the heck? "Ah, I mean …"

Toph turns her face in his general direction. "What's that, Twinkletoes?"

He tugs at his collar, rubs his neck again. "You look good."

A blank stare. (Well, it's always a blank stare from her, but this time it's especially unnerving.)

Heat tickles his cheeks. He wishes she'd say something.

Her lips twist in a flash and she rounds on him fully. "Are you making me fun of me because I have to wear this dumb, prissy dress?"

"W-what? No!"

"Because prissy dress or not, I'm still gonna kick your—"

"No, no, no!" He holds his hands up in an appeasing gesture. "I just mean you look pretty! Like really pretty!"

There is an awkward pause. Her hand is still inches from grabbing his collar, but her scowl vanishes. Instead, she tilts her head, a few creases wrinkling her brow. His heart thumps and thumps, and then it thumps even more because ohnoshecanprobablyfeelthat! What if she thinks he has a crush on her?

Wait … does he have a crush on her?

He can't deny he finds her pretty, he likes being around her, and his heart is still—

Oh no. Abort, abort! This is bad. This is Toph. She's going to tease him forever, and then he'll feel like even more of an idiot and he'll never be able to face her again, and—

"Huh," is all she says, lowering her hand back to her side. Pinkish colour dusts her cheeks.

Wait, is she blushing?

Aang straightens a little. "Um, yeah …"

"No one's called me pretty before. Well, except Sugar Queen, but she'd call a sock pretty if she thought it'd make it feel better."

"You really do look pretty," he says earnestly.

Toph's blush darkens a little and she turns her head the other way. "Yeah, well … I still hate this dress. It's prissy and not practical for bending. And this hairstyle is giving me a headache. So don't get used to it!"

"I mean, you're pretty all the time, so …"

Aang wants to clamp his hands over his mouth. Where had that come from? Sure, it's true (he realises that now, and he's been so, so dumb not to notice before), but ugh. Stupid mouth!

She turns back to him, and there's a moment where they both just blush at each other. Then she suddenly punches him on the arm. "Yeah, alright, Twinkletoes. Enough with this pretty rubbish. Go make yourself useful and get me a drink."

"Uh, sure!"

He dashes off, though he can't resist glancing back over his shoulder at her. His heart jolts when he catches the small smile on her lips.

Oh no. He really has fallen for her.