Prompt 8: Experiment (#26)

A/N: Part 2 of Toph's Mysterious Meeting Series. Modern AU.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Sokka hissed, grabbing and shaking Zuko by the collar.

"Meeting your girlfriend." Zuko mused, even as he felt his spine creak from the constant back-and-forth shaking. Sokka eventually let go after a few more shakes for good measure, but he still had a hand clamped solidly on Zuko's forearm, squeezing - consciously or not, Zuko could not tell - until his knuckles turned white. On his part, Zuko didn't really care - he was tough enough to be a bro in hard times.

"I CAN SEE THAT." Sokka growled, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. He turned back to the apparent disaster unfolding before him, feeling his entire world tip upside down. "They hate each other. Toph's still pissed after Suki and her Kyoshi girls crashed her party! She was complaining about it last week! What the hell is going-"

Sokka's eyes bugged out as before his very eyes, Toph, the ultimate tough-girl who took shits from no one and gave none in return, embraced Suki warmly. He felt faint.

Toph and Suki smiled at each other, before Suki leaned forward and gave Toph a quick peck on the cheek before whispering something inaudible in her ear. Toph flushed red - she's blushing! - and she nodded quickly, eagerly. Suki took Toph's hand, and giggling like schoolgirls, the two set off.

Eventually, their tittering faded into the background noise of the park and the city, and silence returned to the park. Zuko, after a moment's deliberation, reached over and put a comforting hand on Sokka's shoulder, as a brother was wont to do. He cleared his throat, and said,

"That's rough, buddy."

Sokka covered his face with his hands, his head spinning. He had never known - Toph, girls? - How has this never come up in conversation before? He always thought Toph acted weirdly around Ty Lee. Was that why? And Suki? Of all people? A pang of jealousy - and anger - shot through him. "I never knew…"

"Do you want to follow them?" Zuko gestured vaguely at the direction that they walked off. "Make sure she's okay?"

Sokka shook his head numbly. "Suki's a fighter. And Toph can take care of herself. They'll be fine."

Zuko looked at him, with his signature soul-searching look. Despite being a grumbly, angry teen who apparently had two settings, brooding and not brooding, he was surprisingly empathetic and good with advice. "This isn't something you can just ignore," He began, before Sokka cut him off.

"I'm not." Sokka said, running a hand through his hair. "Spirits, Zuko, I'm not going to ignore this. Just… I need some time. Girlfriend's gay, apparently. Gotta process this."

Zuko nodded, understandingly. "I'll take you back."

"Thanks." Sokka sighed, and pulled his trusty boomerang out from his pocket, fiddling with it nervously. "Just drop me off out front."

The next morning Sokka was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing. He groaned at the light filtering through the curtains onto his face, and fumbled for the phone.

Toph. Sokka thought, hearing the disgustingly saccharine love song he set as her ringtone - he did it more to annoy her than anything, but it's pretty sweet (heh) occasionally. Now it just felt uncomfortable. Accepting the call, he put the call on speaker, flopping back on to the bed with an audible groaned.

"Morning, Snoozles!" She sounds happy, Sokka noted.

"Hey, Toph." Sokka mumbled, keeping an even tone of voice. He didn't want to get mad, certainly not over the phone. "What's up?"

"Am I not allowed to check up on you out of the goodness of my heart?"

Sokka fumbled for a shirt to throw on, rummaging in the clothing basket next to his bed. "Well, no, but you never do that. So what's going on?"

"Just wanted to mention that I have a thing tonight," Toph said offhandedly, "so you don't have to make any plans or whatever."

"A thing?"

"A thing." Toph said with finality, the kind of tone that demanded no follow-up questions. "Look, it's just dinner at Lee's with a friend. Don't get a heart attack, sheesh."

"Okay, okay." Sokka said, shrugging even though Toph wouldn't be able to tell. "You have fun with the thing. Anything else I should know?"

There was a fairly long pause on the other side of the line. Sokka knew, rationally, that it was Toph trying to recall if there was anything, but a niggling voice in the back of his mind insisted it was a moment of guilty hesitation.

"Nope." She said, finally.

"Cool." Sokka said, shortly. "See you in class." He cut off the call.

"So, what, did she just not mention anything to you?" Zuko asked, kicking back as he listened to Sokka on the phone.

"No - just talked about a thing going down at Lee's."

"Dude." Zuko leaned forward, his sharp, golden eyes wide. "Lee's has got to be top 10 on the dating stops."

"I know," Sokka moaned. "I took her there for our first date."

"…Ouch." Zuko winced. "So, what, do you want to go… spy on her?"

"Spy is a strong word." Sokka mumbled.

"You're going to spy on her." Zuko said, flatly.

"Well…" Sokka sighed. "Yeah, probably."

Zuko stared at his phone for a long, long moment. Sokka gulped at the long pause. Eventually, Zuko shrugged and said, "Okay, then."

"You're not going to talk me out of it?"

"You already crossed that line yesterday," Zuko pointed out. "In for a penny, in for a pound, right?"

"You're the worst friend."

"I'll meet you at Lee's and pay for the meal."

"If I were into that I would kiss you."

Zuko chuckled. "Alright, gotta get back to work. I'll call you later."

"See you around, Zuko."

Sokka gulped. He sat opposite to Zuko in Lee's, one of the more expensive establishments in the neighborhood. Zuko had his typical leather jacket and red/black color scheme, while Sokka wore his blue shirt, unbuttoned, over a lighter blue vest. Both felt woefully underdressed compared to the other customers, Sokka slightly more so than Zuko.

