A/N: This story is part of a continuity that involves genderbending of Toph and Aang, and what the canon might have been as a result. Sorry for any confusion; please read Artist's Comments for further information.


TAU: Party in Ba Sing Se


“I’ve got it! I know how we’re gonna see the Earth King!”

All of them turned toward Katara, she of the excited voice.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Toph grumbled, and proceeded to mimic the woman who was their babysitter. “‘One doesn’t just pop in on the Earth King.’”

“The King is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear.”

“Platypus-Bear?”

“Nooo, it just says ‘Bear’.”

“….”

“…This place is weird.”

After a few moments in which everyone discussed this new development, Katara continued. “The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd.”

“Won’t work,” Toph sighed, flopping down and folding his arms behind his head.

Katara looked surprised and somewhat disappointed by this abrupt dismissal. “Why not?”

“Well, no offense to you simple country folk… but a real society crowd would spot you from a mile away.” Shrugging, Toph casually snagged a pastry from a nearby bowl and took a large bite, chewing contentedly. “Youfe gotsh no—” gulp! “…manners.”

“Ex-CUSE me—I’ve got no manners?” the Waterbender said archly, hands poised on hips. “You’re not exactly the epitome of propriety, yourself.”

Toph burped and sniffed the pastry suspiciously—then tossed it aside, half-eaten. “I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it. You, on the other hand, never learned anything… and frankly, it’s a little too late.”

“Aha, but you learned it. You could TEACH us.” Sokka said knowingly, tapping the side of his nose and winking—a gesture that was lost on its intended recipient, obviously. Aang chimed in:

“Yeah, I’m mastering every element. How hard could manners be?” Undaunted, the Airbender grabbed one of the curtains hanging from the window and wrapped it around herself like a simple, almost monk-like robe.

As Katara bemusedly looked on, Aang then began affecting a poor imitation of an upper-crust accent: “Good evening, Mister Sokka Watertribe, Miss Katara Watertribe. Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty, your Momo-ness.”

Of course Sokka couldn’t resist the compulsion to participate. So he grabbed a curtain and joined in: “My dear Avatar Aang, how you do go on~~—OW!”

…Their fun was sadly, and predictably, short-lived.

“It’s useless,” Toph sighed again as he got to his feet and walked over to the last person standing. “Katara here might be able to pull it off. But YOU TWO—” he said, pointing in Aang and Sokka’s general direction—“would be lucky to pass as busboys.”

“Wait, a busboy?” Aang pulled off the curtain and dropped it on the floor, scratching her head as Sokka muttered stuff about “feeling fancy” in the background. “That’s not going to work either—since, heh, I’m a GIRL, right? Can’t I just… sneak in, and have Katara cover for me?”

“If that freaky woman is there, you’re going get us snatched up right off the bat,” Toph said bluntly. “As a girl Avatar, you’re waaaay too noticeable—and when you’re not the center of attention, you get all socially awkward and uncoordinated. As a busboy, nobody’s gonna take a second look at you unless you give them a reason to.”

“Speaking of which, you’re pretty noticeable yourself,” Katara observed, prodding him in the shoulder. “You might not realize this, but a lot of people think you’re a good-looking kid.”

“Gee golly, Katara, I never would’ve guessed,” Toph remarked sarcastically. “I DID have a fan club, remember? I may be blind, but I’m aware I turn heads when they keep screaming my name.”

“Ah, you must be one of those ‘enemies of womankind’ Katara enjoys ranting about,” Sokka noted, nodding sagely. Without turning back Katara picked up the remnants of Toph’s pastry and chucked it at Sokka’s head.

“Anyway, if Aang goes in with a disguise, you have to as well.” Katara grinned suddenly, as if a promising new idea had just made itself known to her. “And I have JUST the thing…”

Even though it was impossible for Toph to see the grin in question, it was undeniable that the blind Earthbender paled all of a sudden. “Please don’t tell me it’s got anything to do with that thing last week, with the—?”

“Girls’ Day Out?” Katara looked like she was having a ball, to Aang’s complete mystification. “Well, at least we know it disguises you completely! And don’t you think it’d be fun to try it on again?”

Toph’s expression plainly stated that he would rather be strapped to an anvil and thrown into the ocean with a bunch of starving, teeth-gnashing eel-sharks. “NO.”

“Toph, what—?”

“WE WILL NOT SPEAK OF IT.” Toph thundered ominously, turning on Aang and Sokka with slitted eyes and a murderous aura. “GOT IT!?”

Not surprisingly, that was the end of that conversational thread.


Sticking both thumbs under his belt, Toph rather offhandedly addressed the older Waterbender: “Alright, so… your room or mine?”

SMACK!

“…THE FRIGGIN’ HELL, Katara!?”

“I’d have hit you for that remark too, if it was me,” Sokka offered warningly, shifting forward slightly.

“Gimme a break.” Toph gingerly touched the side of his head, wincing. “If we want to do this right, we’re gonna have to get our stories straight. I just wanted to give Sweetness the chance to choose where we wanted to do it.”

This time he managed to duck before Katara’s hand made contact. “I’m sorry… we’ll do WHAT, now??”

“Oh, fer… just rein in your rampaging imagination, Sugar Queen!” Toph raged, grabbing her by the wrist and storming off—leaving Sokka and Aang staring after them in the wake of their departure.

“Y’know… that wasn’t really all that reassuring, either.”

=


Several hours later…


“Earth!”

“FIRE! Augh! Oooh!”

