HELLO!! Gosh it's been a while! I am SO sorry, my faithful readers and fellow Taangers for the severe delay in updating :( I just got tired of Avatar while I was in the midst of writing this chaper. So I decided to take a break and have been working on a Sonny With a Chance fic. So if ya like the show go and check it out :) it's called Sonny Munroe vs. The Read Chad Dylan Cooper. But anywho, now this Taangy chapter is up and, if i do say so myself, it is a pretty darn good (and long) chapter! Tell me what you think :)

THANK YOU for all of you who have been so faithful to my stories. It means a lot :)

Disclaimer:.......I DON'T OWN AVATAR.....OKAY???.........gosh...haha

ENJOY :D

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The Beach

This was one of the times Toph Bei Fong really wished she could see. The night before the day Sokka had met his sword master, the gaang had been sprawled out underneath the open sky, watching a meteor shower. Amongst the 'ooh's and 'ah's at the supposedly breathtaking display, she had also heard her friends marveling about the stars and how beautiful the night sky was in general. Ever since then, (even though only a few days had elapsed since that night,)Toph had not bothered to put up her usual earth tent. She just slept on the bare ground staring blindly up at where the star scattered heavens were supposed to be. The earthbender wondered about the stars. The way her friends described them-- to Toph, the stars seemed like a mystery, yet, they also seemed like they had all the secrets and answers to the Universe… And boy, did Toph need some answers.

You could say she had been rather—bothered--lately..and confused with herself about many, many things that just didn't make any sense. For instance, she wondered why, all of the sudden, boys had become very important to her. Sokka had always been so much fun to tease, and she had always clung to him throughout their travels, his muscular arms giving her a sense of security whenever she couldn't 'see' very well. So naturally, she had developed a bit of a crush on him. Toph had never really liked a boy before…and she didn't even realize she had begun to like him as more than a friend until it dawned upon her how..empty she felt when Sokka was training with his new sword master a few days ago, leaving her to do nothing all day with Twinkles and Sugarqueen. Of course, she would never admit her crush…no matter how much progress she had made with opening up to her friends since that fateful day in the lower ring. Aang had gotten through to her that day. And speaking of Aang, he had been bothering her too…

The kiss…her first kiss. Aang kissed her….no matter how much she thought about it (which was often), it still made absolutely no sense.. 'Why would he kiss me?!' she thought. He liked Katara for sure. Toph could tell by the way his heartbeat raced whenever she spoke his name, and quickened to the speed of light whenever she pecked him on the cheek. He would always try to be with her or next to her during their travels. Oh yes, Aang was arguably in love with Katara, always had been, and probably always would be. Of course, Sokka would never pick-up on it (which was probably a good thing for Aang's sake) and, unlike Sokka, Toph just was exceptionally good at observing things. But anyways, lately, whenever she had been around Aang and Katara, her mood had worsened just from seeing the two interact. And even more strangely, ever since 'the kiss' , Toph had started to notice how Aang's heartbeat had started to jump when she, herself, talked to him. So earlier that day, she had decided to experiment a little with the airbender…

It had started out like a normal day, team avatar (with the exception of Sokka who was on one of his meat expeditions) had stripped down to their underclothes and had jumped into the river surrounding their campsite after a long, hot day of travel. Toph didn't miss how Aang's pulse went into overdrive as soon as Katara's new sexy firenation get-up hit the ground. 'I bet he's staring at her in her underwear, the stupid water tribe floozie…' thought Toph. Reluctantly (and as inconspicuously as she possibly could,) the earthbender had removed her maroon tunic as well leaving her in her simple, conservative yellow chest binding and brown shorts. She felt Katara's vibrations growing fuzzier as the waterbender waded into the water. Aang's had disappeared completely.. She tapped her foot against the ground, feeling around for him, but got nothing in response. 'hm..where did you go, Twinkles..' Then out of nowhere, a cry startled her,

"CANNONBALL!!!!!" she gasped in surprise as she heard Aang hit the water with incredible impact, sending a tidal wave to soak everything within a 25 foot radius of the enthusiastic airbender. Everyone laughed and Katara began to wring out her long hair. 'Hmph..she could just use her stupid fancy waterbending to take the water out of her hair..She's probably just doing it by hand to show off for Twinkletoes...' Toph was getting so sick of watching the two silently become more infatuated with each other that she attempted to stir things up a little, spoil their fun.

"Aang! I know swimming is fun and all, but do you really think you should be exposing yourself like that? Cover-up!" she shouted, sitting upon a large rock by the water's edge, dangling her feet in the water. Aang, who was now floating on his back with momo on top of him looked at her, a content smile playing across his features.

"What? I'm wearing trunks." He responded, letting the back of his head come in contact with water again. Toph thought quickly and responded.

"I know, it's your tattoos I'm worried about! What if someone sees you?!?" She threw her hands into the air, as if to point out the blunt obviousness of the danger he was in by swimming in the firenation..in his underwear. Katara responded.

"There are walls all around us," Katara countered, "It's completely safe." Toph grimaced and looked away. 'Know-it-all…I bet she's enjoying the view..' .

Toph felt the water slosh against her ankles as she swung them back and forth. Katara had gone into practicing waterbending and Aang had disappeared again. Moments later, he and Momo appeared, soaked from head to toe, at the top of the canyon surrounding the three friends and launched himself high into the air to make an even bigger cannonball this time.

"WOOOHOOOOO YEAH!!!!" the airbender screamed as he hit the water and soaked his friends once again. This time they didn't find it so amusing. "Hey guys! There's a tunnel right here that goes through the canyon and it's filled with water and you can slide down it! It's just like the chutes in Omashu but with water! It's so fun! You have to try--"

Katara sighed, interrupting Aang's overexcited rant "I'm gonna go upstream in the calmer water and practice some waterbending for a while. Kay?" Toph could practically hear Aang's heart sink.

