OOO

Day 4: Forgiveness

…

Canon Universe

OOO

Katara gaped and tried to find her calm voice. "What happened!?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "Talk to this lummox over here."

"Toph, I said I was sor—!"

"Spirits, your ankle is so swollen," Katara exclaimed worriedly, rushing over and kneeling. She picked up the blind girl's foot and started inspecting it, slowly raising it at different levels while Toph winced above her. "Sweetie, this looks dislocated! Look how it's twisted. What did you do?"

The Earthbender exaggeratedly nudged Aang's arm. "Twinkle Toes, would you like to inform Sugar Queen of your recent failings?"

Aang looked down at his feet, nervously clutching Toph's hand that he had flung over his shoulder when he helped her limp back to the front of the temple. "I mean…I messed up my stances today…"

"The idiot sends an airborne boulder while I'm coming up from under the ground, so of course because I can't see—!"

"I thought you'd come up sooner!" Aang panicked out of guilt. "You usually hear those coming! Because, you know, you're amazing, and wonderful, and the best Earthbending teacher I've ever had, and you're smart, and—"

"Oh, shut up. I'm mad at you," Toph frowned.

Katata walked around Toph's other side and grabbed Toph's other arm. "Okay. You two stop bickering please. Toph, we need to lay you down."

Toph grumbled under her breath, but allowed Katara to grab her other arm. "You're in for so much groveling after this."

Well, that much Aang knew. After having to hold Toph down while Katara snapped Toph's ankle into place—"We have to reset it before I heal it" she informed the younger girl regrettably—Toph's gaze took on a quality that was nothing short of homicidal. She wasn't allowed to put pressure on the foot for the next two days, which left her inactive, vulnerable, and livid. Because it was Aang's fault, even though his constant apologies were fired at rapid succession, nothing seemed to appease her. At this rate, Aang was going to need to start writing a will and digging a grave for himself, because the minute Toph was up and around again, he was going to get it. Terribly.

You know, because Toph didn't care about destroying the Airbender gene pool. She just cared about seeing him in just as much pain as she was.

He needed to think of a way to appease her, and quick.

The first thing that he could think of was being her personal lap dog. It was the least he could do considering the fact that she couldn't really walk. So for the rest of the day after their failed training session, Aang offered to carry Toph piggyback to wherever she wanted to go—and boy did she abuse that. He had her cart her around to random rooms in the temple—a very large temple—just so she could sit there, kick a few pebbles around and demand to be taken back. But he couldn't complain. She had all the power. He even spooned out her food for her and took care of her dishes because Aang valued his life that much.

But despite all the acts of kindness, Toph still looked like she was plotting something devious. Every time he'd offer to carry her or bring her what she needed, she accepted with a frigid nod and didn't even acknowledge his presence at all. No words aside from orders. No smiles. Nothing. She wasn't even this mean to Zuko, and he had burned both her feet.

Wait a minute…that might work.

The next day, Zuko pulled Aang out of bed at the break of dawn—Firebending training was no joke—and carted him over to the courtyard that they frequently practiced in. But before Zuko began to rattle off the tedious drills Aang was going to be doing that morning, Aang interrupted him with an odd question.

"How did you get Toph to forgive you for the burning her feet thing?"

Zuko raised a brow as he shucked off his shirt and threw it towards the stairs. "Pardon?"

"You know," he tried again. "You burned her feet, and she was livid. But, now the two of you are perfectly pleasant with each other. How'd you do it?"

Realizing that they weren't going to start training anytime soon, Zuko sighed and walked over to the steps leading out of the courtyard that Katara usually occupied when she was being invasive and protective and watching their training sessions like a hawk. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that you broke Toph's ankle yesterday?"

"It was an accident!" Aang bemoaned with volume. "I didn't know she would come up that fast and I was so into the fight that I just—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Zuko interjected quickly. "It's fine. I was kidding. You need to calm down, or you're going to drive yourself sparse."

Aang frowned bitterly. "This coming from the person born from a race of people known for their tempers."

Zuko scowled in return. "Ha ha. Funny."

"Seriously though," Aang asked desperately. "I'm at a loss. I was practically waiting on her all day yesterday, I apologized a million times, but she won't even take the time to yell at me anymore. I mean, how the heck do I follow this up?"

The Firebender leaned backwards and stared up at the sky. "You're really torn up about this, aren't you?"

"She's going to kill me!" Aang panicked. "I have to figure out a way to get her to forgive me otherwise there's no telling what she'll do when she's better."

Zuko shook his head and smirked wryly. "Considering the fact that I think she likes you too much for that, I doubt you have to worry about harm to yourself. Besides, you're going about this all wrong."

Aang hummed in confusion. "What do you mean? I can't think of any other way to apologize."

"Well, from the little time I've been a part of your group, I can confidently say that your little Earthbender is a hard nut to crack. Very stubborn. Very demanding."

Aang pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his knees, prepared to drown in his sorrows. "Don't I know it."

"Look," Zuko began. "I can tell you how I got her to forgive me, but it's not going to work with you, because we're different people, and she sees us differently."