“Haha, I won!” Aang cheered, leaning forward and flicking Sokka lightly on the forehead. The two of them had been playing the game Water, Earth, Fire, Air while they waited, and so far Aang’s luck had held pretty well. Sokka, on the other hand, was starting to have a small red mark on his forehead from all the flicks he’d received—despite Aang’s care in keeping them light and relatively harmless.

Just then the doors slid open and Katara appeared, wearing a lovely olive-green dress with tan cloud-patterned sleeves, accented with tawny hues along the collar and the side. Her hair was wound around a flower-decorated headdress, and she wore makeup. She looked very grown-up and sophisticated behind her delicate green-gold fan.

“Wow, you look beautiful!” Aang said appreciatively, as she and Sokka both got to their feet. “No wonder it took you so long to get ready.”

“Thanks, Aang,” Katara smiled, breaking the calm façade she had donned along with the outfit. “Toph’ll be out in a minute. I’m afraid I didn’t give him enough credit earlier, considering.”

Aang felt a slight twinge of… something. Chest pains? “Considering what?”

“…Considering how a blind person is incapable of peeping,” Katara answered with a slight air of embarrassment, taking the chance to adjust one of her (clip-on) earrings. “Maybe I was being a bit paranoid.”

“No duh, Sweetness—it’s not like you’ve got anything I’d wanna see, anyway,” came Toph’s smirking voice, and Aang turned.

Toph was dressed in formal clothing of a design similar to his normal apparel—except it was deep green, embroidered with interlocking black and gold half-moon shapes, and sported long sleeves and trousers of a more intermediate shade. His hair had been tied low near the nape of his neck to accommodate the matching hat, and gold-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose to conceal his milky-green eyes. To complete the picture, a black lacquered fan hung at his wrist from a silken tassel, and a thin cloth-bound book was held in his other hand.

Aang blinked, swallowed, and tried to think of something coherent to say.

“Going for the scholarly look, huh?” Sokka ribbed good-naturedly, coming up beside the Earthbender and elbowing him in the side—a move which Toph reciprocated. “I like the hat. But what’s with the glasses?”

“It’s a prop,” Toph explained, unfurling his fan and fanning himself ostentatiously. It was a plain green with the characters for “Peace” written on it in black ink. “Found these in one of the backrooms. I figure that they’ve got some idea of my personality by now… they’ll never think twice about the geeky guy who wanders around with his nose buried in a book, muttering quotes from Master Kong.”

“…Wait. But you can’t read!”

“So? I’ve got a pretty good collection of quotes from the lessons my tutor read me… and a better memory,” Toph grinned. “I made Katara memorize a few, just in case. Katara?”

Gritting her teeth, the Waterbender halfheartedly recited: “As Master Kong once said, ‘We should not be too familiar with the lower orders or with women.’”

“There, you see?” Toph tapped her smugly with the end of his re-folded fan. “She performs on demand. It’s awesome.”

“You’ve got to teach me that trick some time.”

“SOKKA! You—”

Toph cut her off with a fan pressed to her lips, tsking. “Don’t talk to the commoners, Katara. First rule of society, remember?”

In evident frustration, Katara exhaled deeply—and then proceeded to address Aang instead. “We’ll get in the party, and then find a way to let you in through the side gate.”

“Side gate… where’s—?” Aang stopped mid-sentence as the clock chimed softly, marking the hour.

“Sounds like it’s time already. C’mon, we don’t want to arrive later than what’s fashionable.” With a half-joking courteousness Toph held out his arm, and Katara took it with a look of mixed reluctance and anticipation. Together they headed toward the door…

“Wait, Toph!”

Toph paused, a quizzical look evident despite the oversized spectacles he wore. “What is it, Twinkles?”

“Um…” Aang hesitated, mind unmercifully going blank. Seeing as Toph had gotten all dressed up for the occasion, it was only polite to comment, right?

“Twinkletoes?”

“I just… I wanted to say, that…” No enlightening comment conveniently revealed itself, and desperately Aang blurted out the first thing that came to mind:

“A-are you wearing shoes?”

It was hard to tell what expression Toph wore now, but his tone of voice was certainly very, very dry. “Yes, Aang. I am wearing shoes.” he deadpanned, and held out one foot for inspection. It was a plain black cloth shoe, with a white sole—completely unremarkable. “I could hardly make it in if I wasn’t dressed completely for the part, would I?”

“I… guess not. Er. Just making sure, haha.” Aang rubbed the back of her neck, avoiding Katara’s disbelieving gaze. “Well, have a good—a good time at the party. We’ll see you there!”

“Hold on… what kind of thing is that to s—”

“It’s okay, Sugar Queen. I know a dismissal when I hear one.” Toph shrugged and pushed open the doors, dragging Katara along mid-sentence. “We’re going.”

“OW! Don’t pull so hard, you’ll ruin the dress,” Katara’s scolding voice faded as the doors slammed shut. Only then did Aang allow herself to let out a sigh, feeling her shoulders slump in disappointment.

Well, that went well.

“Just checking his shoes, huh?” Sokka slung one arm over Aang’s shoulders, shaking his head ruefully. “Aang, you and me… We’ve seriously got to talk.”

--------------------------------------

“The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.”

“That’s great reading, Toph. Except…”

“Except what?”

“…You’re holding it upside down.”

“Whoops. Thanks.” Toph reversed the book and switched hands, licking his thumb and turning a page leisurely. Katara grimaced.

“I’m sorry it didn’t go so well back there.”

“What?”

“You know, with Aang.”

