I am back! I will try to get this story finished ASAP.

Black Out

It was perfect.

Gyatso was out of the house, Aang had no chores, and Toph's parents thought that she was at a concert.

The brown coffee table in Aang's living was moved, to make room for them. A crappy movie was on T.V. Toph was nestled under Aang's arm and both were sitting on the floor, their backs to the couch. A bowl of popcorn was in between their legs.

It was so perfect.

There was a storm outside, but the weather man said that it would pass. Every now and then the wind would blow. The monster in the movie kept on destroying Tokyo, so neither of them paid attention to the howling wind.

"Hit me." Toph said. That was Aang's cue. Aang tossed a kernel in the air and Toph caught in in her mouth.

"Good one."

"Where is Godzilla already?" She asked as she chewed.

"I don't know. They have to get through the plot first."

"Lame. He's the King of Monsters; he should be in the whole movie!"

"Just…be patient. The waiting makes the fights better."

"Whatever. Hit me." Another toss and another catch. "I'm so glad Sokka's not here. He'd say something…two Asians watching a Godzilla movie."

"Um…yeah." Aang half-smiled.

The wind roared louder than before. The picture on Aang's old T.V. staticed for a second.

"Great." Aang said. "I hope we don't get a black out."

Toph lifter herself off of him. "Black out? You mean like thunder and stuff?"

"Just listen. Sounds like thunder could hit at any moment. The weather man was wrong, I guess."

Toph gulped. "Well…I hope the movie gets to the good part before the power goes off."

"Me too. We may get lucky and the storm will just overpass us."

Toph exhaled. "Yep."

Toph moved closer to Aang after the T.V. screen buzzed again. The popcorn bowl was moved to the side. Toph didn't want to play the Throw and Catch game anymore.

She held Aang's hand and Aang could feel her snuggled under his arm.

Then it happened.

Godzilla was just about to win, when the T.V., the lights and all the power on Aang's block went out in synch with a loud thunder clap.

"Aahhh!" Toph shirked and grabbed Aang.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aang was surprised. "Toph, let go of me."

"NO!" She screamed. Aang couldn't see, but her eyes were tightly shut.

"Why not?"

Another thunder clap echoed, even louder than before.

"Jesus!" Toph yelled again and squeezed Aang like a Teddy Bear.

"Stop squeezing me!" Aang had trouble breathing. Why did his girlfriend have to be so strong?

"Shut up, dammit!" Aang could feel Toph breathing into his shirt.

Aang looked at her (or the shadowy outline of her) and said. "You're scared."

"No shit I'm scared!"

"Of what? The dark?" He felt Toph's head shake 'no'. "Thunder?" Her head nodded 'yes'. "You're afraid of…ugh!" Toph squeezed him extra hard.

"Shush!"

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry." She let go. "I forgot you afraid of thunder. Haha."

"It's called Astraphobia and it is a REAL condition. Now get off my…"

BOOM! Another thunder clap.

"Jesus! H! Christ!" She buried her face in his stomach and mumbled into his old shirt.. "I'm sooo not okay right now!"

Aang didn't dare say it, but seeing Toph scared made him smirk.

"Um…can I go find some candles?"

"Mmm." Toph moaned, cowardly. 'Toph' and 'cowardly' were two words that usually did not fit together.

Aang tried to stand up, but Toph didn't budge. She held onto him like she would get lost if she let go. Rather than fight her, he took her with him.

Aang lit a candle and put it on his wobbly kitchen table. "Come on. Let go and sit down."

"…okay." Nervously, Toph pulled up one of Aang's cheap chairs and sat. She held her elbows.

"It's…okay. It's only a atmospheric build up in the clouds that compresses air, stores energy and then releases the pressure all at once."

Toph gave him 'the look' and said "Just get another candle, airhead."

Five candles were lit across the kitchen so it was well lit. Aang closed all of the blinds. He had to, Toph made him.

She held onto Aang's hand and they just sat in silence. Aang felt her goose bumps poke out of her pale skin.

"I'm not a chicken." She said at last.

"I wasn't thinking that."

"Yeah well…I'm too old to be afraid of thunder. I mean, like you said…it's just an atmo-whatsits build up and…and a energy release and…um…"

"A loud noise?"

"Yeah. A loud noise."

BOOM!

Toph simultaneously grabbed both the edge of the table and squeezed Aang's fingers. The flame on the candle danced as the table shook.

"Easy. It's okay." Aang petted her hand, even though she was crushing his knuckles. "It'll be over before you know it. Tomorrow, everything's going to be sunny."

"Yeah. Sunny. Everything is going to be sunny. Sunny. Sunny."

"I can't believe with all of the rock music you listen to, all the yelling and all the videogames you play, that you are actually afraid of thunder." Aang didn't know why he said that.

"Don't judge me airhead." Toph pulled her hand away from his.

BOOOM

Then she grabbed the table again.

"People are af-fraid of lots of weird t-things." She gulped again. "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Yeah. Water?"

"How about beer?"

"Water." Aang stood up. Toph didn't let go of his hand again. "Toph."

"I'll go with you."

"The fridge is five feet over there." Aang pointed. Toph stood up and moved next to him. "Fine." Aang escorted her to the fridge, narrowly surviving the long and dangerous five foot trek.

BOOOOM!

"Ah!" Toph grabbed him again.

"Wow, I can't believe how different you are when you are afraid."

"Shut up Aang!" Toph kicked his knee.

"OW! What did you do that for?"

"Just shut up!" She buried her face in his shoulder, which was almost foot above her chin. Aang saw her eyes and finally noticed that they were shut.

"Toph…come on." Aang petted her hair. "Don't be like this."

"Be. Quiet." She trembled.

"I don't want to see you like this."

"Then call God and ask him to make the storm go away!"

Bzzzz. On cue, the lights turned back on.

"Hey! Look!" Aang pointed up. "The lights are back on." Toph kept her eyes closed.

"Liar! I'm not falling for that trick."

Aang sighed. "Toph, just open your eyes."

Toph slowly opened one. "Oh. The lights. That's…a start."

"Looks like the Big Guy's my back."

"…yep." Toph was still shaking.

"This phobia of yours is really strong huh?"

"Shut up." She demanded again.

In the distance, she heard a roll of thunder. The storm of leaving, but she still needed to grab Aang's hand.

If you missed me, review and let me know!

Also, check out my new story, The Shaman.