Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid
By: The Hat Potato
It was Zuko who woke up first, or rather, heard the noise first (Zuko's sleeping habits were… lacking, to say the least, and the fun combination of his sleep deprivation and overwhelming anxiety was what created the angsty love child that was his horribly moody and wonderfully awkward personality).
His first response, naturally, was to prepare for an attack. He had been wary of this happening for the entire week because something was bound to go wrong whenever the gang reunited. For Yue's sake - Sokka had taught him that phrase - the Fire Lord and the Avatar were under the same roof! If that didn't scream 'obvious target', Zuko didn't know what did.
In his insomniatic state, he grabbed the first sharp object he came across, which happened to be his fancy five-pronged Fire Lord headpiece, and left the room, leaving behind the dual broadswords that he always kept prepared in case of emergency.
Creeping through the long corridors of the house, he contemplated waking Aang and the others, but, ultimately, decided to leave them out of it. If the criminals (or whatever the frick else was interrupting his not-sleep) managed to best him, they probably deserved the honor of killing him.
He was always very conscientious of others' honor.
The sound, he decided absently, was emerging from the west end of the house, further away from him, Aang, and Katara's bedrooms. Hurrying down a dark hallway, the noise became clearer. Almost like someone was screaming. But then, the supposed cries would break into insistent clangs of… metal? Earth? Or something similar. His grip tightened on his own piece of metal, the golden crown that was now cutting into the palm of his hand, pointy side angled outward.
Because that was a more effective weapon than firebending.
Obviously.
Finally, he located the commotion's origin and bolted towards it: Toph's bedroom.
He swore to Momo, if anyone had the audacity to hurt Toph, he would personally kill them. An executioner was way too merciful for anyone who dared to mess with the girl who was more of a sister to him than his actual sister. Not that that was a high hurdle, but still.
He nearly crashed into her door, prepared to face whatever brutal scum lay beyond when-
"OMA and SHU, SOKKAAA! Friiickk, Meathead, I swear to-to-to-to… monkey feathers, YESSSS!" came Toph's strained voice from behind the closed door.
Zuko froze - froze - unable to process what the heck that had been. His mouth hung open slightly.
No. No. Nonononononono! He had not just almost walked in on his best friends having… eugh - doing… NO! He simply refused to acknowledge it. 'It' being nothing, of course, because NOTHING HAD JUST HAPPENED.
Shaking in a very literal sense, he withdrew from the cursed doorway and ran back to his own room where he proceeded to bang his head against the wall, desperate to not think about the nothing he had almost interrupted.
xxx
When Katara woke up, to her credit, she responded in a more… graceful way than Zuko. She quickly exited her bedroom, water pouch in tow, and immediately located the source of the yelling. And banging. She was dashing swiftly through the stone halls when she stumbled across a very tired-looking Zuko, sitting with his head in his hands in the house's common room.
"Zuko! Do you hear that?" she whispered, voice concerned in the motherly way it often was.
Said Zuko merely grunted.
Katara carried on anxiously, "I think Toph might be in some kind of trouble. Come on!"
Regretfully, oh, so regretfully, he raised his head to look at her. "She's fine."
The waterbender had to stop herself from reacting to the deep eyebags that hung under her companion's eyes - err, well, eye (it's counterpart was otherwise occupied) - and continued in desperation, urgently gesturing toward Toph's room, "That does not sound like she's fine, Zuko! Come on, we have to help her!"
The Fire Lord took a shaky breath, "Your first mistake, like mine, is assuming that Toph can be taken advantage of. I don't think it's possible. She'd just say 'no' and beat them up."
That answer proved to be insufficient for a mind like Katara's. "Then, what is happening?"
"Just," Zuko huffed in frustration, "You don't need to worry and you don't want to know."
"WHAT?" she insisted, hands shooting to her hips.
Just then, before Zuko had a chance to respond, a large moan that was decidedly male erupted from Toph's bedroom.
Katara's face dropped, and her eyes widened. "Who was that?"
Zuko's head flopped back between his hands, and he groaned. "Your brother."
"M-my what?" she stammered, expression blank.
"Sokka!" he shot back aggressively.
She nodded her head, understanding slowly dawning on her, "And Toph."
"Together," he finished.
Katara huffed in panicked disbelief, and that was all the warning Zuko got before she swooned and passed out, falling flat on the ground.
xxx
When Katara woke up (for the second time, that is), she found herself lying on a couch across from the still very awake firebender. At least he had obtained the social graces to move her up off the cold stone floor.
She sat up slowly and whined as pain flooded the base of her skull. That, however, was honestly the least of her concerns. She rubbed her head for a moment longer before breaking the silence, "So, are they a… thing?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Zuko! This is important! This Toph and Sokka."
"I don't care if it's Appa and Momo! I. Do. Not. Want. To. Know."
"Alright, fine… " she paused, "How long was I out for anyway?"
"I don't know. Maybe thirty minutes?"
"And they're still going?" she exclaimed.
"Dang it, Katara, they've been going at it for hours!" he hurled back, words laced with anger and frustration.
Katara's jaw dropped, "Wh- HOW? I didn't even know that was possible!"
A particularly loud BANG! broke through the atmosphere and they cringed simultaneously.
"Your brother," he started spitefully, "shouted 'Round 4: The Blind Bandit versus Captain Boomerang!' a few minutes ago.
"You know what? I like this 'not talking about it' idea of yours. Let's try it," she broke in hurriedly.
"Gladly."
"So how's life as the Fire - THUD! - Lord?"