Toph stopped, and lowered his spectacles for a moment so she could see his unamused expression. “…I wish you’d stop coming back to that. There’s absolutely nothing going on between me and Twinkletoes.”

“But you want there to be.” She pressed on, despite his obvious distaste for the subject. “Isn’t that right?”

“Look Katara, this really isn’t the time or place to discuss this,” Toph bit off harshly, sliding the lenses back in place and obscuring his eyes. “We’re almost there.”

Offended, Katara lapsed back into silence, and they walked the rest of the way side by side, without speaking.

After about fifteen minutes of standing in line, they made it to the Palace gate. Katara leaned over and whispered in Toph’s ear as they approached the guard: “Any plans on how to get in?”

“Watch me,” the younger boy whispered back. He sounded confident, and Katara hoped sincerely that he had reason to be.

“Invitation please.”

Toph reached into his sleeve and withdrew a document Katara recognized as the official seal of the Bei Fong family, offering it to the guard for inspection. “I think this will do.”

The guard gave it only a cursory glance before saying, “No entry without an invitation. Step out of line please.”

“Look, the Pangs and the Yum Soon Hans are waiting in there for us. I’m going to have to tell them who didn’t let me in,” Toph stated warningly, adjusting his glasses until the light from inside caught and shone off their surfaces with a vaguely threatening glint.

In his academic garb he wasn’t all that intimidating, unfortunately, and the guard was not impressed. “Step out of line please.” He pointed his finger to the side at “please” and Katara reluctantly pulled Toph along. “Let’s go.”

“I don’t get it,” Toph muttered disappointedly when they were out of earshot, folding the document and stuffing it back in his sleeve. “Usually that works like a charm. Don’t these people know how important I am?”

Katara hid a smile at the uncharacteristic grumbling about his undercut privileges, and instead chose to say merely: “As Master Kong once said, ‘One who goes unrecognized yet isn't annoyed—isn't that a noble person?’”

“When I told you to memorize those quotes, I didn’t mean you should quote them at ME—‘cuz that’s just obnoxious.” Toph scowled, inclining his head in her direction. “Your turn to come up with some ingenious idea, Sweetness.”

“You know… I might just have one,” she said slowly, watching as an oncoming carriage came to a halt nearby. A man dressed in the robes of a high-ranking government official stepped out of the carriage, and the nearby guards bowed as he passed. Tugging on Toph’s sleeve, Katara murmured, “This time, follow MY lead.”

“Sir?” The official turned, and the disguised Waterbender pasted an ingratiating smile on her face. “I’m sorry to bother you, but my cousin lost our invitations.” She leaned in and added in a stage-whisper, “He’s practically blind, you see.” (Toph quickly hid his face in the book and pretended not to be listening.) “Do you think you could help us? Our family’s inside and I’m sure they’re very worried.”

The official smiled mysteriously and bowed. “I would be honored. Please come with me.”

--------------------------------------------

“Where are they?” Aang asked, trying hard to keep the worry from her voice.

The three of them—Sokka, Aang, and Momo—were currently hiding out behind the stone lion statue that overlooked the side gate, carefully out of sight of the guards. Several minutes had already passed, and yet there was no sign of either Katara or Toph.

Ducking back behind the statue, Sokka began: “Look, I came up with a backup plan. We dress Momo like a ghost, okay? He flies by the guards creating a distraction,” (at this point he picked up Momo and mock-demonstrated) “then we blast a hole in the wall—”

“Ooooor, we could go in with these guys,” Aang interrupted, pointing out a few uniformed boys unloading supplies from the back of a carriage. “Toph DID say we might pass as busboys.”

Sokka glanced narrowly at Aang—privately thinking that all those years of living with Katara must’ve paid off, because he’d stake his boomerang if that wasn’t unusually petulant emphasis on the word ‘busboy’.

“And why do I get the feeling that you REALLY don’t like that idea?”

The tattooed Airbender flushed at that, and looked away. The non-answer was answer enough.

“… ‘Don’t like’? I hate this. WHY do people keep comparing me to a boy?” she finally asked—a definite note of hurt creeping into her voice. “Is it because Katara’s so much prettier than me that I just HAVE to be a guy by default? Is THAT it?”

“Now THAT is a question I cannot answer.” (Mostly because Sokka would rather die than say that he thought his little sister more attractive than Aang, even if it was the truth.) “Look, once we get in, you can take it up with Toph. He probably didn’t mean it anyway.”

Aang knotted her fingers in her hair, sullenly contemplative. “So… do you think he was also joking about calling me ‘socially awkward and uncoordinated’?”

It was at that point Sokka resolved that he would PERSONALLY remind his buddy that insults, no matter how casually made, sabotaged your chances with the ladies and thus continuing to make them was a BAD IDEA. (For yourself AND for your friends!)

………………………..

One day, shortly after they’d left to come to Ba Sing Se, Toph took him aside and asked to talk to him privately. Although puzzled by the apparent need for secrecy, Sokka agreed and followed.

When they were alone the younger boy got straight to the point: without mincing words, he asked if Sokka would have a problem with him liking Aang.

To say it came as a shock was a bit of an understatement… partly because Sokka’s first thought was that this was probably how a father felt like when his daughter’s boyfriend came to ask permission to marry her. “Wait up, you like AANG?”

Toph blinked slowly, his unseeing eyes unfocused and unreadable. “…Oh. Katara didn’t tell you?”

“Was she supposed to?”

“No, nothing like that… I’m just kinda surprised. Had her pegged as the talkative type.” Toph rubbed his nose with his index finger and sniffed cursorily. “Uh, anyway… since we’re friends, I thought I’d just see where you stand with Aang before acting.”

