In which our favourite earthbender cheers up a certain grumpy someone.
Toph could "see" him sitting in his I'm-really-pissed-leave-me-alone-brooding spot the forth day in a row, arms crossed and leaning against the wall like a sack of potatoes. Since, coincidentally, it had also been pouring non-stop all this time, she put two and two together and decided to confront his Royal Broodiness about acting dumb and mopy and, overall, being stupid. Important to not leave out the last point. See, Toph wasn't a nosy person by nature (that was Sugar Queen's job).
But she knew from experience and, well, maybe from of her own stubbornness, that he definitely wanted to talk to someone when he moved to the I'm-really-pissed-leave-me-alone-brooding spot
(on a secluded balcony two floors up from their usual living area), but was too much of a bullhead to admit it to anyone. When he really didn't want to talk about his broody brooding subject(s), he just went to his room and lay down or crossed his legs to meditate (dubbed by Toph as the
"I-can-really-handle-this-I'm-just-generally-a-broody-idiot-spot").
Then, there was the I'm-trying-to-socialize-but-I'm-just-an-
awkward-dork-who-everyone-laughs-at-spot, mainly by the group's side.
When in this particular spot/mood, he liked to just grip the bicep of one arm with the other and say little to nothing, sometimes attempting some puns, which resulted in receiving a patronizing pat on the head by Snoozles, or trying to do the most obvious small talk in the world.
(Even though Toph had never had friends before meeting the Gaang, she had been better than that).
The failed small talk usually resulted in him occupying one of the two other spots mentioned above.
Why did Toph care to observe this? Well, one, she was generally the obseving type who tended to notice such patterns
(see also: Snoozle's healthier diet dance which basically resulted in him and Prince Moody snacking away a family sized pack of fire flakes the prince conveniently kept a stock of). And two, she had come to genuinely like Zuko.
He was awkward. And moody. But also kind of a sweet guy (even though he tried to hide this part of himself behind the tons of broodineds. But anyone with, like, one brain cell could see through the act because Sparky was a terrible actor, that dork).
Well, time to smack some sense into their Mr. Sunshine.Making quick work of the stone steps (by pushing herself up two floors with sweet earthbending, and not using them to begin with), she quickly found the spot, noting he'd shifted to stretch his legs out long.
The pitter-patter of the rain was occasionally accompanied by a growl of thunder in the distance.
"Not leaving that balcony unsupervised, are we? You never know whom it will attack next, am I right?"
She heard him sigh in exasperation as Toph stepped onto the cool tiles of the balcony. The moss in between tickled her toes, the pleasent smell of heavy rain filling her nostrils.
"Toph, leave me alone."
"Nope."
"Shoulda known.", he mumbled in the direction of the downpour.
"Yeah, you should've.", she agreed, flopping down next to him.
"Stupid rain."
She turned her head to where his grumbling was coming from.
"What's it done to you, your Broodiness?"
He grumbled in protest at the nickname, but answered the question, anyway. Knowing there was no way out of this probably. Toph grinned.
"It hides the sun.", he whined. Sparky grumbled, mumbled, brooded and moped as though he'd been born to do so, but he never whined. She pointed that out to Zuko.
"Whatever. I just feel damn weak! The sun gives firebenders energy and life, for Agni's sake!"
Toph remembered him telling her that Agni was their so called Fire God.
"My sleep cycle is a mess. Because I can't feel it's heat and just don't wake up when it dawns like I'm used to! Why does Katara act like it's her birthday when weather like that hits us?!"
Toph rolled her eyes. Even though she couldn't use them the way other people did, she could still roll them. She loved her precious eyeballs.
"Because she's a waterbender, genius. And there's a lot of water around, if you haven't noticed."
He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Smartass."
And earned himself a hearty punch.
"Hey! What was that for?!", he complained, rubbing his arm.
"For being a grumpy moper.", Toph replied with mirth in her voice.
"You should listen to yourself for once when Katara is trying to take care of you again, Miss I-don't-mope."
He managed to duck, missing her slap by mere inches. Good reflexes, she'd give him that. Missing a hit of an Earth Rumble champion wasn't exactly easy.
"Drop the bad nicknames, Sparky, let's sparr. There's this huge hall in the middle of the temple."
"But my firebending is off-"
"You're no fun, you know that?"
Ah, the genius of words.
Pulling that little string of his totally did the trick and soon, the two were throwing their respective elements at each other, Zuko's fire apparently fueled by nothing but his zest for bending.
His chuckles reverberated with the tall walls.