Aang nodded. "Okay…"

"She said she knew off the bat that it was an accident," Zuko started to explain. "I had to do the whole waiting around on her thing too. But it worked, because in exchange for her going against all her friends to defend someone who wound up hurting her, I had to swallow my pride and embarrass myself in exchange. I put out my head just as much as she did, so we evened it all out."

The monk decided that that made a lot of sense. But something still wasn't right. "So then what did I betray that I have to make up for? It wasn't my fault! I didn't mean it!"

"Neither did I," Zuko shrugged. "But that doesn't make what you did any less wrong. You still have to realize the slight. But like I said, it's different for you."

"Well, how is it different?" Aang asked in exasperation.

Zuko smiled this time and turned his head knowingly towards Aang. "I already told you. She likes you."

"Well, of course she likes me. I mean we're friends. We all like each other," Aang reasoned.

"No, you dunderhead," Zuko replied with an eye roll. "I mean she likes you."

"Yes, I heard what you said. But, I already told you that we all—oh!"

Zuko actually chuckled and nodded his head resolutely. "Yeah. It's kind of like if you went and burned me during training. You're the student, yet you caught her off guard. You embarrassed her. That's why waiting on her and apologizing isn't going to do much, because that's the kind of thing that you'd do without thinking about it. It's not a stretch for you to apologize in that way. She's still mortified."

Aang was only half paying attention the entire speech. His face was flushed in embarrassment. "…wait, she likes me?"

"Yes, Aang. Do keep up."

The younger boy shook his head, trying to dispel the nonsensical thoughts that were suddenly building up. "W-Wait, how do you know she likes me? She told you?"

"She didn't have to," Zuko said knowingly. "I'm just very observant. She's always sitting next to you, always joking around with you, always trying to impress you, and always interested in hearing what you have to say even though she does a damn of a good job of not making it obvious to you. And then of course, you go and humiliate her. Of course she's upset with you."

Okay, that definitely made a lot of sense. Toph wasn't the type to look hurt or visibly embarrassed. All negative and weak displays of emotion were always translated and outwardly displayed as anger and contempt. It was how the younger girl was wired. So of course the only way that he was going to get through to her was…

Aang's cheeks reddened. Oh Spirits, he didn't think he'd be able to do it. The nerve he'd have to work up.

Zuko smiled. "I'm guessing you figured out what you have to do."

Aang, in the meanwhile, was having an internal crisis. "But wait, I don't—"

"You're talking to me, remember?" Zuko reminded his student. "Judging by the way you were flushing when I told you she likes you, I already know how this is going to play out." Zuko stood up and brushed off his pants. "Now come on. Enough talking. You have to start your drills and I don't need you distracted."

Of course, it was too late for that. Aang was totally out of it for the rest of the day, even when he went to bed that night. But suddenly, what Zuko was saying made a lot of sense, even though the very thought or replaying that conversation made him all embarrassed and his nerves stared to speed up his heart in a way that made it impossible to go to sleep. Why this was happening he wasn't sure, but all he knew was that this entire scenario regarding Toph's injury just became a hell of a lot more mortifying than it needed to be. Aang didn't think it was possible, but perhaps this meant something in the grander scheme of things. Gyatso always told him that sometimes you didn't realize inherent things about yourself until someone else forces you to look it straight in the eye.

Aang was starting to find this extremely applicable.

So, resigned to the fact that this was probably the only honest and sincere thing he could do to make Toph forgive him, Aang decided that the next morning during breakfast was as good a time as any to clean the slate and simultaneously spill his heart out.

Once Katara had passed out everyone's plates and the entire camp was sitting down and enjoying a meal, Aang decided to stand up and walk across their little makeshift circle to Toph who was sitting with a frown on her face next to Zuko. When Aang finally stopped right in front of her, Toph scoffed and turned her head up at Aang.

"In case you were confused, I'm still not talking to you," she informed him with bitterness.

Aang nodded. "No, I expected that. But it's fine. I don't need you to say anything at the moment." And after collecting all of his nerves, he calmly leaned down, grabbed Toph's cheek, and kissed her straight on the lips in front of everyone in the temple, leaving the entire assembly completely lost for words.

The monk figured that Zuko was definitely right about Toph. Not only was Zuko knowingly smiling, but Toph could have easily pushed Aang away during the ten seconds that his lips remained attached to hers. She didn't. When Aang pulled away, Toph was still sitting there, her eyes blinking in shock and her cheeks flamed up worse than he had ever seen them.

Aang offered a meek smile. "I'm sorry for hurting your foot, Toph. And I'm sorry for embarrassing you. I'll never do it again, I promise."

And with that, Aang picked up his food, and walked out of the courtyard, deciding that he was done getting himself into compromising situations for the rest of the day. He wondered if that would be enough to please her and make up for whatever he had done. There was no telling with Toph. He might have just made matters worse.

But, if that kiss was for Toph what it was for Aang, he didn't think she'd mind the gesture. He certainly didn't.