Sokka furrowed his eyebrows uncomprehendingly. “…I don’t follow.”

Toph sighed, running his fingers back though his bangs. “I really didn’t want to say this, but—it’s been kinda obvious that she’s got another guy on her mind. You’re the only one who can tell me if her crush is one-sided.”

“Another guy, huh?” Automatically, Sokka made a mental tally of all the guys they’d encountered so far on their adventures. Well, all the guys who were close enough to make Toph THIS degree less self-assured than usual, anyway.

There was Teo, who seemed to get along well with Aang—albeit purely in a friendly, platonic way. Also, Haru and Jet were possibilities (although they were more to Katara’s taste in guys—Sokka twitched a little at the thought). However, it was unlikely they’d meet up with any of the three in the near future, and in all three cases there’d been no evidence of the kind of stammering, blushing reaction that Aang plunged into so easily.

Maybe she’s into older guys? Sokka pursed his lips and delved further, following the thought down to the logical conclusion.

Well, if they were talking OLD… then King Bumi had them all beat in aces.

And sure, they’d been born around the same time and had shared a lot of things in common. Still, this didn’t change the fact that the very thought of a scenario involving the both of them sorta made him want to curl into a ball and whimper:


***SOKKA’S IMAGINARY SCENARIO:

Bumi: Why, Aang, what’s this? You made me a necklace! Out of fishing line!

Aang: (all sparkles and rainbows, beaming) Yeah! It’s got a flower design, because I know how much you love flowers!

Bumi: Oooh, you always did know what I liked best! (clasps flower necklace around his throat and tears off whichever Crazy Outlandish Outfit of the Day he’s wearing, revealing his powerfully built muscular body) NOW LET’S BATTLE!

END SCENARIO***


…The mental images were not worth keeping Bumi as a potential Aang-crush, so Sokka promptly erased it from the list. This left only one viable object of affection on Sokka’s list: Zuko.

Zuko, however, was a hotheaded git and apparently had rebuffed Aang already. Sokka had been delirious at the time, but Aang confessed that while she’d been searching for a cure, she’d been captured and Zuko had rescued her, although for his own selfish reasons. Then she’d rescued him, and offered him a chance to be friends—and summarily he’d responded with a fireball shot IN THE FACE.

This, in Sokka’s opinion, permanently cemented the exiled Fire Prince’s position as Supreme Butthole of the Century. It also, unfortunately, eliminated the last possible person Sokka considered a likely contender against his buddy.

“Mm, beats me. I can’t think who Aang’s crush could be.”

“You—” Toph trailed off, and then after a moment of silence, he started to laugh. It was just this side of humorless, but the rueful affection his voice held afterward was genuine enough. “Sokka, you colossal meathead. Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Hey, no need to—” Sokka bristled in protest, but what came next silenced him for good:

“It’s YOU. Okay? You’re the one that Aang likes.”

………………………………

Contrary to what the others probably thought, Sokka was not completely oblivious to the feelings of the people around him.

… All right, so sometimes he needed the ‘obvious’ explained to him. But that’s not the point.

Maybe the hints had always been there, but it was only recently they’d come together to make some weird kind of sense. For instance, there was that one time right before they met Madam Wu, when Sokka had come onshore to see Aang weaving a necklace from his last roll of fishing line. His indignation over this, this OUTRAGEOUS misuse of his precious fishing supplies finally eased after Aang admitted it was a present for someone.

“Smoochy-smoochy, someone’s in looooove…” he’d teased afterward, and was subsequently surprised by the sheer intensity of her blush. He probably would’ve probed further except it was about then that the platypus-bear appeared, and in the following excitement the incident was quickly forgotten.

And now that he’d noticed, it was like there was a—a giant elephant-mandrill-sized aura of awkwardness. Aang was head over heels, and frankly the whole thing freaked him out because he didn’t know how to deal with it.

So he pretended he didn’t know, denying the existence of it completely. Maybe it was a bit cowardly, like hiding one’s head in the ground—but he’d figured that it’d at least buy time until Toph could move in and steal her away, and all would be well.

This would work A LOT better if Toph didn’t seem so set on circumventing the traditional ways of courting a lady, though. Although if one REALLY wanted to be traditional, knocking out the lucky girl with a club or something was—

“Sokka? Are you listening?”

Sokka quickly snapped to and grimaced. That’s right… now wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Yeah, okay… right. Let’s go in—but remember that Momo ghost plan! I think it’s a winner.”

-------------------------------------------

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes… quite beautiful,” repeated Katara mindlessly for the fourth time in so many minutes. Pretending to be immersed in his book, Toph rolled his eyes in disgust as they entered the hall. Good thing he’d left HER to take care of the sparkling wit and obligatory small talk, because being a social butterfly frankly left him bored to bits.

“By the way, I’m Long Feng,” added the official, by way of introduction. “I’m a cultural minister to the king.”

“I’m Kwa-Mai, and this is… Dung.” Toph scowled at this (Spirits, Katara, you come up with a perfectly good name for yourself and  DUNG is the best you can do for me!?) and unobtrusively leaned over, hand ghosting along the side of Katara’s neck in what would appear to onlookers as just a particularly overt display of affection between two people.

After a bit of fumbling, he found one of the beaded strings hanging from Katara’s headdress and tugged—hard. “Ow!”

“Sorry, your headdress was a bit crooked. It’s fixed now,” Toph said ever so innocently, and mentally he patted himself on the back as Katara’s molars made that funny grinding noise again.