"Uhmm, Katara, do you want me to come? We could practice together—"

"No, that's ok, Aang. I really just want to get in some individual practice. Thanks, though," Katara replied patiently, "Besides, you know it's an earthbending day."

"Uh—Oh…ok…right…..earthbending day.." He watched longingly as his underwear-clad waterbending Sifu trudged down the river. Toph gagged in disgust at the pathetic boy. 'Pathetic but cute,' she thought mindlessly. She shook her head in confusion as she replayed that last thought in her head. 'GAH I have to stop doing that! Toph Bei Fong does NOT like ANYTHING cute! Stupid friggen hormones!!' she continued to mentally curse her budding teenage mind when Aang's voice rang out from somewhere in the middle of the shallow stream.

"Hey, Toph!"

"WHAT?!?" Aang cowered at her outburst.

"Oh, *ahem*," she cleared her throat, composing herself, "Sorry about that, Twinkles."

"It's ok." He replied timidly. "Hey, Toph, why aren't you getting wet and cooling off? I can see you dripping with sweat from here." Toph subconsciously wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and felt that it was, indeed, drenched with perspiration.

"Because, your Twinkly-ness, I cannot see in water." She replied raising her feet from the water so that her soles faced Aang, wiggling her toes.

"Oh, right.. I guess that makes sense." Aang replied. The two were silent for a few moments, staring off in opposite directions in an almost awkward manner, thinking to themselves. A though occurred to Aang, and he blurted out his question before even thinking about what consequences it might have.

"Well, then how do you take baths?" Toph first looked at him like he was insane, but then her expression softened as she pondered his question. Instead of earthbending him to infiniti like she was about to 5 seconds ago, she answered calmly.

"Katara helps me." She said simply. And the tone in her voice indicated that she wanted to discuss the topic no further. Aang detected that and didn't say anything else, but that didn't stop his pubescent mind from conjuring up some not-so-innocent images of Toph bathing…with Katara's assistance. He was enjoying it immensely but quickly cleared his mind of the thoughts and mentally scolded himself for thinking about Toph that way. Instead, he got an idea and started wading towards the water towards the rock upon which his earthbending Sifu sat.

Suddenly Toph felt someone touch her hand. She whipped it back, startled. "Aang what are you doing?!?" she hadn't even felt him come over to her rock because his light footsteps were blurred by the water. She felt the heat radiating off him as he blushed. He didn't answer her. "Helloooooo…" She prodded him.

"Oh—uh.. sorry, you just uh—" he stuttered.

"Spit it out!" Toph was beginning to get annoyed.

He blushed even further. "Sorry you just, y-you called me…Aang…and not Twinkletoes..or something else.." Toph thought for a second..wow..she did call him Aang..

"Oh…right...my mistake, Twinkletoes." She finishes with a sly smile.

"It's just—I…um…"

"What is the matter with you today?? You can't even talk! Would you just say what you want to say already!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

"Sorry, It's just.." he looked at his feet, blushing deeply again. "I..liked it. You..calling me ..Aang."

"Oh.." Toph's voice trailed off. The two stood in awkward silence again for a few seconds until Aang broke it.

"Anyways," he started, "I came over here to, um, ask you if you would go in the water if I was, uh, with you." he looked at his feet again.

"Oh…I don't know…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" exclaimed Aang, recovering from the awkward situation and becoming more like his original self again. He didn't wait for her to respond. He tugged on her small hand and her feet landed in the water beside his.

Toph didn't like the water. As refreshing as I felt, it made her feel weak and vulnerable as she took baby steps , clutching Aang's hand as though it might fall off if she was not holding it there so tightly. 'Wow…I'm holding his hand..' thought Toph. And this time, she didn't bother to suppress the thoughts that came to her mind concerning the strapping, young airbender next to her. …She liked it. She could feel the heat of his body so close to hers radiating off of him. She could hear him breathing and his pulse racing. She could feel his palm sweat beneath her grip.

Aang looked down at the girl next to him. He smiled at the terrified, but curious look playing across her features as she waded deeper into the water, and at the way she held onto him so tightly. She looked..adorable. Aang chuckled inwardly at the thought that Toph "hated" all things cute, and yet, she was so incredibly cute herself.

After about 10 minutes of getting Toph used to being totally blind, the two were in the midst of a splashing fight. Then Aang had an idea.

"Hey, Toph. You wanna go down the slide?!?" A terrified look swept across her face.

"Uh, no, I don't think so, Aang."

"But it's SO f—"

"I said NO." stubborn Toph was back. He knew she was scared.

"Well..what if I went with you?" he tried. The terror on her face subsided. She just stood there, clearly thinking it over thoroughly in her head. Aang took that as a yes. He jogged over to her through the waist deep water and grabbed her hand. Tagging her along. When they got to the rock just before the tunnel, they stopped and climbed upon it readying themselves for the ride.

"Here you'll wanna be in front." He said. He sat down behind her, slid himself entirely up against her small body and wrapped his lean arms tightly around her waist. Toph's adrenaline raced. He was very close. His legs gripped hers tightly. His bare chest pressed up hard against her back. She gulped nervously. She had never been this close to a boy before. 'Wow…he has abs…' she thought nervously.

Then he scooted them forward, their bodies gradually sliding of the rock more and more until they disappeared in the fast current down the watery chute.

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Yay! I'm so glad I'm back. I've actually had this chapter written up for a while now...but whatever. I actually get really inspired to write when you guys review so that would be AWESOME! Or even better, inbox me! I don't really know what I want to happen in the second installment of 'The Beach' so if you have any ideas send them my way!

Thanks so much for reading!

TAANG REVOLUTION

Love, Mal