Author's Note: Trying my hand at Tokka. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender © Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko
Sokka hadn't been the same since Suki dumped him. He was far crankier than usual, snapping over trivial things like if someone didn't turn off a tea kettle the second it started to whistle, or if anyone dared to ask him how he was feeling after the breakup.
Toph couldn't help but sympathize with the poor guy. For one thing, she liked Suki a lot. She was tough and brave and wasn't afraid to put people in their place, much like herself. But then, she could also understand why Suki had ultimately ended her relationship with Sokka in favor of returning to her fellow Kyoshi Warriors. She had to be where her heart truly belonged, and no guy, not even one as fun to be around as Sokka, could take her away from her destiny. He wouldn't be able to see it right now, given how fresh the wounds still were, but if there was one thing Toph knew about Sokka, it was that he always bounced back. Sometimes he just needed a little push to realize it for himself.
Presently, Toph dug her toes into the soft soil, warm from the rising sun. She inhaled the crisp morning air and relaxed her shoulders as she exhaled. Out of nowhere, a sound caught her attention in the form of water cascading over bare skin, and her brows shot up in immediate intrigue.
Walking toward the direction of the sound with intentionally stealthy footsteps, Toph gasped the moment her feet made contact with the frigid water. Unfortunately for her, that one little gasp was enough to alert the person she was attempting to creep up on. He gasped much more loudly than she had, the water sloshing around with his jump-scare.
"Toph," Sokka screeched in a ripping current of embarrassment and shock all rolled into one. "What do you think you're doing?"
The young woman allowed a couldn't-care-less grin to stretch widely across her face, enjoying every second of a panicked Sokka being intruded upon when he'd least suspected it.
"What?" she asked with feigned innocence that she didn't even pretend to hide. "Don't tell me you're naked right now."
Another forceful splash as he unceremoniously fell down, causing the water to rush over her ankles. The resounding laughter that exploded from her chest before she could stop herself fully drowned out the sound of his incoherent sputtering. When he managed to collect himself, she distinctly heard him mutter in a bitter voice, "What's it take for a guy to have some privacy?"
Toph wiped away a tear that had caught in her eye from laughing so hard. With the amusement out of her system, she folded her arms and said, "Bet you're glad in times like this that I can't actually see anything, huh?"
The water shifted as Sokka stood up, and she followed the sound of his voice as he headed back over to solid ground.
"That's not the point," he insisted, the rustling of fabric snapping to match his indignant tone as he angrily pulled on his clothes. "You should respect the fact that I need some time to myself once in a while and understand that it's not okay to sneak up on me like that."
"You mean when you're hanging out naked in a body of water?" Toph said, not that she needed the clarification. It was strictly to get another gloriously flustered reaction out of Sokka, and he certainly didn't disappoint as he proceeded to stammer a bunch of nonsense all over again.
"I am so going to get you for this," he finally said, as if it were a dire warning she should be intimidated by. Of course, for her, it only had the opposite effect.
"Oh, yeah?" Toph asked, raising a brow. She unfolded her arms and stepped out of the water, planting one foot in front of the other as she held up her hands in a combative stance. "You want to fight me?"
"What? Absolutely not," Sokka said. It wasn't so much his outright refusal as it was the immediacy of his response that stung her in a way she hadn't at all anticipated. He didn't even give himself a chance to consider her challenge before rejecting it so quickly, leaving her with no choice but to call him out on it.
"Still scared to lose to a girl after all this time?" Toph asked. She dropped her hands, only to raise her shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "That's stupid. It's not like you haven't gotten your ass kicked by plenty of girls before."
"That is not the issue here, and you of all people should know that," Sokka said so matter-of-factly that her playful mood abruptly seeped away without her even realizing it. "I'm not about to fight the world's best earthbender. It's an unfair match. Nobody's skills come even remotely close to yours. Not even Aang's. You're the undefeated master."