“Now, where is your family? I’d love to meet them.” The so-called ‘cultural minister’ continued, and Toph’s senses suddenly went on high fight-or-flight-adrenaline alert. They were treading dangerous waters here, and his instincts told him this sleazy Long Feng character was definitely NOT to be trusted.

“Um, I don’t see them right now. But I’m sure we’ll find them soon,” Katara responded assuredly, with only a hint of unease. “Thanks for all your help.”

Toph bowed tersely as she finished and allowed Katara to lead him away… then stopped in his tracks as he felt Long Feng’s presence shift to intercept them.

“Don’t worry, as your escort it would be dishonorable to abandon you without finding your families first. We’ll keep looking.”

Damn. It seemed like he’d have to step in.

“I apologize, Illustrious Sir, but in truth your continued presence presents a nuisance.” Toph lowered the book he was ‘reading’ and faced the man squarely, fluttering his fan languidly as he did so. “My… fiancée and I were hoping to spend some time together, reading and composing love poetry while we wait. It would be both troublesome and inappropriate to allow our private words to be heard by an outsider.”

“I thought you said you were cousins.”

“We… um, we ARE. Third cousins, twice-removed, to be exact.” Toph amended in afterthought, cursing the man’s powers of recollection. “Our parents have already endorsed the match, and we’re going to be married shortly.”

“Hmm… I did not know such an event was to take place in my city.” Long Feng sounded rather disapproving, and Katara tensed minutely. Toph, however, had a pretty good idea what was bothering the man, and seized the chance to make the most of it.

“The wedding will not take place in Ba Sing Se, but at our manor house in the country. But even if it WAS, would there be a problem with that? Is it because of our bonds of blood?” Toph snapped his fan shut in pretended outrage, praying his acting skills would pass for the real thing. “What is wrong with loving the one you LOVE, sire?”

Long Feng seemed taken aback by the sudden attack. Being an official, he had mostly likely not expected such a spirited response, and thus sounded momentarily at a loss. “Err, I apologize if you…  I didn’t mean…”

“As Master Kong says, ‘Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.’” Beside him Katara bowed (politely enough, despite her cutting reproof) and said, “I think we’d be better off on our own. And as my fiancée, it’s probably better that he’s my escort.”

“That’s right, Sweet—er. You’re right as always, my sweet… darling petal,” Toph finished in his best approximation of a lovebird’s coo, saving himself from slipping back into his usual banter.

“Then I will excuse myself.” Long Feng said, bowing inscrutably in turn. “Have a… memorable evening,” was his last comment before striding off.

As soon as Long Feng left, Katara turned on him incredulously. “‘My sweet darling petal’…?? Who are you and what have you done with Toph?”

“I’m not Toph right now, remember? I’m Dung—brilliant name, by the way. I’ll be sure to thank you for it properly, once this is all over.” Toph remarked sarcastically, unfolding his fan and obscuring his mouth (just in case the Long Feng guy was still hanging around and happened to read lips).

“Sorry, but you never said I’d have to provide NAMES,” Katara said, the words coming out strangled through what Toph had no doubt were teeth clenched in a smile.

Toph snorted. “Hey, I made up a story on the fly about our happily-unscheduled, fictional, inbred country-gentry wedding. Coming up with two NORMAL-sounding names should be easy in comparison.”

Katara huffed, but wisely let the subject drop. “So what now? I’m sure we came off as rather suspicious.”

“And we’ll keep being suspicious if we don’t keep to our roles.” Toph frowned thoughtfully, absently closing his book and sticking it into his sleeve. “No Sokka, no Twinkletoes… and I’m stuck with you. This sucks.”

“Shouldn’t that be MY line?”

Well, it seemed the other two were gonna have to find their own way in this time.

Sighing, Toph grabbed his companion by the arm and dragged her further into the room. “C’mon, cut the snarking, Sweetness. Let’s go give them something to talk about.”

---------------------------------

“Where are Toph and Katara?”

“Forget about them,” Sokka whispered under his breath as he extended his tray to all passersby, tugging his hat more securely over Momo’s restless form. “Just keep an eye out for the King.”

“I don’t know what he looks like.”

“You know… ‘royal’, flowing robe, fancy jewelry.”

Aang looked around unenthusiastically, her slender fingers hooked around the handle of the oversized teapot she’d been put in charge of. From her current perspective, all of the guests fit some aspect of Sokka’s description, if not all three categories. “Frankly, that could be anyone.”

“Excuse me, what kind of tea is that?”

Aang snapped to attention, chagrined that she hadn’t noticed the guest’s approach earlier. “Oh, uhh… jasmine, I think?”

The elegantly-dressed woman extended her empty cup, and Aang swiftly refilled it. As she did so, two other women passed by, exchanging hushed whispers.

“Did you hear about the cousins?”

“Who? What cousins?”

“Over there—that young man and the taller girl next to him on the couch.”

“Ooh, I see them. But are you sure they’re cousins? They look nothing alike.”

“According to what I’ve heard, they’re first cousins who have eloped from the country and are seeking the Earth King’s blessing to circumvent the wrath of their relatives, who vehemently oppose the wedding.”

“Ohh, how scandalous!”

“Isn’t it?”

Curiously Sokka peered through the heads of the crowd to see what all the gossip was all about—then groaned, just barely loud enough for Aang to hear. “Aw, no… KATARA!”

“You found them?” Aang craned her neck in the same direction Sokka was facing… only to see a sight which froze the blood in her veins.

