Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Author's Note: I've been begged to do a Tokka one forever, and this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while, trying to take shape. This one fits in between Chapters 3 and 4. It's what Sokka and Toph were doing while Aang and Katara were making out. You might want to re-read that chapter to remind yourself what was going on.

Ah, Poetry!

"Mind if I come in?" Toph asked Sokka, standing in the doorway to his room.

"Why not? Misery loves company, right?"

"You think I enjoy being around those two any more than you do when they get like that?" she challenged, entering and standing beside the bed, on which Sokka was sprawled.

"I don't know. I guess I never really thought about it."

"Of course, leaving the room doesn't really help that much in my case," Toph admitted. "I can still feel everything going on in the house, and some distance around it."

"Oh," Sokka commented. "That's kind of a downside to your abilities, huh?"

"Yeah," Toph paused, sensing. "They've gone outside now." She hesitated again, picking up the vibrations of Aang and Katara's actions. "Um, Sokka, whatever you do, don't look out your window."

"I don't have a window," he informed her, sounding confused.

"Oh, good. No worries then. I don't pay much attention to things like that."

"Hold on. Why shouldn't I look? What are they doing?" Sokka was beginning to sound agitated. He stood up and took a step toward the door. Toph grabbed his arm.

"Didn't I tell you not to look?" she reminded him. "Didn't you leave so that you wouldn't have to see anything?" Sokka stopped, and she suspected he was looking at her.

"I suppose you're right," he admitted in defeat. He threw himself back on the bed.

"Do you mind if I join you there?" Toph asked, trying not to let her face heat up as much as it wanted to. "If I put some distance between me and the ground, it sort of dulls the vibrations."

"Sure, no problem," Sokka said as he shifted to give her some room. Toph climbed up and seated herself gingerly at the foot of the bed, trying not to think about the shape of his body that she could detect through the impression on the mattress.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, I just pulled some things off the shelf of the library that came with the house. Not much of interest, I'm afraid."

"Could you read something to me?"

"You want me to read you love poetry?" he wondered disbelievingly. Toph cursed her heart for actually speeding up at the suggestion. It's not like he would mean anything by it. She was infinitely grateful that he couldn't pick up on pulse and breathing rates like she could.

"Well, if that's all there is," she replied, proud of the indifference in her voice. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

Sokka obligingly spent the next half hour reading to Toph, and since she couldn't see his face, she was able to pretend that he was actually directing the poems to her. She knew it was foolishness, but she would take these moments where she could get them.

--

Author's note: Wow, two updates in one day! Can you tell I just finished my last exam? Well, I technically still have to finish the take-home portion of one, but it's almost done, so I decided to take a break. Anyway, now that I don't have homework, expect more frequent updates from me. Next up in this set: Maiko. Oh, these could also be seen as a birthday present from me to my readers. I turned 32 last weekend, and I'm not afraid to admit it!:)

Member of the Boomeraang Squad: charleegirl, Jesus.Lives, Liselle129

Thank you to frozenheat, Tech-Man, IGAF-kun, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Livexthexmagic, AvatarJunkie, GreEn-eYeS119, and Kumori Doragon for reviewing Chapter 8.

Jesus.Lives: Yes, Katara loves him! I totally believe that.

kataang93: Yeah, it would be great to have Season 3 open with a confession scene, possibly much like the one I wrote in Enlightenment. Unfortunately, it won't, because this is television and they're going to make us suffer a little more. We'll be lucky if it happens in the first six episodes.

MyOtherName: You gave a really long review, but I think I've sort of already responded to everything, so I just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear about your potential grounding. I'm glad you've still been able to read my stuff (thanks for the long review for Destiny's Call, more on that later).

Piezo: Well, here's your Tokka at last. Sorry it's so short and one-sided, but that's all I got. As for a Tokka C2 name, how about "Dual Sarcasm"? "Loudmouths United?" "Earth Girl and Boomerang Guy?" Yeah, okay, those all stink, but I'm just coming out of exam week, so cut me some slack!

MormonMaiden: Never doubt the Kataang! We shall take over the world! Can you tell I'm a little slap-happy?

SnakeEyes16: I think that "building a moment" is one of my gifts, and I'm so glad there are people like you out there that I can share them with! And I love applying music to life, so there you are.