Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Haru's fake-looking facial hair. It all belongs to Mike, Brian, and Nickelodeon.
Okay, NOW The Duke attempts to remove Haru's mustache.
Chapter Two: Toph
"No! Get away from me!" Haru screamed. The Duke and Teo were chasing him around the area where the fountain used to be. A small, dark haired girl sat across the floor, leaning against the doorway. She sighed in exasperation.
"Get off!! Get off!! Leave me alo-" THUD. He was table-topped quite effectively by Teo's wheelchair. The Duke leaped onto his chest, laughing, and began attacking his face. Toph scratched at her feet. With Katara's daily healing sessions, the burns had faded pretty fast. Princess is still gonna get his ass whupped, though. In the week the burns took to heal, she felt as if she had become slow and lazy. No one else saw it that way, however. According to their heartbeats, most of them had become more frightened of her. Especially Zuko. He had recently taken to avoiding her. Aang teased him about this.
The Duke, however, admired Toph even more. As Sugar Queen had pointed out not so long ago, his cute little crush on the world's greatest Earthbender was always getting bigger. She figured he must think of her as some kind of celebrity, having traveled with the Avatar for so long. She hoped he wasn't into dating. It would suck to have to shoot him down.
"IT'S NOT FAKE!! THIS IS REAL FACIAL HAIR!!!" Haru, bellowing now, heaved himself up from under the tiny freedom fighter. He couldn't care less about Toph. He's just too busy chasing Sugar Queen. I swear, If he messes up Twinkle Toes' chance, I'll shove that glider up his--
"Wait, Toph likes Sokka!!??"
SHIT!!!!!!! WHO SAID THAT!? The little blind girl flattened her feet against the ground, listening. Twinkle Toes! But how the hell did he find out!? Who else is up there?…Zuko!! I'll F---ing kill that scrawny Fire Nation bitch!!
"Hey, did you guys hear that?" The mustachioed one asked The Duke and Teo.
"It sounded kind of like Aang…could you tell what he was saying?" Asked Teo.
The Duke was uninterested. "Nope! Now are you sure that mustache doesn't come off?" Phew…they didn't hear. Hmmm. Easily distractible…
"I think I heard what he said!" Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap… "Sounded like he said something about Toph." The little girl let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Thank the spirits they can't feel vibrations…
"Hey, there you are, Toph! You musta heard what he said!" Called Teo across the balcony. Toph jerked out of her slouch.
"A-actually, I wasn't really paying attention! Sorry!"
Unfortunately, being blind and all, She couldn't see The Duke eyeing her curves. Her boxy, high-shouldered traveling clothes might have hidden most development, but as she straightened up, she subconsciously revealed that which she hoped a certain boomerang guy might notice. Unbeknownst to most, the Beifong heiress was well into her growth spurt. She had even grown a few inches taller in the past month. Of course, she could bend any crud off her skin, preventing zits or pimples. And of course, Snoozles is to busy shitting himself over that fan-waving SLUT to even notice!!
Toph was too busy mentally cussing out Sokka and/or Suki to notice that The Duke had blushed and turned away. Haru, however, enraptured though he was in Katara, who had stepped out of the doorway a few moments ago, was aware enough to smile and say:
"Duke, are you checking out Toph again? Hey Teo, The Duke is checking out Toph again!"
All mentioned parties turned red instantly, except for the fact that Teo was confused, and Toph was glaring through the crimson. Katara choked on some water she had been drinking. The Duke recovered and leapt up again in an attempt to remove the mustache.
"DAMMIT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO F---ING SAY ANYTHING, YOU MOTHERBITCH!!" He roared as loudly as a 10-year-old can. Haru froze in the face of the explicit profanity. Katara gasped. Her cup clattered to the floor.
Aang stood in the hall a ways away from the awkward scenario, rubbing at the red spot on his forehead with a tattooed hand. Okay Aang, you can do this. All you have to do is march right up to her and say: 'Katara, the reason I kissed you before the invasion is that I love you!' Like Katara said, you're smart, br- Shit! Katara! I'm trying to confess to Katara! I don't deserve her! What if she rejects me? What if-
"Hey Aang, howzit going?"
The confuzzled Avatar was torn away from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Sokka standing there, gnawing on the leg of some random animal he must have found.
"Oh, hey Sokka! I'm fine! H-have you seen K-Katara?" He said. To anyone but the Water Tribe boy, Aang's happy expression would quickly have been exposed as fake.
"I think she's over there. She said that The Duke was attacking Haru. You know how she is." He took another huge bite of his mystery meat.
"I wish I knew more…" Aang whispered to himself. Sokka, teeth still in the drumstick, glanced up at the Airbender.
"Id oo shay fumfink?" He asked. Aang rapidly shook his hands back and forth.
"Uh, no I didn't! Thanks Sokka!" He exclaimed while darting down the corridor.
The young swordsman smiled a knowing smile and returned to his meat.
"DUKE!! TOPH, DID YOU TEACH HIM THOSE WORDS!?" Katara screamed. The Duke halted in mid-rip and began to cower in terror of the waterbender's wrath. Haru crawled to his feet and went to go nurse his facial wound. Toph picked her nose.
"Don't look at me, Sugar Queen. It's not my fault if The Duchess was listening to me cuss out Princess!" The embarrassment on her face had long since vanished. The Earthbender flicked a booger in the direction of the moping Haru. Katara's scowl deepened.
"Yes it is! You shouldn't swear so much in the first place! C'mon! We need to talk." Her tan arm grabbed Toph's pale one. Katara dragged the smaller girl out into the hallway.
"Katara, what the hell? Where are you taking me?"
The Water Tribe girl twirled around, putting a finger to her lips. Her eyes darted up and down the corridor.
"Shhhh! Just follow me," She whispered, and Toph did. What's up with her heartbeat? It's so fast and erratic…worried? No, nervous. And she keeps looking back and forth, so…
"You wanna talk about Twinkle Toes, dontcha?" She asked, a smug smile appearing beneath her bangs. She felt Katara stiffen in shock. So predictable…
"Wha- how did y- oh yeah…" She said. The waterbender slumped in defeat.
"Yes…"
Aang stepped into the fountain area. Teo was wheeling away to explore the temple further. Haru appeared to be brooding. The Duke was waving what looked like facial hair in his face.
"Hey, have you guys seen Katara?"
I think the upside down ceilings count as balconies of some sort. At the Western Air Temple, I mean.