Katara and Toph were sitting together in a corner, holding hands and (apparently) gazing deeply and adoringly into each other’s eyes. They were VERY CLOSE, and seemed to be sharing an extremely private conversation.

“What the…? You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Sokka moaned, slapping his forehead. “Toph’s not even her TYPE! When did this happen!?”

Aang didn’t respond. Couldn’t respond—her lungs were flaccid, empty of air. All of her attention was focused on…

What.

WHAT.

…WHY?

As if feeling the pressure of her stare, Toph raised his head, and seemed to listen attentively to something in the distance. After a few seconds he smiled and said something to Katara, who responded with a matching smile. Toph then stood and bowed, theatrically blowing a kiss in her direction before turning away.

(Someone had built a bonfire in the region of her diaphragm—or that’s what it felt like, anyway. At least now she could breathe normally, although each breath only served to feed the inner sensation of flame.)

Toph strolled up to where she and Sokka stood waiting, a slight smirk just barely visible over the edge of his half-opened fan. “Another crab puff please.”

“You found us.” Aang’s voice sounded flat, even to her own ears.

Preoccupied with snagging a handful of the choicest tidbits from Sokka’s tray, Toph didn’t seem to notice. “I’d know your little footsteps anywhere, Twinkletoes. What took you guys so long to get here?”

“We would’ve been here earlier if SOMEBODY hadn’t forgotten to let us in,” Aang retorted. Sokka cringed. Toph raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Well, at least you made it in without our help. I don’t see any reason for you to bite my head off just because some official guy was stalking us and we couldn’t—”

“What guy?” Sokka asked warily—then shook his head. “No wait, I take that back. First things first: what’s up with you and Katara?”

“Oh… just keeping up appearances.” Toph smirked a little more prominently, raising a crab puff to his mouth and nibbling on it with very un-Toph-like fastidiousness. “My –ahem– fiancée and I are exchanging love poems.”

“Love poems??”

“Fiancée?!” Aang’s brain shrieked at the same time. (Because unlike Sokka, she knew which word it was more important to get clarified.)

“Mostly haikus on Sweetness’s part. I’m mostly relying on my memory of classical poems to get me through.” Toph grinned widely, evidently quite at ease. “It’s a real laugh. Want to join us?”

“Um, no. Unlike you two, we’re busboys,” Aang replied somewhat stiffly, turning the teapot in her hands. “We have to stand here.”

“Gosh, Twinkles, when’d you become such a wet blanket?” Toph frowned, unaware of Sokka’s semi-frantic flailings to STOOOOP! STOP NOOOOWWW! “You act like you’ve never attended an event like this before… Oh, hey, did they even HAVE parties a hundred years ago?”

Toph’s casual flippancy was the last straw. Aang snapped.

“For YOUR information, the last party I went to was Bumi’s thirteenth birthday party—and it had a mudslide and rock climbing and a huge chocolate fudge cake covered with ganache and whipped cream.  We went exploring caves and then ate Rocky Road ice cream afterwards.”

(“What’s ‘gnosh’?” Sokka wanted to know.)

(“It’s a kind of icing made from blending dark chocolate and cream,” Toph replied in a similar undertone. “I’ll explain later.”)

“Anyway, IT WAS VERY FUN AND EXCITING.” Aang finished somewhat loudly, causing a few heads to turn briefly. “I’m just surprised that in the last hundred years it’s become so boring that guys have to resort to flirting with older women, just to make things interesting.”

Sokka smacked his face with his hand and groaned. Toph seemed indifferent enough, although the sticks of the fan he gripped creaked loudly in protest.

“Hey, Sokka… be a pal and check on your sister for me?” he said quietly, his milky pupils fixed unwaveringly in Aang’s direction. “Tell her I’ll be along in a minute.”

“…Yeah, okay. I’ll go.”

“Thanks dude.”

“Sure, no prob.”

And with that, Sokka hastily made good his escape.

=

“What’s going on over there?” Katara asked as she took a crab puff from Sokka’s tray. “Toph’s been gone a while. Are they having fun?”

Sokka chuckled nervously, glancing over at the two younger members of their group where they stood together, exchanging quietly heated (accusations disguised as) questions.

“About as much fun I’d imagine you and Zuko would have—if he kidnapped you, tied you to a chair, and then cordially invited you to have dinner with him.”

Katara flinched, and then laughed at her own reaction. “Oh, wow. It’s that bad?”

“Let’s just say I’m going to stick around here for a while,” Sokka shrugged. “Maybe I can find the Earth King while they work things out.”

“I don’t understand, though—they were getting along so well earlier,” Katara muttered, looking bewildered and genuinely concerned. “Did something happen?”

“Um, yeah. You and Toph happened, apparently! And-and LOVE POEMS??” Sokka shook his head, still firmly entrenched in denial. “When’d you guys get all mushy and stuff? Last time I checked, you liked ‘em tall, dark ‘n handsome—with a tragic backstory required for serious consideration.”

Katara stared at him like he’d just gone and said something so stark raving insane that she was having difficulty believing that he’d been the one to say it. “Did you just imply that Toph and I are romantically involved?”

“…”

“…Sokka. You’re my brother, and despite all your faults and silly antiquated ideas about men and women’s roles in society, I still love you.” His little sister took a deep breath and continued, a suddenly throbbing vein in her temple popping into existence.

“But if you seriously even considered that I’d fall for that—that arrogant, immature, overbearing BRAT of a kid—!”

