Day 27: Heartbeat
"Hey, Katara! Wanna see my new waterbending trick?" Aang shouts across the living room of Zuko's beach house, interrupting Katara's chat with Zuko.
Toph raises an eyebrow in interest, when she feels Katara's heartbeat slowing down, as she turns around to look at Aang.
Zuko's heartbeat, on the other hand, actually starts to beat faster.
Toph narrows her eyes. Huh, what could that mean?
She hasn't seen Katara and Zuko in a few years, and hasn't known for a long time what is going on with them. Aang, Suki, and Sokka are all in Cranefish Town, which is relatively close to Yu Dao, so she has seen them frequently.
Toph knows that Katara lives in the Fire Nation since a few months, but given how nomadic her lifestyle was before, Toph doesn't think Katara will stay here forever.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Later, okay?" Katara answers Aang's question.
He grins at her with a thumb's up, then resumes his task to beat Sokka at forming animals from water melon pulp.
Zuko's heartbeat slows down again, while Katara's speeds up, as she glances back at Zuko. They sit next to each other on a couch, both turned towards each other and leaned forward in each other's directions. Zuko emanates a calm and peaceful sensation through the ground, while Katara feels as if she would start to hyperventilate at any moment. Her heartbeat is going crazy.
Toph smirks. Hopefully, it really is what it looks like. She didn't have a lot of opportunities to tease her friends lately. Of course, teasing Sokka and Suki is off limits, since their relationship has a break, and Toph is not an asshole. And teasing Aang about all the girls who flush and wave, whenever he walks by, is just too easy. Besides, she suspects him to get used to all the admiration, and she doesn't want him to turn arrogant.
"Oi Sweetness! How long do you plan on staying in the Fire Nation?!" Toph shouts from her position in the large armchair. She leans back, crosses her arms and legs and waits for their reactions.
Both heartbeats speed through the ceiling.
"Uh… I don't know," Katara says in a higher pitch than usual. "It depends on… certain things."
"Aren't you tired of travelling so much? You're not the nomad, that's Aang. I thought you always wanted to settle down for a home and all that boring stuff." Toph cocks her head to the side and frowns as if she were worried. Which she is. She doesn't think that this lifestyle is fit for Katara. It can only change and harden her, and Toph doesn't want that. She'd rather have the soft and warm Katara who still believes in destiny and true love and all that crap. Not that Toph would let anyone know that.
Katara twists her mouth, then shrugs.
Zuko's heart practically screams "Stay here!".
"Yeah, sure. I… just don't know where and with whom," Katara's heartbeat quickens a little, "and how. I don't know what to do yet. You all found your place, and I want that, too. I want to be needed somewhere."
Toph almost snorts at the disgusting heartbeat pattern which comes from Zuko. It's so desperately screaming "I need you!".
"Well, you can stay here as long as you want to," says Zuko, finally choosing to join the conversation.
Katara turns towards him, her heart almost beating out of her chest. "Really?" she whispers.
Toph rolls her eyes. Girl, be a bit less obvious, would you?
"Of course," Zuko answers quickly, sitting up straighter. "And your presence here helped me a lot in the last months. You have such good ideas how to better the life of my people."
Katara's heartbeat is so strong that Toph is sure Katara is flushing.
"Thank you," Sugar Queen says softly and grabs Zuko's hand to squeeze it.
Zuko almost has a heart attack.
Toph rolls her eyes. Okay, that's getting disgusting. She thought it might be more fun to mess with their crushes… But maybe it makes Toph a bit happy that her friends seem happy, too.
Later that night, she regrets her choices. Katara and Zuko are both in the kitchen, apparently it was a coincidence, but Toph felt how Zuko listened and followed Katara down there, when she left her room.
Toph isn't able to sleep with all of these vibrations coming from down there. She groans and rolls her eyes. Well, as long as it's only vibrations and not disgusting noises yet, she should be fine.