Now Toph found herself at a loss for words as a noticeable rush of warmth filled her cheeks. Granted, she already knew she was the best earthbender in the world. She didn't need the stroke to her ego to remind her. Although, she had to admit, it was definitely a sweet compliment, especially coming from Sokka of all people.
The problem was, now that this stubborn blush had settled on her face all thanks to his flattery, it all became way too much for her to deal with in that moment. In her own reckless need to shake herself free of these feelings, she stomped her foot so hard on the ground that it blasted upward right where Sokka stood, sending him flying through the air with a helpless scream before he landed with a loud splash back into the water.
He emerged seconds later, coughing harshly and gasping for air, though this time, Toph didn't laugh at his expense. She merely stood there, motionless, her face still burning.
"What the hell was that for?!" Sokka demanded, water dripping from his obviously soaked form as he scrambled to his feet and stomped his way back toward her.
"Now you have no excuse not to fight me," Toph said with restored confidence, finally snapping out of her stupor, as if hurtling him into the water just to provoke him had been her plan all along. She held up her hands once more, this time waving her fingers toward herself to invite him to come at her. "Let's go, Sokka. Give me all you got."
And to her sheer delight, he didn't hold anything back as he charged toward her with a strangled cry of vengeance that only made her face split open with a sly grin. Before he could even make contact with her, she drew her arms forward, bringing forth a solid chunk of the ground which Sokka promptly collided into, sending him sprawling backward with a heavy thump.
His agonized groan was very much like music to her ears. With a satisfied smirk, she flicked off the bits of dirt that had landed on her in the wake of her assault.
"See? Undefeated," Sokka said in a strained voice.
Her smile softening, Toph took pity on her opponent and tapped her foot to the ground with nowhere near as much force as before. He yelped as he came up off the ground only to land squarely on his feet. Aside from his bruised ego, she knew he was unscathed. To commend him for his attempt, she folded her hands together and bowed toward him.
"A worthy warrior," she said when she brought herself upright.
There seemed to be a shift between them as a weighty silence took over. Toph expelled a quiet breath, wondering more than anything if it was only on her end, or if he felt something, too. But then, in the past eight years of knowing him, she'd long since let go of the possibility that Sokka would ever see her as anything more than a friend. How could he when he'd known her since she was just a kid? Her crush on him then never amounted to anything, though the feelings still bubbled up in unexpected ways, as was the case right now.
Even in young adulthood, their dynamic hadn't exactly changed much. He mostly still treated her like a kid sister with the way they bickered and occasionally teased each other. Suki had clearly never seen Toph as a threat for Sokka's attention, nor any of the girls he couldn't help but flirt with in harmless fun. Yet, now that he was unattached, free to pursue any young woman of his choosing, it was like he had to find his footing in the dating pool again. And Toph herself didn't exactly have the same experience, as she refused to be tied down to any man despite having her fair share of suitors.
It wasn't that she didn't like the idea of being with someone, it was just, no one gave her the same feelings as Sokka did. So much for attributing her attraction to him as nothing more than an innocent childhood crush. She could at least privately admit to herself that she very much had a fondness for Sokka that likely would never go away. There was just so much to admire about him, like his sense of humor. Nobody made her, or any of them, laugh more than he did, often when he wasn't even trying. He had a natural charisma that could charm even the most intimidating of adversaries.
But what she admired most about him was his resilience. As a nonbender, he used what others could have easily deemed as a disadvantage to instead prove himself as a clever and highly capable fighter through the use of weapons and training. Between that and his desire to protect the ones he cared about the most, he was unstoppable. She supposed she was included in that small group of people closest to his heart, but again, not in a romantic way. Never in a romantic way.
Her chest felt heavy all of a sudden, the unforgiving pull of unrequited love that managed to grab hold of her despite her best efforts to push it away. How annoying, not to mention pathetic, to get caught up in such gross feelings of adoration. They were nothing more than a burden, a hindrance that tied her down. If she could've bent them out of her somehow, she'd do so without thinking twice. She didn't need these feelings weighing her down, distracting her, getting her hopes up for no reason at all other than some sentimental fantasy that maybe, just maybe, Sokka could ever love her as more than a close friend.
