Six high school students from different walks of life and all facing their own seemingly insignificant struggles, endure a detention "supervised" by their asshole of a principal, while finding themselves wrapped up in all manner of not-school-appropriate bonding exercises.
Each has a chance to tell their story, to make the others see them a little differently - and, well, you don't spend an entire day locked in a room together without becoming either lifelong friends or mortal enemies.
OR: atla breakfast club au
----
i finally started writing my breakfast club au!!!
i honestly have to thank @hella1975 purely bc her enthusiasm when i first talked about this au in an ask game single-handedly reignited my motivation to work on it kfjsdlfjkds
for the ask game - "please come get me" with best friends sokka & toph ?
may i offer you some modern au sokka & toph featuring nonbinary toph & sokka with tourette's?
warnings for alcohol / unintentional underage alcohol consumption / a character being drugged via drinks being switched around (all are only talked about, as this is entirely set after the fact)
(angst quote prompts)
Sokka told Toph not to go to the party.
He told them that they would regret it. That it wouldn’t be as fun as it looks on TV, that it’ll be a sensory nightmare, that it’ll get too crowded for them to properly use their cane, that parties are not made to be accessible for anyone beyond your average frat boy.
But all of the frustration and the I told you so attitude fade away as soon as he answers the call.
“Please come get me,” is the only thing Toph says. Their words slur together just enough for Sokka to pick up on it, and he can hear muffled music and shouts in the background.
Sokka is on his feet before they’ve even finished their sentence. “Where are you? I’m on my way.” He puts the phone on speaker and sets it down so he can tug on his jacket and grab his keys.
“‘m outside. Not too far fr’m th’ house.”
Sokka nods, more to himself than as a response to Toph. His shoulder rolls as he goes to reach for his phone and he bites back a groan so Toph won’t hear it and think it’s directed at them. “Are you - y-you, you - safe?” A whistle follows the question before Sokka can suppress it.
(Toph knows his tics are worse when he’s stressed, and he doesn’t need them worrying about him right now.)
“Mm-hmm. …’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Sokka assures them as he picks up his phone successfully this time. He finds the address Toph sent him for pick up purposes, though he wasn't scheduled to pick them up for another few hours.
“You said I shouldn’ go. You were right. ‘nd now you have t’ come get me early, ‘nd…” their voice trails off.
“I’m not mad - mad. mad. mad. - at you. I’m just worried. I don’t - t-t-t - want you - t-t-t, t-t-t - getting hurt. And - mad, mad, mad, t-t-t - and I know you can t-- t-t-t - take care of yourself, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop worrying about you, okay? You’re a little sibling to me, and it’s my job to worry about my little siblings.”
Sokka grabs a water bottle from the fridge before slipping his shoes on and hurrying down the stairs and outside of the building.
Toph doesn’t say anything until Sokka’s getting into his car, and it’s just a quiet, “Thank you.”
“I’m going to stay on the call with you until I get there, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
--
He finds Toph sitting in the grass, near the road but not close enough that they’re in any danger. The party has spilled out onto the front porch, but not close enough to Toph that Sokka can make out any of the conversation.
Sokka parks on the side of the road near where Toph is, not particularly caring if it’s a legal move or not, and then jumps out and hurries over to them.
Toph looks up like they can see him as he approaches. “Sokka?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“...Can you help me walk?”
(That’s not a good sign.)
“Of course.”
Carefully, Sokka helps Toph to their feet. One of their arms goes around Sokka while the other continues to tightly clutch their cane.
They promised Sokka they wouldn’t drink, but Sokka is pretty confident they didn’t keep their word. He isn’t going to harp on them for that right now, though - he can give them a lecture on underage drinking tomorrow if the hangover isn’t persuasive enough.
Sokka mumbles something under his breath - one of his tics, but he’s hardly paying enough attention to recognize which it is right now - and Toph apologizes again.
“You don’t have to keep apologizing. I’m not upset. I’m glad you called me instead of just trying to tough it out.”
Toph sniffs, but doesn’t say anything else. Sokka helps them into the passenger seat, fastens their seatbelt for them, and then goes around to get in his own seat. He hands them the water bottle and waits in silence until they’re done drinking.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Toph shrugs. “Someone switched my drink. Not much to talk about.”
“Someone w--” he’s interrupted by a tongue click. “Someone did what?!”
“Song helped me get outside ‘nd call you. She couldn’t drive me home b’cause she was drinking ‘nd Jin wasn’t comin’ t’ get her ‘ntil late b’cause she was on a date.” They take another drink of water and then hand the bottle and lid to Sokka. “Can’t get it back on.”
Sokka screws the lid on and hands the bottle back to Toph. “You’re okay, though?”
Toph nods. “Didn’ notice though til it was too late. Thought it tasted kinda funny, but didn’t know why ‘ntil Song tried it ‘nd said it tasted like there was tequila in it.”
Sokka blinks. “How did you not notice that?”
“Someone dared me to drink a… lemonade-coke-fruit punch-milk mix.”
“...Okay.” Sokka decides he’s not going to question that one. It sounds very much like a Toph thing to take someone up on that dare and fully follow through with it. “I’m going to take you to my apartment for the night, but do you want me to get you food on the way home?”
Toph hesitates, and then nods. “Can you get fries?”