“HEY, I never said that!” Sokka protested defensively, waving his arms and nearly upsetting his tray in the process. “Besides, it’s not like you really think Toph’s like that ALL the time, either. Right?”

“…Right.” Katara admitted finally, tiredly kneading her forehead. “Sorry, I’m just a little annoyed with him right now. He’s been riding me pretty hard all night about this party thing.”

Sokka blanched, and Katara realized a moment too late exactly what she had said.

“Spirits, Sokka, NOT LIKE THAT! Y-you PERV!! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!”

“OH, SO I’M THE PERV!? IT’S NOT LIKE I EVER WANTED TO HEAR THAT COMING FROM YOU, AND I MEAN EVER!”

-------------------------------------

“…So that was how you managed to draw the attention of the watchdogs on us, huh?” Toph observed as they were forcibly escorted back to their domicile, the doors slamming shut behind them. “What a FINE time to pick an argument.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Sokka shot back, but there was very little heart in it. All of them were exhausted, wired and somewhat depressed, especially after being so easily trapped and outmaneuvered by Long Feng and facing the prospect of being tailed by the Dai Li he controlled. “The next time I want live entertainment, I’ll just bring over a chair and a bag of seal-blubber jerky and watch you and Aang tongue-lash each other.”

Aang stopped moping long enough to flush crimson at the reminder. Toph, on the other hand, was quick to reply: “You scream like a girl.”

Meanwhile Katara stormed into the next room without a word and grabbed a fresh set of clothes. “I’m going to go soak in the tub for a couple hours. Nobody bother me unless you want to drown” was her sole warning before she headed down the hall to the bathroom.

Sokka sighed, stretching until his spine cracked and joints popped satisfyingly. “Well, guess I’m going to turn in. We can come up with a new plan tomorrow, after we sleep on it.” He also headed for the door, pausing long enough to add “Goodnight, guys.”

“G’night, Snoozles.”

“Sweet dreams, Sokka.”

Then they were two… alone. Silence reigned.



Acutely aware of the discomfort of their situation, Aang was the first to (feebly) attempt a retreat. “You know, I’m kind of tired too. I think I’ll—”

“Go to bed and avoid talking to me?” Toph finished for her, folding his arms and quirking an eyebrow as he did so. “I don’t think so.”

“But… I’m tired.” She mumbled on gamely, even though she knew the excuse sounded pathetic.

“We can have a conversation until you fall asleep.” The blind Earthbender said amiably, but unyielding. “Now you can say all the things you didn’t have a chance to say during the party.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno. Normal, Aang-ish things?” the other boy suggested as he sat beside his usual pallet on the floor, kicking off his shoes one by one. “Things like… ‘Hey Toph, do you want some tea?’ or ‘What’s with that bear? Weird, huh?’ Or even ‘Wow, you changed your clothes for the first time since—’”

“Okay okay, I get it already,” Aang interrupted, feeling a tentative smile involuntarily twitch the corner of her lips at his banter, and without thinking she moved to sit next to him. “You, um… parted your hair differently?”

“Well, that’s a step up from the shoe comment… excuse the pun,” he added as he removed his hat, his glasses and the rest of the props that formed his scholarly persona. “It’s just for tonight, though. Do you like it?”

“I don’t know.” Aang bit the edge of her thumbnail, considering. “It’s just… different.”

Toph tugged at his collar, undoing the frogs at his throat and working his way down to his waist, at which point he unwound his belt and shrugged out of the garment entirely. “You should try changing your hair sometime too. Katara says you’ve had it the same way for over one hundred years.”

It did not escape Aang that Toph was casually disrobing right in front of her, but she couldn’t protest or that would make the situation more awkward than it already was. Thus, she sat there straight-backed, pretending not to see as he got up and padded around barefoot, dispersing various articles of clothing—and all the while, her cheeks darkened steadily. “I—I was inside an ICEBERG!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, obviously I couldn’t change it then, could I?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never been in an iceberg.”

“……Oh.” (No seriously, how does he expect me to respond to that??)

Dressed solely in a pair of pajama bottoms, Toph turned back and seemed to regard her with honest frustration, arms crossed over his bare chest. “…Okay, this is stupid. Turns out I’m no good at this small-talking biz, so I’ll just get to the point.

“You’ve been acting really weird since we set off for that party. And judging by the way you just crammed more snark into an hour than Sugar Queen does in TWO DAYS, it sounds like it’s something to do with me. What did I do to make you so mad?”

“Who said I was mad?” The abrupt switch from polite vagaries to his usual bluntness disconcerted her, and Aang determinedly focused her line of sight a few inches to the right of her questioner’s head. “How do you know I’m mad at you?”

“No one, and I DON’T know—that’s why I’m asking.” Toph plopped himself down again, this time directly facing her. Bracing his arms on his knees, he appeared to study her intently, soberly. “ARE you mad at me?”

“…Maybe.” Aang muttered, drawing her knees close to her chest and studiously avoiding his gaze. Now that the party was over, she felt calmer, and even a little embarrassed at how she had acted. “Maybe I didn’t like how you were dealing with the situation earlier.”

“What?” Toph sounded surprised—and slightly amused. “Well, if that’s all it was, you could’ve just said so. You did know our cover story was a load of ostrich-horse dung, right?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?” he cocked his head toward her inquiringly, fingers lightly meshing together. “Come on, Aang. I’m listening… talk to me.”

“It felt like you and Katara had some kind of private joke, and you were keeping it away from Sokka and me.” Aang forced out, addressing her toes in a small voice. It didn’t feel like the truth, at least not completely… but it was part of it, and moreover it was the part she could actually put into words. “We’re all in this together, right? We’re a group—friends. Nobody should be excluded.”