Zuko drew his eyebrows (err, eyebrow) together. "It's stressful. But that's - SLAP! - to be expected, I guess. It's nice - CRUNCH? - to see everyone."
"Mhmm, mhmm," Katara egged on.
- BAM! -
Zuko's words hastened, "Have I ever told you the story of how I got my scar?" - CRACK! - "Recounting childhood trauma is a good way to pass time!"
Katara nodded encouragingly, and her hand shot to the blue jewel of her necklace, "Good idea! Afterwards, I can - GROWL! - tell you more about my mother!"
Something akin to an earthquake (which made sense, Katara supposed) rumbled through the walls.
"Well, I was thirteen - THUMP! - and my fath - 'OH, SOKKA!' - er. Bleeding hog monkeys, I CAN'T TAKE THIS!" Zuko yelled in the general direction of Toph's door.
Katara sighed.
The friends sat in awkward (not so silent) silence for several minutes.
Then, "I wish we knew what time it was," Zuko muttered, "I like calculating how little sleep I'm going to get every night."
Katara let that comment slide (she was too tired to deal with his self-destructive tendencies just then) and answered him, "It's four."
"Wh- How do you know?" He glanced around the room for a clock, but found only barren walls and an excess of fancy pillows.
She looked at him like he was stupid. "The moon?"
"What about it?"
"Because of my waterbending," she gestured to her still equipped water pouch, "I can tell where the moon is at any given point in time. Obviously."
"So, why can't I follow the sun with my fir-"
"Hey, guys!" Aang chirped in a voice that was wayyy too optimistic for four in the morning.
Katara mustered up a smile for him. "Hi, Sweetie."
Zuko was silent.
"Did you guys hear a weird noise a few minutes ago? It kinda sounded like a scream or something." His expression grew worried, "Is everyone okay?"
"Everyone's fine, Aang."
"Oh, ok!" With no need for any further explanation, he plopped down next to Katara on the couch, and happily focused on nothing at all until-
"SWEET TUI AND LA, YESS!"
Aang's eyes widened dramatically, "Was that Sokka?"
"JUST LIKE THAT, SNOOZLES, FU-"
"FUN!" Katara shouted over her in sheer panic and then repeated the word, quieter, "Fun."
The Avatar shook his head in visible confusion, "Was that Toph?"
"So, so much fun." Katara sighed, defeated. "Yes, that's Sokka and Toph. Together. In her room."
Aang quirked his head to the side, "Doing what?"
Zuko, showing his first real emotion since Aang arrived, snorted in a bout of much needed and quite uncontrollable laughter.
His sense of humor had improved dramatically since the end of the war.
Katara snapped him a look before turning back to Aang. "Just, think a little bit harder about it, Sweetie. I'm sure you'll figure it out."
xxx
Somewhere between the minutes, hours, and eternities that passed in that Spirits forsaken living room, night turned to day. A quite content looking duo walked in to find Aang, Katara, and even Zuko sprawled out across the various couches, fast asleep.
Sokka stomped up to where Aang and Katara lay entwined on a sofa. "Oogies!" he violently screeched as he all but ripped them apart.
Katara nearly jumped out of her skin. "Sokka! What the heck is wrong with you?"
"You know what I always say," he said sternly, "Leave room for Uncle Iroh. If you can't reasonably fit him between you with room to spare, then you're too close."
"Oh, that's righteous coming from you," Katara muttered, and Zuko snickered.
"Wh- wha?"
Toph interrupted. "Why are you guys in here anyways? Some secret slumber party I missed the memo on?"
Before Zuko or Katara could come to their senses, Aang piped up, "There was a loud noise last night and- "
The Avatar was forcibly shut up by Katara slamming her mouth to his, which naturally resulted in Sokka shoving a finger in his mouth and gagging dramatically towards Zuko.
"YOU KNOW WHAT," the firebender suddenly burst out, pointing an accusing finger at the Water Tribesman.
"Zuko, no!" Katara warned, breaking away from a very breathless and very gleeful Aang.
"Honestly," Sokka continued, never missing a beat, "Are you aware of just how traumatizing it is to know that my own flesh and blood is getting all 'kissy kissy, mushy mushy' with my best friend?"
Katara was milliseconds away from losing her cool and slapping him senseless when Toph interjected yet again.
"No, really, what happened to you guys? I might be blind, but even I can tell you had a rough night."
Zuko sent Katara a pleading glance, and she nodded her concession along with a silently mouthed 'do it'.
He, with a smile (Zuko, in spite of his sour temperament the night before, was now somehow in one of the best moods of his life and found this whole situation rather amusing), raised his one non-deep-fried eyebrow at Toph. She, of course, blind as she was, missed the hint entirely, but understood perfectly well what was implied when he answered in quite a mocking, half-irritated and half-playful tone, "I think your night was far 'rougher' than ours."
Sokka suddenly became a wooden board of wide eyes and horror while Aang and Katara fought to suppress their laughter.
No one said another word about it, but the blush on Toph's cheeks was practically writing essays on the topic.
They never mentioned it again (although who's shame they were sparing remains utterly unknown). And, a couple months later, when Sokka and Toph slipped seamlessly from friends to something more, not a single eye was bat nor eyebrow raised. After all, what else could they have expected?
The End
Yeah, ok, hope you enjoyed! Hahaha. And let me know what you think!
Also, please note that at some point, Sokka goes "SWEET TUI AND LA, YESS!" and I found that extremely funny because Tui and La means push and pull. *nudge nudge* *wink wink* Get it?
Ok that's it. Thanks for reading! :)