Prompt 7: Lurking (#25)
A/N: Part 1 of Toph's Mysterious Meeting Series. Modern AU.
"Remind me why we're doing this?"
Zuko frowned at the jittering wreck beside him. He and Sokka were hiding behind the large dolphins hedge-statues at the park, wearing ratty camo-print clothes Sokka had bought from the thrift shop down the street, in the dead of night, on a Wednesday. "Your idea, not mine," He replied, peering through the foliage at a set of empty benches.
Sokka paused, apparently taking a few solid seconds to think that statement through - Is he really that freaked out? - before grimacing. "Well I want out now."
"Hell no, dude." Zuko growled, grabbing onto the hood on Sokka's 'military hoodie' to prevent him from escaping. Sokka made a noise that was a cross between a whimper and a squeak, and Zuko sighed. "You barge into my room asking for help, you get my goddamn help. Now suck it up and keep a look out for your girlfriend."
"Right." Sokka looked faint, his face pale and gaunt when illuminated by the flickering park lights. Zuko didn't think a person could change that much within the span of a day or so, but since Sokka was still his normal silly self in the morning, apparently it was possible for someone to change so drastically in just a few hours. "Just look for Toph. Easy."
Suddenly his pupils dilated. "Toph and her new boyfriend."
"You know," Zuko sighed, running a hand through his messy raven hair in exasperation. "I thought you'd handle this better after Suki."
"Well," Sokka cringed at the mention of Suki. "We weren't really - I guess serious? And-"
"Because you and Toph are the paragons for seriousness." Zuko interrupted, giving him a Really? sort of look. He took out the lighter that he got from his uncle Iroh as a child, and lit it with a click before snuffing it out moments later. "I can barely tell the difference between you two now and you two before she asked you out. You two are basically the same from before, except with more sucking face."
Sokka whimpered again. "You think that's why she's seeing another guy? Maybe she wanted more out of-"
"We don't even know if it's another guy!" Zuko butted in again, this time reaching over and cuffing him lightly across the head to stop him from overthinking. "You ran in all panicked with a screenshot of a message on her phone from an unknown sender. It could damn well be her parents for all we know."
"But, like, what else could a midnight meeting like this be?" Sokka whined, poking his head over the hedge to check if the coast was clear. "At the park? With mood lighting?!"
He gestured wildly at the slowly dimming park lights. They would go out in an hour or so, but until then they would reduce in brightness - couples would call this period of time 'happy hour' because the dimmed lights made for an excellent romantic setting. Sokka would know - he and Toph had utilized this feature many times on their dates.
Zuko hesitated, also aware of the park's infamous reputation as a couple trap. Internally, Zuko was suspicious of the situation as well, but he couldn't actually tell the already nervous and desperate Sokka that for fear of him breaking down or something. He had to be the optimistic one here. "We don't have all the facts yet. We'll have to wait and see."
"What if she spots us?" Sokka whispered.
Zuko stopped, thinking on that. "You were in track and field, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Do that."
"…Oh." Sokka gulped. "Joy."
"Just keep your head down and you'll be fine." Zuko gave him a quick pat on the shoulder. "Besides, we agreed only to show ourselves if it was a date, and the guy is an asshole."
"Right." Sokka took a steadying breath, seeming a little less high-strung with someone sensible there to calm him down. "It's for Toph. Not me."
"Sokka- down! She's here!" Zuko suddenly hissed, and the two young men ducked behind the hedges as Toph rounded the corner, headed towards the park bench in front of the hedge where the two guys hid.
She was wearing her hair down. Zuko had to fight to rein in the sharp intake of breath that would surely have given them away at the sight. The only time Zuko had seen Toph with her hair down - or at least in anything other than a bun - was during that one summer camp where Toph's headband broke. It took wardrobe malfunction to have Toph wear her hair down - and here she was, glossy black hair cascading down her shoulders and back, reaching about waist length around the back and chest-length up front.
Sokka made a sound so feeble and pitiful that Zuko couldn't even describe it.
Besides the hair, Toph was in her go-clothes, which she reserved almost exclusively for when she wanted to make a positive impression - which was rare. Combat boots, with dark olive skinny jeans, sandy yellow jacket over a green tube top - not really Zuko's style, but he had to admit that Toph had really good taste, despite her near-blindness.
Sokka was slack-jawed - she looked amazing. She never put in that much effort when they were dating. A pang of jealous shot through him, and instead of feeling the jittery nervousness that he felt before, now he felt indignant. Whoever she was meeting better be good.
Toph stopped, looking around expectantly - nervously, which Toph almost never was, Zuko noted - for something. Probably someone.
"Look - someone's coming this way!" Zuko tugged at Sokka's elbow, and the two stared expectantly into the shadows as a figure slowly walked into view.
Sokka was the first to realize who the person was, and he gagged, seemingly choking on air as shock overtook his ability to function normally. Zuko glanced at him questioningly, before turning back to finding out the identity of Toph's mysterious date - and he too choked up, his eyes widening with surprise.
Toph looked towards the source of the footsteps she heard, and after giving a few moments for her eyes to focus, her entire face lit up as she realized who was approaching. She shot to her feet, smiling radiantly - was that a blush Sokka detected? - and she called out happily, just as Sokka managed a horrified whisper of the same name:
"Suki!" "Suki?!"