A/N: Yeah, let's post two in one day. Why not?

OOO

Day 13: Future

…

Best Friends AU Part 2

OOO

"Toph, for God's sake, calm down," Zuko begged as he rubbed his eyes in exasperation. He walked into his living room and placed a cup of tea in front of his panicked friend. Learning how to brew tea properly was really a good call, because if there was one thing that being Katara's boyfriend for so many years taught Zuko, it was how to deal with her friends. Toph seemed to react well to tea, of all things.

Of course, nothing stopped her panicking once it started, at least the tea made her talk slowly enough for him to understand her.

Toph shook her head violently and sipped her tea like it was the elixir of life. "Can't. Need to talk to you. Something is screwy is going on and we need to discuss this."

"Couldn't it have waited until tomorrow?" Zuko asked incredulously. "Or you could have, you know, called."

Toph was adamant. "Nope. Gotta happen now, in person. World is ending. Or I'm dying. Which are basically the same things, but we don't have time for semantics."

Zuko sat on the armchair across from her and gestured for her to go on. "Okay, so what kind of an issue is this? Job? Family?"

Toph sighed, almost annoyed that she was admitting this aloud. "…it's a guy issue."

A withering look immediately overtook Zuko's features. "…oh God, can't you talk to Katara about this stuff?"

"No!" Toph explained hurriedly. "Katara would come to the same conclusions I'm coming to which is exactly the problem. I need a straight male to sort this out for me. Sokka's a total idiot so he can't help me, so I went to you."

Zuko scratched the back of his head. "Not that I'm not totally willing to help you, but I sort of expected you to run to Aang first. What happened with him?"

Toph blushed brilliantly. "Conflict of interests," she replied automatically.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Suddenly the coffee table was looking downright fascinating. Toph was tapping her nails on her mug when she began contemplatively, "…what would you call it if a guy went through saying how good he was at making girls come, detailed the process to you, and subtly suggested that he would do a better job at pleasing you than any of your other boyfriends?"

Zuko blinked. "Um…he is very clearly hitting on me…err, you."

Toph nodded, eerily calm at the answer, looking as if she were carefully mulling over his answer. "Now say this person is drunk. Does the answer still apply?"

"How drunk?"

"Still sitting and talking straight, but acting braver than usual."

Zuko leaned forward with interest. "Wait, we're not talking about Aang are—?"

"Just answer the question Sparky!" she rushed impatiently.

"I'd say so," Zuko answered honestly, a grin slowly starting to creep up on his face. "Alcohol usually takes off your filter. Unless this person was slobbering all over you and couldn't stand straight, I'd say this was just some incredible doses of honesty."

"Are you serious?" Toph asked, looking panicked all over again.

"This is about Aang!" Zuko pointed out triumphantly. "You wouldn't be panicking about this otherwise. He said something to you last night."

Toph decided to remain quiet and take a particularly long sip from her cup of tea. But Zuko knew Toph well by now and knew that he was right on the money. Which, if that was the case, definitely left some very interesting questions still hanging in the air.

"Holy shit," Zuko muttered to himself suddenly. "I didn't know he was into you. Plus his flirting game is seriously on point."

"Oh, Jesus Christ, can you focus for two seconds?" Toph practically shouted.

"Chill, will you?" Zuko shushed. "Katara's sleeping off a hangover and she'll kill me if I wake her up before two. Besides, what's the issue? I don't know why you're panicking."

"Because Aang's my best friend!" Toph screamed quietly—how such a thing was possible was a wonder, but Toph was able to make her panic heard even when she was whispering. "This messes up everything! I mean, how am I supposed to be around him anymore? How am I supposed to concentrate anymore? Everything is going to get so confusing and I just—ugh!" She finally groaned a loud and fell back to lay out on the couch in frustration.

Zuko frowned and leaned his chin on his knuckles. "Okay, all of that was stupid." Toph looked at him angrily before he amended his statement. "I mean, he was drunk! Drunk people say stupid things. You usually just laugh that stuff off. Sokka drunk flirted with me one night because he thought I was Suki for some reason. Don't ask," he held up a hand when Toph stared at him quizzically. "The only reason for you to be panicking like this is because you were into it."

A pause. "That is totally ridiculous."

"Holy shit, you were into it."

"Did you listen to what I just said?"

"Yup, and it reeked of bullshit. You like him. Or you at the very least liked what he was telling you. Which is essentially the same thing, which means that you are worried about your potential crush with your best friend. Is that the issue we're dealing with finally?"

Toph rolled over so that her back was facing Zuko and mumbled an answer into the cushions that vaguely sounded like a "yes." The older man couldn't help but laugh. The first thing he had told Katara when he met Aang and Toph was that they seemed too close and coupley to be just friends. But she told him that they had just been friends for a very long time and were extremely close, so Zuko took her word for it and let it be. It was good to see that he was actually right about all of this. The two of them were carrying around some hidden tension that suddenly just rammed itself into attention.

Zuko stood and sat on the arm of the couch, patting Toph sympathetically on the head. "Look, I don't really see the issue here. You guys are already close. Would a relationship really be that bad?"

The girl's head shot up and she stared at Zuko like he'd just proposed that the sky was green. "Would a relationship really be that bad?" Toph asked in disbelief. "Of course it would!"

But Zuko was unfazed. "Oh yeah? Name one way it would."

"…he's a freaking Sagittarius. We're astronomically incompatible."

"Okay, your argument officially sucks," Zuko decided. "I don't understand what the issue with you and him is. You're kind of just proving what I already said would happen with you two in like three years."

Toph flipped back over and faced Zuko. "You predicted the future of our relationship upon meeting us? Who does that?"

"Someone who is really good at picking up on the obvious," Zuko promised. "And taking into consideration what you just told me, you guys are going steady in about…two weeks."

"Two weeks?"

Zuko shrugged and took Toph's empty teacup back into the kitchen to clean it. "It would have been shorter, but I have to take into consideration your stubbornness. But trust me, I'm good at this. I was right when I predicted it would take Katara a week to finally say yes to me when I proposed to her. And I was right about how many tries it would take for Sokka to pass his driving test. I'm right about this too. Two weeks, you'll see."

"You're full of shit Sparky," Toph smirked. She picked up the television remote and was ready to sift through their DVR for something to watch. "So, we were momentarily attracted to each other. A relationship that does not make," she promised.

Zuko chuckled and turned on the water. "Whatever you say, Toph."