He was still gone an hour later. Two hours. (She cried.) Three hours.

At three and a half, she slid out of bed, finding a robe to wrap around her naked body. He wasn't anywhere in the house or surrounding yard. She took a blanket out to the atrium and sat down on the edge of the fountain, still sniffling.

They'd been having so much fun until they weren't.

Maybe it was just too intense for Zuko. It was a moronic idea, really. She thought it would be therapeutic, help him work out leftover frustration, but instead it had just upset his peace of mind.

What hurt was his leaving. No matter what was happening, he should have felt comfortable enough to stay with her. Was she bullying him? Or would it be bullying to insist he stay? Was she right to let him leave? She raked her hands through her hair.

In spite of the fact that it was just roleplay, and she knew it was all an act, going from being berated and smacked to being completely alone felt awful. It made her feel like complete garbage. Maybe she just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing. Maybe she was too hardhearted, too brittle to bend to his will. Maybe she wasn't cut out for a relationship, either–maybe she hurt him too much.

She couldn't sleep. She was exhausted by the time he walked in at dawn, walking right past her in the dark and going to their bedroom. "Toph?" She heard concern in her voice when he didn't find her there. That was nice.

"I'm out here."

"Hey," he said, rounding the corner.

"Hey." She pulled her blanket closer around herself.

"Why are you out here?" He sat down beside her, a distance away.

She didn't want to stay in that room without him. "Dunno. Felt like it." She sniffled. She hadn't cried so much in years. "Where did you go?"

"I walked down to the shore."

"That's miles away." Why had he felt the need to flee miles from her?

"I needed to think," he said, as if that explained a damn thing. "I'm sorry."

Toph wasn't quite ready to forgive him. "You want to share your thoughts?"

He sighed, leaning his head back against the stone. "It…it wasn't what we were doing," he murmured, "or what you said." He extended his hand to her, and she only hesitated for a moment before putting her hand in his. "Not exactly. It's just…when you brought up…"

He was struggling for words. "Being banished?" she guessed. She ran her thumb over his knuckles.

"No," he interrupted. "No, my…my father. For some reason, I never realized it before, but…when I was sent away, I…started acting like him. I guess…Azula always acted like him, and I always acted like Mom. And after I was burned, I decided that acting like her didn't work…that I'd only succeed if I became like my father…so I…" He trailed off.

Toph swallowed, listened.

"Everything about me at that age was modeled after him." He let out a shaky breath. "When I realized that, I…I obviously couldn't keep going."

That explained the panic. Toph took a deep breath. "I get that," she said gently, squeezing his hand. "But it felt horrible when you left. I…" She didn't want to admit that she'd cried. "I wish you'd told me what was going on. I would have understood, Zuko. Even if you didn't want to be around anyone, if you'd just told me where you were going, it wouldn't have been so bad."

"I know," he said, turning towards her fully. "And I…hey, I'm really sorry." His free hand cupped her face, his thumb wiping away a tear. "Are you crying?." He leaned in to kiss her cheek, and she knew his lips went away wet. "Toph, I'll find a way to make it up to you. Anything you want."

"I don't want anything," she muttered. "You made me feel like trash."

"Toph…" He pulled her into his lap, cradling her against his chest. "I love you so much. I love you more than I thought anyone could love their wife. You could never be anything less than the most precious person in my life. And I'm sorry I didn't show you that tonight. I'm sorry I acted like–like–"

"A shithead," she suggested. She could feel the corners of her lips twitching upwards.

"A shithead," he agreed. "Please forgive me."

She leaned against his chest, tucking her ear against him so she could listen to his heartbeat. Anxious. "I love you too," she whispered. "And I forgive you, but Zuko, you need to tell me if I bully you into something you don't want to do. I guess…my love is kind of clumsy."

"You didn't push me into anything," he whispered back. "I wanted it. I'm…just…still a broken person, in some ways. Tonight was an accident, not a mistake."

Closing her eyes, she nodded against his chest. His heartbeat was calmer now, the soothing rhythm she'd grown used to having beside her every night. "Let's go inside."

"Okay," he murmured. "And tomorrow, I swear, I'll make it up to you."