"You think she lied to me to throw me off?" Sokka asked, looking at Zuko nervously.

Zuko shook his head. "If she's that paranoid then your relationship is on the slide anyway." He patted him on the back. "Have faith. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this. She does like you."

"Right. That's why she's on a date - with a girl."

"Sokka," Zuko warned. "Where's your honour? Sit straight - and order something, the cook is looking at us funny."

Sokka flagged down a waiter. "I'll have a caesar salad."

"Make that two." Zuko added. Once the waiter walked off, Zuko looked sternly at Sokka. "Salads are for wimps. You should have gone for a steak."

Sokka's forehead met the table with a thump. "Oh man - what am I becoming?"

The ringing bell of the restaurant door drew their attention, however, and as they turned towards it, both boys caught sight of two girls sauntering into the shop - Toph and Suki. They were both laughing, and Toph had a shopping bag in one hand.

Sokka felt a stabbing sensation in his heart that did not feel healthy. He stared, wide-eyed, at Zuko. "Well, what do I do now?"

Zuko shrugged. "Whatever you think is necessary."

"Should I talk to her?" Sokka asked, nervously looking between Zuko and the pair who had just sat down.

"Do you value your relationship with her?"

"Yes! Of course!"

"Then talk to her about this."

Sokka winced at his friend's directness, before standing up slowly. He walked over to where the two were sitting - holding hands! - and cleared his throat.

The effect was immediate. Toph shot up to her feet like a bullet, while Suki tried to collapse in on herself, and failing that, started retreating under the table. "Sokka- What are you doing here?!"

"Guy's dinner with Zuko." Sokka said, pointing at Zuko, who tried very hard to be invisible. "I see you're with good company."

Ignoring his comment, Toph glared at him and poked him in the chest. "What are the odds of us both getting dinner at Lee's, huh? Were you following me?!"

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Sokka glared, with equal intensity, at Suki. "Why are you with her?"

"We were just hanging out-" Toph tried to explain, before Sokka interrupted her. "You were holding hands."

"We held hands before we started dating."

"Well, yeah, but we're different." Sokka crossed his arms. "You know that."

"Maybe Suki and I are different as well!" Toph growled, folding her own arms as well. "Have you ever through of that? And you never answered my question!"

Zuko started sweating as the restaurant fell silent at the sight. Standing up awkwardly, he marched up to the arguing couple and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Maybe you should continue this outside. You're causing a disturbance."

Sokka and Toph both glared at him, but from behind the table Suki smiled gratefully at him. The whole group moved their discussion outside, where immediately, the two started speaking heatedly again.

"Okay, fine - so maybe we're seeing each other. Is that the admission you wanted, meathead?" Toph jabbed him in the chest again, the act - and the admission - sending Sokka reeling. Without the righteous feeling of catching them off guard anymore, however, Sokka just deflated.

"…I guess." His shoulders sagged, and he looked away from the girl. "…How long?"

"A little less than a month." Toph's expression softened as a little guilt crept onto her face, the initial indignation of being spied on fading fast at the tired look on Sokka's face.

"How?"

"She approached me first. Wanted to make nice with me before making up with you." Toph said, staring down at the ground. "I was pissed at first. But then we talked, and got closer. We had our first meeting last night, actually."

"I know." Sokka said. "At the park."

Toph's head jerked up in surprise, but she didn't comment on it. "Sorry you had to find out this way. I was gonna tell you when we had things hashed out."

Sokka shook his head. "If… that's what you want then I'm not going to stop you." He stared, pointedly, at Suki. "Not like it's the first time this happened to me."

Toph raised an eyebrow. "Not the first time you were invited to a threesome?"

Sokka was about to turn away when he paused. "I'm sorry, what?"

Suki giggled, and Zuko turned bright red as he heard the statement. Toph took a few steps forward and grabbed Sokka by the hand. "I wasn't gonna give up on you just so I could experiment."

"No, seriously - go back a bit. What?!" Sokka looked flustered, pointing between Toph, Suki, and himself.

"I mean, I figured if I made it beneficial to you as well, I'd have a better chance of making it." Toph crossed her arms. "It's not like you two haven't - y'know."

"Well, yeah, but - buh?!" Sokka looked horribly confused. "So you… and her… but also with me?"

"It's called poly."

"I know what polygamy is," Sokka said, "I just… never pegged you for that."

"So you're okay with it?" Suki spoke up, looking at him hopefully.

"Well…" Sokka looked between Suki and Toph. Suki - sporty, but still as curvy and beautiful as when they dated - and Toph, gorgeous as ever. He slowly started to nod. "It'll take some getting used to - but I can live with it."

"Oh, Sokka!" Suki rushed forward, planting a kiss on his cheek and wrapping him up in a hug. "Thank you so much for this!"

"Uh… you're welcome, Suki." Toph grinned, giving Sokka the thumbs up, and Sokka glared at her. "You, however, we're gonna have to have a long talk."

"Does it include talking about spying on your girlfriend?" Toph put her hands on his hips. Zuko started backing away slowly.

"Uh…" Sokka thought about it for a moment, before pushing Suki into Toph and making a break for it. "HERE-HAVE-YOUR-GIRLFRIEND-BYE!"

Zuko gave the two of them an apologetic glance before running after him. "Sokka, wait!"

Suki and Toph exchanged looks, and smiled. That worked out better than expected.

"Uh… would the sirs like their salads now?" A waitress poked her head out of the restaurant.

"Is it paid for already?" Toph asked, and the waitress nodded. She turned to Suki. "You want free salad?"

Suki smirked. "This night just gets better and better.