.

Can You Hear Me?

"I'm beat," the earthbender sighed, collapsing onto the velvet red couch next to her firebender companion. She sank more than willingly into the padded cushions as they absorbed her in comfort, the feel of the smooth, criss-cross patterns weaved into the fabric making a heavenly change from years' worth of paperwork against her fingertips.

Two weeks she had been in the Fire Nation as an Earth Kingdom representative. Two weeks of horror. She had no issues with being there - it was, after all, essentially a holiday for her. She simply had to nip in to visit her Fire Lord friend, share some lovely light-hearted banter, put a few trade route plans on the table while she was at it, and away she would go! Simple!

But her patience was really being tried by this point.

At best, she had learnt that every native of the council rooms had been trained in the secret art of bickering and thought ridiculously highly of themselves because of it. The meetings she'd attended had been nothing but a show of arguments with each nation throwing taunts back and forth like some sort of ticking time bomb. She was waiting impatiently for it to go off so that she could escape but there was the niggling reminder in the back of her head that these plans had to be made.

Spirits, why couldn't everything have just been all fine and dandy after the war? Those Fire Nation advisors, they really needed to go—

"It's nice to have a break, isn't it?"

He gave her a small smile, eyes full of the relief they both felt that the most recent squabble-fest was over. She felt her tensed muscles loosen at the sound of his voice and her shoulders slumped into relaxation. This was one of those rare occasions where they had an afternoon of free time; she needed to lighten up!

"Words cannot describe how happy I feel right now, Sparky."

He closed his eyes, let out a breath. "You really need to stop calling me that."

"I lay off using it in meetings, don't I?"

His right eyebrow twitched and he turned on his side to face her, eyes open again. It was so very difficult not to get angry when she was doing everything to rub him the wrong way, especially after being under the close observation of his council for days on end. "That's not the point, Toph." She cocked an eyebrow in his direction, silently questioning what, indeed, his point was then. He could see the smirk playing on her lips and had to bite back a fierce objection to it. "Oh, come on! I haven't heard you use my actual name in... I don't even know how long!"

"No need to get your knickers in a twist. It just feels weird saying it now."

"Toph..." There was an edge to his voice.

Smack.

"Ow! You need to stop doing that, too!"

She closed her eyes and flexed her hand. "I punch because I care."

"Pfft, right." He rubbed at the spot her fist had come into brutal contact with and hoped futilely that it hadn't worsened the already yellowing bruise he had attained over the past weeks. It was really beginning to seem like he had some sort of target branded onto his arm; one that, despite her blindness, she always managed to hit when it called out to her in times of boredom.

"I love you really, you know."

Taking this as another attempt to push his buttons, he refrained from rising to the bait and contemplated taking a nap before he was drowned in paperwork that evening that, apparently, should be manageable in half of the time it would take him to finish... "Really."

He opened one eye to peer at her. "What?"

She shifted her weight on the couch and leant towards him. "I said really, Zuko."

His name did sound strange coming from her mouth, but in an entirely pleasant way. "I-I know what you said but I... don't foll... ow..." the words ebbed into nothing as she took his hand in hers and his heartbeat spiked up - further and further, the initial reaction causing him infinite worry that she had felt it. The clockwork in his head pieced together what she meant. Tinges of pink erupted across his cheeks and he could picture her smirk before he even saw it. She would be able to tell.

A faint smile graced her lips as she confirmed his fears. "I can hear you."

There was a lump in his throat that he couldn't quite get rid of and he merely watched her, almost in a paralytic state, both worried that she had and hadn't understood his reaction. And then she moved and all of a sudden her smile was against his lips and she was close enough that he could see each individual eyelash of hers.

He only seemed to regain control of himself when she pulled away and guided his hand towards the left of her chest. Her pensive eyes met with his.

"Can you hear me?"

Fin.