Title: The Verisimilitude between Tangled Sheets

Summary: Zuko and Toph are friends. Sometimes lovers, but only when it's convenient. No questions asked, no strings attached—but of course, that was inevitable.

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is not mine. The characters are not mine. All I own so far is this plot…and this computer that I'm typing it with, but that's about it. It's a sad existence.

The Verisimilitude between Tangled Sheets

Chapter Four – Escaping Comfort Zones

Toph stood in the sidelines while Sokka, Aang, and Zuko loaded their baggage on to Appa. They were only going to be camping for a week, but Suki and Katara pointed out that this was the first time they'll be camping out of choice, not necessity. Therefore, the two girls concluded, they should be allowed to "rough it" in relative comfort. She rolled her eyes at the absurdity.

"Sparky, heads up!" Toph called, tossing her small knapsack to Zuko, or at least where she perceived his general area to be.

"Where's the rest of your stuff?" he asked, tossing her 'luggage' on to the pile.

The Earthbender shrugged. "That's it for me."

"Then that's everyone's stuff. I don't think Appa would've appreciated it if there were more."

With an affectionate pat on Appa's gargantuan cheek, Toph cooed derisively. "Well no one would appreciate carrying a way-more-heavy-than-necessary load, especially for those two priss princesses. Isn't that right, buddy?"

"Well, you're a ray of sunshine today."

"I did not have a good night last night."

"Oh?" Zuko scanned their immediate area, checking if anyone was within earshot. Deeming the area safe, the Fire Lord let a perverse smirk play across his lips. "You were the one who didn't show up."

"Shut up, Sparky. You knew I had to be at Sugar Queen's welcome-back-catch-up-sleepover with Suki."

"Well then I'm sorry I wasn't there to make you feel good," the smirk never left Zuko's face as he moved behind Toph and began massaging her shoulders.

"Mm," Toph relaxed into his hands. "That's right, you better be."

"Hey guys I think we're ready. Let's go!" Aang's enthusiastic voice caused the pair to spring apart from each other very swiftly.

Zuko looked over at Toph's attempt at composing herself. She was already almost ten feet away from him, and the light blush on her cheeks was quickly diminishing. He, on the other hand, his throat was still dry and his breathing was still rather rapid at almost being discovered—much like a child almost caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

"Alright!" he heard Toph cheer as she commanded the earth to raise her to Appa's back. "Let's do this!"

The rest of the group piled on to Appa and when everyone was settled on the cradle that was secured on the creature's back. (You know, that thing they sit on when they travel on Appa? I'm not sure what it's called, sorry!) Momo skittered over to Aang's shoulder as the Airbender declared lift-off. "Yip-yip!"

Chatter quickly filled the air as Sokka, Suki, and Katara wrapped themselves in animated conversation. Sometimes, from his spot on Appa's head, Aang would interject a comment. Zuko looked downwards to his right and noticed the blind Earthbender clutching the edge of their communal sitting structure.

Zuko scooted towards her slightly, placing a gentle hand on top of hers. "Don't be scared," he murmured soothingly.

Toph's unseeing eyes looked over him, examining his intentions. "I'm not scared," she scoffed indignantly, pulling her hand from underneath his and turning her back to him.

"Right, but…Relax a little, will you?" he muttered. "It's not like anyone's paying attention to us."

The island of Nankuru soon came into view and Appa began his descent.

A hand clutched his shirt.

"It's been a while since I've travelled via Air Appa, okay? I'm not exactly used to it."

Zuko smiled at Toph and simply patted her hand as she held on to him.

-x-

As soon as Toph felt Appa touch down, she jumped off his back, eager to reunite with the warm earth. She heard Suki giggle beside her. "It's been a while, huh, Toph? Since you've been in the air, I mean."

"It hasn't been long enough," Toph grumbled.

"Aw," Katara took a spot on her other side. "Well at least you'll have an intimate week with nature, isn't that right, Zuko?"