Any levity his eyes might have held had long vanished, and he looked concerned and even a bit remorseful. “Aww… Aang. That wasn’t—”

“Plus I didn’t like how you and Katara were acting so melodramatic and touchy-feely, and sappy, and—” Aang halted and took a deep breath, dimly realizing that she might’ve been getting a tad carried away. She quickly concluded: “It made me feel funny.”

In a matter of seconds, Toph went from uncomfortable and evasive to totally alert, and despite his blindness it sure felt like he focused directly on her. “How?”

Aang squirmed. Perhaps she shouldn’t have divulged that particular confession? “I dunno… like it hurt to breathe. My chest… like I was burning.”

Toph smiled then (smiled! For no reason! Aang fumed), and there was a hint of triumph mixed in with that satisfaction. “Aha. You were jealous.”

“Jealous? Wh—” Aang swallowed the rest of the shocked exclamations that simple statement elicited. It was difficult, and she felt nearly like she would implode from the pressure right then and there.

If only she could take a leaf from Katara’s book and berate him for sounding so smug (and so hopeful, although why there was hope mixed in with that typical male ego-boosted assurance she did not know), but as it was she could only stammer. “W-why in the world would I be jealous?”

“You tell me.”

Aang shook her head adamantly, dismissing it. “I can’t. I mean I—I’m the Avatar, I’m not supposed to—”

“Avatar, schmavatar. Just because you’ve got some crazy Spirit-given powers and the title to go with it, it doesn’t take away the things you’ve got that are the same as ours.” Toph rebuked her softly, sounding older than his twelve years. Listening to him, Aang couldn’t help but think that maybe he’d been giving this quite a bit of thought. “You can’t help being human. And jealousy is just a part of it.”

“Why? It’s negative, and ugly, and it…” she thought of Yue, and Suki, Ty Lee and all the pretty girls Sokka’s eyes had ever traveled over and found attractive; of watching and knowing that he’d never looked at her like that. Not once. And most likely he never would.

“It’s so painful, thinking about it.” She whispered finally, her voice a thin thread of anguish in the air between them. “And I get so angry…”

“Then don’t think about it—overcome it. From inner chaos comes inner peace, if you can find the strength to rise into the positive.” In an unprecedented move Toph took her hand, and before she could react he turned it over, tracing the fine creases with his index finger. “Everything’s connected. Just like these lines.”

Hmm… that sounds strangely familiar. Aang felt her cheeks flushing, and her palms were starting to sweat and twitch in his grip. Yet she wondered: Where have I heard that before?

“Have you ever been jealous, Toph?”

The blind Earthbender was quiet for a very long time. Just when she almost thought he wasn’t going to answer: “…Yeah. Why’d you ask?”

“It’s just… you sound pretty knowledgeable about it,” she ventured, looking him full in the eyes for the first time since they’d started this conversation. “But somehow I can’t see you being like that.”

“What, envious of anything with eyes? …With the ability to see something beautiful?” Something flickered in his expression, but it passed too quickly for her to catch it. “No… never. Why do you ask?”

“Uh…”

“It’s sarcasm, Twinkles. You DID hear what I said about being human, right?” He corrected her with slight exasperation. “I just hide it better than you do.”

Aang twitched. “Of course. Because I’m just THAT obvious, aren’t I?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Toph seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to continue. Curious, she watched as the furrowed brows finally relaxed, and the internal struggle eased into one of earnest contemplation. “No… I wouldn’t say that all.”

It seemed as if he had come to terms with something, and was busy processing the possible implications. Aang was perfectly willing to let him take his time to do so, and was thus startled when his face suddenly loomed mere inches from hers.

What…?

With uncharacteristic delicacy he touched her face, tentatively, the pads of his fingers tracing invisible loops and swirls on the surface of her skin. Aang stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Sorry we made you feel left out earlier, Twinkletoes. But I saved this one for you.”

So saying, he slowly closed the remainder of the distance—

(Instinctively Aang squeezed her eyes shut)

—and whispered something in her ear.

……

What.

WHAT.

…Oh. Well, that was unexpected.

By the time he finished, Aang’s face was hot as a furnace. “Tha-that’s really… Um.”

“What. Don’t tell me it was THAT crappy?” Toph pulled away, pulling a comical face. “Okay okay, so I made it up. I’m no poet, but I wanted to…” He stopped abruptly, and cleared his throat. “That’s how I feel.”

Even though Aang wanted so badly to laugh, a strange sense of loss welled up so quickly in her throat that she could only choke it down.

“Aang? …Come on, say something. Anything.”

Obviously her brain had gone on vacation to the Spirit World or something and forgot to leave a message, because the first thing she blurted out was “But—but I like SOKKA.”

To his credit, Toph didn’t so much as bat an eye before he answered. “I know.”

“…WHAT?!”

“Twinkles, when I said you weren’t obvious, it’s possible I might have exaggerated a bit.” Toph smirked, outwardly completely unfazed. “Besides, it doesn’t change a thing—because I don’t intend to let something like that stop me.”

Dizzy with revelations and faced with that grin, Aang didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, he did.

“Go and sleep, Twinkletoes. We’ll figure things out in the morning.”



I want to be yours, forever and ever.
When the hills are all flat
And the rivers run dry
When the trees blossom in winter
And the snow falls in summer,
When heaven and earth mix—
Not till then will I part from you.


FIN.