Come to think of it, who was she to taunt him for initially refusing to fight her, when she herself was too much of a coward to even tell him how she felt about him? Especially now that he wasn't in a relationship. Would she ever work up the nerve?
"Hey," Sokka said, breaking her from her thoughts as her heart leapt in her chest. How long had it been since either of them said anything? Had they just been standing there in silence, each lost in their thoughts? Had he been watching her the whole time? The thought of that alone made heat rise to her face all over again. "We never wagered anything in the fight."
Now Toph blinked, because really, of all the things he could've said then, she didn't expect him to say something so seemingly out of the blue, not to mention trivial.
"Well, it's pretty pointless now, considering the fact that I've already won," she said. "Besides, I learned my lesson years ago that nothing good ever comes from gambling."
"I didn't mean money," Sokka said, his voice steady, which ironically only added to her rising nerves. "I meant something more like… And, mind you, I'm just spit-balling here, but… Maybe, the loser has to…kiss the winner?"
Toph's heart stopped beating for a frightening split-second. A million thoughts crashed around through her head, though above them all was the question in absolute disbelief, Is he messing with me right now? And if he wasn't, what did that mean exactly? Did he know she liked him? Had he always known? He couldn't have known. He was Sokka! Clueless, lovable Sokka. He had to be messing with her. But then, would he really do something that heartlesss and cruel, playing with her emotions and using her feelings for him against her?
"I-I…" Her shaky voice startled her, and all the blood rushing to her face certainly wasn't helping the matter. She found herself trying to piece together any form of coherent thought as she went on to say, much more brashly than she intended, "What makes you think I would even want that? Not every single girl falls prey to your so-called charms, you know. Least of all me."
"Okay," Sokka said simply. This time, the steadiness in his voice managed to cut right through her immature outburst, though it was ready to flare up again at any moment. "We don't have to."
Toph gritted her teeth in a furious attempt to break out of her relentless embarrassment, but it was no use.
"Good, because I absolutely do not want to kiss you, got it?"
His warm chuckle filled her ears, suddenly melting her nerves as her shoulders sank with a disarming sigh. What was he trying to do here? Better yet, why was he doing this? Did he want to kiss her?
"Got it," Sokka said, voice dipping as he drew closer, and her heartbeat sped up in an instant. "But Toph… If you ever did want to kiss me, even just once because you never got a proper chance to, like, say, that time when you were twelve and Suki saved you, and you gave her a kiss on the cheek thinking it was me…"
Toph's eyes widened, the visceral mortification of that moment flashing through her mind. Now it wasn't a matter of if he knew she liked him, but rather, how long had he known?
Probably the entire time.
"All I'm saying is," Sokka said, his voice soft and serious, "if you still want to kiss me, now would be the perfect time."
Toph couldn't wrap her head around how they had gotten to this point, let alone that this was actually happening, her secret fantasy coming to life. With her head swimming and her heart pounding, clouding any sense of thought other than how badly she wanted to kiss him, she found herself giving into her wildest desires as she tipped her chin up and allowed her eyes to flutter closed.
She drew in an exhilarating breath when his hands cupped her jaw, strong and masculine, making her feel delicate in a way she never had before, though she couldn't say she hated the feeling. It was powerful in a completely different way compared to her usual strength, connecting her to her sense of femininity, which in many ways was still an unexplored part of her.
When their lips met, she didn't hold herself back in expressing just how much she'd always wanted to do this, how long she'd been pining for it, how perfect it all was here in this moment. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pressed herself into his firm chest, his clothing cool and damp, though his lips very much warm and soft. He held her face protectively in both hands as their mouths tangled together in a deepening kiss.
Guess I have Suki to thank for this, Toph thought with a sinful smile.