Toph felt his heart rate increase slightly, whether it was because of Katara's address or the fact that they've been having their own intimate weeks, she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah," Zuko confirmed, tousling her hair a bit. "So enjoy it, squirt."

Squirt? Toph felt the urge to kick Zuko's butt and quickly acted on it. Widening her stance discreetly, the soil shifted underneath Zuko, enough to make him trip in front of the three ladies. Suki and Katara giggled gleefully as Toph felt Zuko's burning glare. "Better watch where you're going," she responded with a smirk.

Setting up camp in the heart of the forest took a bit longer than Toph remembered. Sokka and Suki requested an extravagant tent of their own, and while Aang and Katara bashfully declined to share a tent together, they settled for a joint loft. It was almost twice the size of Sokka and Suki's, but with divided in the middle with an opening from which Katara hung a curtain. Eager to show off her further improved Earthbending, Toph raised her arms aloft and granted their requests. Zuko, meanwhile, opted for a small modest tent, which Toph happily obliged to by messily lumping the soil together, making a miniature hill.

"Ha, ha, Toph," Zuko said dryly as the others thanked Toph. She grinned at him, cracking her knuckles to build herself a reticent cabin.

It was almost dark by the time camp was finished. Suki had proposed that everyone spread out and gather some fresh herbs and spices for tonight's dinner, but Sokka flat out rejected her idea.

"No, no, no," he said with persistence. "You lovely ladies stay here and not get a hair out of place. Us men will go and hunt for sustenance!"

"We only need some herbs, Sokka," Katara said with amused annoyance. "I've bought some left-over salted beef."

Sokka faltered. "Your point?" Recovering his composure, he swung an arm around each of his male companions' shoulders. "Men! Let us go and provide for our ladies!"

Toph heard Zuko grumbling incoherently as he and Aang were swallowed by the forest's shadows. And thus, our valiant, boyish heroine found herself alone with the two poster-women for femininity.

"Sokka's really something, isn't he?" Suki swooned.

Katara momentarily paused setting up a pot filled with water above the campfire. "I know you just got here, and I don't mean to pry…" she started, making Toph snort quietly. Of course Sugar Queen meant to pry, if she didn't she wouldn't ask to begin with. "How are things between you and Sokka?"

"Absolutely great! Couldn't be better!" Toph could practically hear the smile in the Kyoshi Warrior's voice, feeling almost sorry for her ignorance at Sokka's transgression.

"Have you guys ever talked about marriage?" Katara asked.

"Well, no…" Suki answered truthfully.

"Well would you want to?"

"Of course!" Her answer was…partly true, Toph decided. "I always though it was Sokka who wasn't ready…"

"Don't be silly!" Katara walked over to her potential sister-in-law and gave her a comforting hug. "He's been dropping hints about it like crazy!" Okay, that was a gross exaggeration, but something was amiss, and Toph intended to find out what it was.

"What are you not telling us, Suki?"

Suki's gulp was audible as she realized she couldn't simply lie and evade the situation. "There's…" she began weakly, her shoulders sagging. "There's always been something I wanted to do before I get married."

Katara and Toph remained silent, waiting for Suki to continue. Instead, she heaved a sigh. "I don't exactly know how to tell you guys."

"Did you cheat on him?" Toph asked, a bit too brightly for the situation. In her mind, that would return Suki and Sokka to an even playing field, and he won't have to sweat it so much anymore.

Both Katara and Suki gasped.

"No!" Suki exclaimed. "There's just…something I want to try with Sokka before we get married."

Toph felt a slight increase in both the other girl's temperature, she could only assume them to be blushing. Figuring she didn't want to know any further, they all let the subject drop.

The time between then and the boys' return was filled with idle chatter. Toph learned that ferretbats feces are good for treating calluses. Offhandedly, Katara recommended the 'moisturizing cream' to Toph for her feet.

