OOO

Day 8: Dreams

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Canon Universe

OOO

Aang couldn't remember if it was Toph's idea, or Zuko's. They were both capable of coming up with outlandish ideas—Zuko because he was always up to challenging his student, and Toph because she was always into doing crazy things that kept Aang on his toes. Either way, when Toph and Aang planned a mutual visit to the Fire Palace, the three of them decided that it was due time for one of their good old Fire on Air on Earth spars.

It wound up happening in one of the courtyards in the back of the palace, since that was the only place that Zuko could think of where he practiced his Firebending and also didn't mind Toph ruining with her Earthbending. In a strange way, the three of them preferred this method of catching up over trying to question each other over dinner. Besides, everyone was usually too busy fighting to bother putting in an effort in leaving out details.

"You know," Zuko complained after Toph and Aang had effectively ganged up on him and left him on the ground panting and asking for a reprieve. "Asking about my wedding night in the middle of the fight was low."

Toph didn't seem to care much. "Hey, trash talking was not prohibited. Isn't that right, commissioner?"

"Trash talking is considered fair game by omission," Aang smirked. "We never made any rules prohibiting it."

Zuko looked up at the two younger benders in disbelief. "You two are horrid," he sighed. "Toph is a tyrant, but you enable her, Aang."

Aang took his discarded shirt and hung it around the back of his neck. "I wouldn't use the word enable. I just back up her nonsense with the appropriate logic. She actually has a fair bit of leverage on her side if she'd only think a little."

"Oh, bite me," Toph complained, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'm not an idiot."

Aang sat down next to Zuko who was still sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath. "I didn't say idiot. But you get rash and illogical when you're mad."

Toph scoffed and smacked Aang on the back of the head before she placed her legs across both Aang's and Zuko's laps and laid down on the ground. "Wow, Twinkle Toes. Personally, I'm offended. I can be perfectly level headed and logical."

Zuko couldn't help but laugh. "Level headed and logical are two things that don't fit with you. I don't buy it."

"Ah, shut up," Toph scowled. "For your information, my father has taught me plenty about keeping a calm and analytical head. I'm not the heiress to the Bei Fong Trading Company for nothing."

Aang blinked. "You never told me that."

Zuko nodded. "Yeah. I thought you were going to set up that Metalbending school."

"Eh, I'm keeping my options open," Toph said. "I'll probably open that school someday, but a part of me wouldn't mind taking over the company on the side."

Zuko nudged Aang. "Is this still your girlfriend or am I missing something?"

"Come off it," Toph frowned. "You guys never thought about what you'd do if you weren't the Avatar, or the Fire Prince? I always dreamed that if I wasn't a prodigy Earthbender, I'd take over my Dad's company."

"You a business mogul?" Zuko exclaimed.

Aang chuckled and nodded in agreement. "She's good with numbers and talking with people. She makes dealing with stuffy nobles over at the Earth Kingdom a breeze."

Toph grinned. "I was the Earth King's financial advisor for a while when the two of us stayed in Ba Sing Se last year."

Zuko rubbed his chin. "…seriously?"

"Mmhm," Toph confirmed. "Oh, you're welcome, by the way. The funding he was going to provide you for your reconstruction efforts was al over the place."

Zuko hummed in thought. "…would you mind looking at a few things for me tomorrow?"

"Alright," Toph agreed. "On one condition! Admit that you would have totally become a musician if you weren't a Firebending prince."

Aang laughed outwardly on that and had to hold on to Toph's knees to keep himself from falling over. While they were travelling, Iroh had let slip that Zuko was pretty good on the tsungi horn. One night at the palace when the three of them decided that pulling out some drinks would be a good way to wrap up the night, Toph and Aang made sure to slip Zuko more alcohol than he realized until the prince drunkenly jumped up and played through an entire sonata. He was pretty good at it, much to their surprise.

"Shut up!" Zuko protested vehemently.

"Oh, come on Zuko," Aang grinned. "You were really good that night," he complimented earnestly. "Considering that you were drunk, you didn't make any mistakes. It was kind of amazing."

Zuko rolled his eyes and fell back on the ground. "My mother made me learn. She knew that I wasn't much of a fighter, so she figured I'd be good at the arts. The tsungi horn was the first thing she pushed at me."

"You're making yourself sound like an unwilling victim," Toph accused. "Admit it. Maybe you hated it at first, but you eventually liked it."

"Iroh told me you performed for your mother and him all the time," Aang added.

Zuko groaned and covered his eyes with his arm. "Okay, fine! I briefly had this delusion that I could…maybe…perform at Ember Island's Annual Music Festival and get scouted to be in an orchestra. But that was only for a couple of years!"

"You know," Aang mused. "You already pull off the formal look. You could definitely still do that if you wanted to."

"Yeah right," Zuko sighed. "I barely have enough time to spend time with my companions, let alone perform in a traveling troupe."

"Aw!" Toph bemoaned. "I would have liked to have seen you turn into a little performer! With a stage name and everything! Oh spirits, imagine if you got a bunch of fanmail! Girls sending you their delicates and everything, haha!" Toph dissolved into laughter and held up a hand. Aang couldn't help but return her high five and laugh along with her. It was a funny thought, especially since, out of their entire group, Zuko handled embarrassment the worst.

"Alright, alright," Zuko scowled. "Aang. If you weren't the Avatar, what would you have done with yourself?"

Aang looked up in thought and shrugged. "I was a decent baker. I made fruit tarts with Gyatso al the time."

"That is completely valid," Toph confirmed. "Have you tried his pastries? Ugh, they're amazing."

"You've had them?" Zuko asked.

"I trade her baked goods for back massages," Aang explained. "She's gotten better at them." Toph smiled and let Aang place a kiss on her forehead.

"So, would you have made a business out of it?" Zuko asked.

"I mean, probably," Aang pondered. "We always sold egg custard tarts for cheap at the temples. I could have sold them. But…I dunno…"

"What?" Toph and Zuko asked at once.

Aang scratched the back of his head. "I mean, For the first twelve years of my life, I wasn't the Avatar. I always had this…really stupid idea. It wouldn't have worked. But, I wanted to leave the temple."

"You couldn't leave?" Zuko asked.

"I mean, we could," Aang corrected. "But…families weren't our thing. The male and female temples visited each other for one week each year and…during that time you would find a partner. Someone you liked enough and trusted enough to…have a child with."

"I read about that," Zuko remembered. "The female Air Nomads sent their children to other temples to be brought up by nuns and monks. Right?"

"Exactly," Aang confirmed. "But after visiting other nations, that just didn't seem fair. I always dreamed of leaving the temple, and meeting someone that I could stay with. Have a family that I could keep. Be in a place where hoping for attachments to other people wasn't a bad thing." Aang turned to Toph and grabbed her hand, running his fingers over her knuckles. "But, I guess that doesn't count, because in a weird way I got what I wanted."

Toph was motionless for a moment before she grinned widely and reached up to give Aang a quick kiss. "You're a mushy dork, you know that?"

"You know it," Aang agreed with a smirk before returning the kiss.

Zuko shook his head, but couldn't help but smile at the sight of his two friends. "You two are a miracle. I don't how you guys do it."