“Yeah, I’ll get you some fries.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” Sokka shifts into drive and slowly begins to drive away, making sure there are no party stragglers in his path.
“Sokka?” Toph speaks up again after a few moments of silence.
“Hm?”
“I’m glad I get to be like your little sibling.”
(Sokka absolutely does not have to blink back tears at that.)
Ooh, ooh, OOH!!! I have another one!!! 😁 🏳️🌈 Toph
Eyyy, thank you!!
Toph: demiromantic enby attracted mainly to women✌️ That’s what I’ve got for you ;))
(I was gonna specify Suki, and then realised I specified Suki in the Zuko one and now I’m thinking I might be projecting my own attraction to Suki onto all of the characters 😬)
in which a young nonbinary toph comes to terms with themself.
this is by no means an interpretation of the show! it’s more so my own personal headcanon paired heavily with me just. projecting onto toph. (also, this is written not taking the comics or lok into account.) i wrote this for myself, but i know how much fanworks mean to me, so i’m posting this as both a way to document my work and make it available to anyone looking for lgbtq+ works of the atla variety. if you read this, i’d really appreciate feedback! i know i’m not an amazing writer and i’m always looking to improve.
•••
toph is twelve and hates pretending. pretending to be small, weak, ladylike. it makes them want to vomit. it’s not until they run away with the avatar that they realize just how much they hated it.
toph is thirteen and the war is over and they are free. they never want to have to pretend again. that’s why they hate it so much when they realize there’s something else. it’s an odd feeling; almost uncomfortable and very confusing. toph feels like they’re lying by not understanding it. but how would they explain? hey, guys, something feels off. what feels off? oh, i don’t know, just something. they hate it so they ignore it.
toph is fourteen and their body is changing and they panic. at first, it’s quiet enough to ignore, but when their body morphs into something so distinctly not theirs they feel like they’re buried miles underground. toph doesn’t know what to do. then one day while they’re all visiting zuko katara asks about having another ‘girl’s day’ and toph can’t stand it anymore. they snap and yell “no! i’m- i’m not a girl!” katara looks shocked and toph realizes what they’ve done and leaves before she or any of the others can say anything.
an hour later toph is laying on the ground outside of the fire nation palace. too many thoughts are rushing through their head. will katara hate them now? what about everyone else? they had always accepted them as they were; would this be it? tears are streaming down their face and they hate it. they hate feeling weak and like they’ve been pretending. they sense someone coming in their direction. sokka. he was still a good ways off, navigating the twisting corridors of the palace, and toph briefly wonders if they should just leave. sokka was definitely coming to talk to them. it would be so easy to just leave, run away... but no. these people are their family and they refuse to run from them until they chase them off.
it doesn’t take him long to find them, laying in the grass. sokka doesn’t say anything; just sits down next to them. he doesn’t comment on the trails of dried tears streaking their face; doesn’t comment on how long they’ve been gone. he just sits. the two of them stay like that for about three minutes before toph can’t take it anymore.
“well?” their voice is shaky and makes them feel even more vulnerable.
“well what?”
the words don’t come easily, but they’ve been thinking for a long time. “sokka, i snapped at katara. and, i mean, it’s not like i haven’t done that before, but this is different. i just... i don’t know what to do. about anything.”
sokka shifts to lay down as well. “ya know, toph, i know what you’re going through.”
“i doubt it.”
“no, really, i do. i wasn’t... i haven’t really talked about this before, with anyone except katara, not because i’m ashamed or anything, just cause it hasn’t come up. but, i- well, i wasn’t born in a boy’s body.”
toph’s eyes go wide. “what?”
sokka laughs a bit. “yeah. everyone thought i was a girl, since that’s what my body looked like, but by the time i was five and had the words to explain it, i knew i was a boy. i just... knew. no one was even surprised. it’s a common thing, in the water tribes. mistakes happen. i mean, i don’t see it as a mistake, just sort of... something i am.”
toph can feel tears welling up again. the past few months had been hell and as soon as they let it out there was someone right here who understood. a weird silence passes and toph can’t bring themself to fill it.
“toph,” sokka starts again, “i know you’re probably... going through some stuff right now, but i want you to know that we’re all here for you. and we... we’re your family. we love you no matter what.”
they sit up, trying not to let the tears fall. “i- i’ve just been confused. i hate being confused. but i know now. i... i know who i am, and i... i’m going to be me. thank you.”
“no problem, toph. it’s totally ok if you don’t know yet, but do you want us to call you something else? or use different pronouns?”
they’ve thought about this, agonized over it constantly for the past weeks. “yeah, i... i’m still toph. i just... i’m not a girl. but i’m not a boy, either. can... what can i be called if i’m neither?”
“well, i’m not an expert or anything, but what about they and them? those are gender neutral.”
they. them. toph’s face breaks into a smile. “yeah. that- that’s me.”
“great!” sokka says, pushing himself up to his feet. “do you want me to tell the others, or do you want to?”
“i will.”
“alright. and toph? i’m here, ok? i... i don’t know exactly what you’re feeling, but i’m here for you.”
“i know.” they stand as well, waking alongside sokka out of the garden. “oh, and sokka?”
“yeah?”
they punch his arm, hard.
“ow! what was that for?”
“thank you.”
they can here the grin in sokka’s voice when he says “you’re welcome.”