-x-

They had been gone for nearly an hour and only twenty minutes ago did they realize that only Zuko had any idea of which plants were edible. By that time, Sokka and Aang had gathered an armful of poisonous fauna and fungi. The sun had already set and it was becoming harder to see within the dense forest.

"I think whatever Zuko's found is enough," Sokka said resolutely as he scratched his arms. Red bumps were beginning to manifest themselves in his skin.

"You should go see Katara about those bumps," Aang advised as the boys made their way back to camp.

"Oh my gosh!" Zuko felt the air rush past him as Suki ran towards Sokka. "What happened to you?" He watched with mild amusement as Sokka tried to play it off as though nothing had happened.

"Let me guess," Toph piped up from her spot near the campfire. "Snoozles picked the poison berries."

Zuko laughed in confirmation as he set down the edible food by the now-boiling pot. Katara deposited them into the broth after healing her brother's ailments.

They all gathered around the campfire as dinner was served, laughing at the expense of Sokka.

Everyone resigned to their tents after a few hours, but Zuko stayed back to extinguish the fire. Afterwards, he trudged to the small lump of earth Toph called his tent and rested his head on its surface.

For a time, Zuko lay on his back with his facing the skies. He grunted as he struggled to find a comfortable position. He tried shifting on to his side, sleeping on his stomach, then sleeping on his other side…he even tried moving off the chunk altogether, but to no avail. The Fire Lord felt a mild embarrassment for himself. Barely three years in the palace has spoiled him, he was now unaccustomed to the tragic event of not having his special-order Fire Nation bed decked with the finest and softest linens the Earth Kingdom offered.

Zuko crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. He missed his bed. He missed his perpetually-fluffed pillows. He missed his 800-count Earth Kingdom Cotton comforter.

The ground underneath him began to rumble quietly as he felt his body moving along with it. His first instinct was to jump off quickly, but then he realized there was only one person who would be able to manipulate the ground so well that in affected only him with such dexterity and silence. The sound the earth made has been reduced to a quiet, methodic hum as Zuko pried his feet apart and craned his neck to see Toph's cabin approaching.

Zuko had difficulty suppressing the smirk on his lips as the ground underneath him softened to imitate the density of his bed and he felt himself on the blanket next to the culprit.

"Wipe that grin off your face, or it's back to the lump for you," Toph grumbled without opening her eyes, turning to her side so her back was to him.

"Aww," Zuko couldn't resist. He used one hand to prop his head up and wrapped the other around Toph's waist, drawing her closer. "That's so kind of you, baby, bringing me in from the cold like that."

Toph lifted an arm and made a motion to return him outside, but he simply chuckled and entwined his fingers with hers.

"Thank you," Zuko murmured against the nape of her neck.

She turned her head to face him, his lips grazing her skin. He lowered his lips to meet hers and tried to disrobe her.

"No…" Toph mumbled against his lips, pushing his hands away from the buttons of her clothes.

Zuko whimpered, being deprived of his greatest joy for the second night in a row.

Toph wrapped his arms around her, edging closer to him.

"Come on, Toph…" he urged, tracing circles on her back.

"They might hear."

"So I'll go easy on you, problem solved." He grinned at her and took her sly smile back as a 'go ahead.'

Toph bit down on her lip to suppress a moan as Zuko crawled on top of her. She felt the hot air escape through his nostrils as he buried face at the crook of her nose, her skin and hair muffling the sound.

When they were done, Zuko threw a blanket over their naked bodies.

"Mmm," Toph's head burrowed itself in the curve of his neck, the top of her head tickling his chin. "You're warm, Zuko…" she mumbled as she wrapped one of her legs around his.

It wasn't just the bed that was the problem. It was the lack of Toph. He smiled and made his hold around her even tighter before he himself succumbed to sleep.

Author's Note: That's it for this chapter, ladies and gents! Twelve pages of Toko goodness for your reading pleasure! Stay in tune to find out what shenanigans they'll go through while they're in Nankuru island!

