A Different Light

It had taken a lot of work, but Toph and Aang were finally friends again. They were hanging out often, laughing more, and they weren't so awkward around each other. Toph was back to insulting Aang, and Aang was back to letting Toph walk all over him.

Even though they still felt a bit uncomfortable when Katara was around, things were, to say the least, back to normal…

…and that made the boy's guilt swell up faster.

"Give me a minute." Toph said, leaving Aang alone in her enormous living room.

"Yeah." Aang nodded. He watched her leave. Only after she left did he realize that he was watching her leave.

He shook his head and sat down in one of the numerous leather chairs, turning away from Toph's room, not wanting to look at her door.

He glared at the frame photos on the tables, the cold steel tables that showed the rich tomboy in a very different light. She was younger, "proper" and stone faced. She didn't smile or frown. She just started in the direction of the camera.

Confused, he pulled out his cell phone and looked through the pictures he had of Toph. She smiled in every shot, making a stupid face, pushing Aang, wrapping her arm around his neck, covering herself when she wasn't ready.

Aang looked at the porcelain statue in the gray frame. She was trapped in a world she couldn't escape. Then he looked at the lively, energetic firework that lit up the liquid screen in the palm of his hand.

He smiled, hoping that the reason for her wide grin was because of him.

He saw her younger self in the old photo, and thought of how much she had grown.

"She's…like a new person." Aang smiled, unintentionally.

"Don't."

"Why not?"

"Just don't."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Aang asked.

"I'm warning you. Stop before…"

BANG! "GAME…OVER!" The voice on the XBOX mocked Aang.

"What the hell happened?" He nearly dropped the controller.

"My turn." Toph grabbed it out of his hands and reentered under her profile. She pushed him over and jumped back on her bed.

Aang felt her soft hand touch his arm.

"You suck at this game." Toph took off, playing like she had been doing it her whole life. She had a tank-top shirt, showing off her thin waist. Aang had trouble not glancing at it.

"Watch. This is how you do it." Toph danced circles around Aang's score. She hesitated for one second, and quickly flicked her head and flung her hair out of her eyes. It had gotten longer over the past year, and shinier. One day, Aang just noticed.

"Are you watching? This is gaming gold." The strap of her tank-top and fell and Aang watched her slide it back onto the top of her shoulder.

"I'm watching." He gulped. "Jesus, when did Toph become good looking?" He asked himself.

The "Feeling" got worse when she decided to change her wardrobe.

Toph loved wearing black and green, punky clothes, the kinds that scared parents. Lots of black denim, loose fitting, baggy pants, wrist bands and rock t-shirts. She dressed more like a boy then a girl.

But she knew that college was coming, even if it was still two years away. Somewhere between watching Katara get all of the boys she wanted and seeing how older boys reacted to girls who dressed like a public warning, Toph thought that a few new clothes wouldn't be too bad. Besides, she could afford it.

She stuck with green, refusing to give up her flag color. Nothing special, very light clothes. They fit her, which was a nice change. She didn't warn Aang, or tell anyone until she bought a few new clothes. She didn't like them. She felt like she wasn't herself.

One weekend, Toph went to Aang's house in her new clothes, feeling nervous and grumpy.

"….hey." She said to him without really caring.

"Hi…" Aang stopped when he saw her. It was nothing special, just a green low cut top with a white undershirt…that actually had a little lace on the trim. Very little.

"What? What are you looking at?" She grunted. Her "charm" was still there.

"N-nothing." Aang gulped. "Are those…new?" He pointed.

"Yeah. I wanted…to try something different." She sat down next to him and huffed her bangs away from her eyes.

"You look…nice." Aang tried not to stutter.

They were nothing special, the clothes. It was the girl underneath them that was special.

Aang tried to look away from her when she sat across from him at lunch.

He tried to not glance at her in that way when they spoke to each other.

He closed his eyes as tight as he could and started humming when he started to think about her.

"Oh man. What am I doing?" He asked himself often, feeling guilty, like he had committed a crime.

He wasn't sure, but he though he knew, hesitated to say, couldn't stop thinking about it…but somewhere between realizing how much Toph meant to him and finally spending time with her again...he might have, maybe, sort have…finally…fallen in love with her.

Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe my dirty mind subliminally played a trick with me, but Aang realizes his feelings for Toph in chapter 69.

Tehehe.