Review Replies

Sparky-poo: Indonesia? Really?! My dad just got back from a 5-day visit there! I should've written this fic a week sooner, maybe we could've totally hung out. Oh, poopie. He asked if I wanted to go, too, but I had school. Blargh. / Anyway, yeah, Zuko was a darling virgin before his and Toph's affair. You know that saying, "Your first time will always have that special spot in your heart" (or something like that)? We'll see how true it is as it applies to this story.

Animefreak03: Refreshing? That's cool. Hopefully this chapter reveals more refreshing details!

Liooness: Oh, you know this whole thing is going to catch up to them and they'll crash and burn. You just know it.

Frosted Cupcake: Heyyy! I went through every review on the previous chapter, and yours wasn't there! In any case, I'm sorry. I try to get back to everyone, and I'm glad you don't let my boo boo dissuade you from my story!

Anti Zutara: No worries, Toph is well taken care of. :) I can't promise Zuko's total faithfulness to Toph, however. Just read on, and everything will work itself out.

Sagibunu: Gahhh. Do you know how awkward it is for me to write the more mature scenes?! My fingers feel dirty and corrupted! And I've never read anything like that so I'm taking pretty much a stab in the dark with those. But I'm glad you find them tasteful. I'd hate for this to be like a smut fic…and I'm pretty sure that's against website rules anyway. Haha. And yeah, I threw in that part about Ty Lee's crush on Zuko because, well…who wouldn't have a crush on Zuko? ;)

Blz1990: Haha, I was worried people wouldn't find their talk funny, so I'm glad you did!

DarkerSpirit: No strings relationships are fun to write about…I don't know how I'd feel if I were in one in real life.

Avatargirl92: Bah, sorry! I hardly proof-read the chapters, so I'm not shocked there's some grammatical errors. I'm glad the story is still keeping its integrity, though, and keeping you interested!

Nychohomas: Well I'm glad you're laid back. And I changed the rating and according to my computer, it's rated M. Maybe the site just took a bit updating it? Oh well, it's fixed now! And as for Mai…I won't promise closure, but keep an eye out. ;) (Anyway, with Mai, I can't imagine a passionate relationship. Unless it's with a total spazz. Like Naruto or something.)

Chi the Turtle: Tee hee. That's a just a little pun I threw in there. You know the Pringles commercial? "Once you pop, you can't stop"? I just applied that to Toph's virginity, and when it's taken away, some people say that's "popping the cherry." Pop, geddit? And once she got her first taste of Zuko's lovin' she wanted more! Hope that clears stuff up!

Ostracized: Haha, I'm glad my Toko fic appeals to Zutarians! I'm glad you're not caught up with the shipping wars. And I could reply to everyone's comment with the reply review button, but I'm afraid to let the secrets of the next chapter spill. :(

Shirozero: Whew, those damn love scenes are always the reason I take forever and a half on the chapters. It's like, "Uh…what's supposed to happen now?" y'know, without being vulgar. But at least you enjoy them!

Lazyguy90: Yeah, Zuko and Toph have an odd relationship. I wonder what the Fire Nation will think of this if their story gets exposed…even better, the timing of the expose. Muahaha, I just let out an evil cackle. And I'm already getting inspiration for another Toko fic, but I want to finish this first, I think. So the plots won't be similar to each other. Heck, maybe I'll do the other one as a one-shot or something. We'll see.

ShikaruTo: Tee hee. That "special thingle." I giggled out loud. And as much as a pain as they are to write (not at all pleasurable, as some of you might think), it's integral to establish what could be called their sexual relationship.

Nhssocial: What does your name mean? Because NHS, to me, means National Honor Society, and I was in it while I was in high school. And we had fun socials. Who said nerds can't have fun?

Miss Avatard: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you keep up with their topsy-turvy relationship.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, guys and gals!