#37 for the character questions!
Character Building Questions Meme || accepting
37. What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?
Hmm, that’s a great question Liz!
There are two things that strike me with this one. Firstly, Toph doesn’t actively seek serious romantic entanglements, so those are few and far between in her life. Second, while she has difficulty expressing her deeply held emotions without taking the piss out of a given situation, she’s also one to desire total forthrightness in her relationships. After having her personal truth and agency constantly rejected as a child, she endeavors in adulthood not to waste her time with people who can’t handle the whole of her, warts and all.
That said, her upbringing also made her quite practiced at keeping parts of herself hidden from loved ones for fear of rejection or relational hardship. Or, more mundanely, because she doesn’t think folks need to know.
The secret that comes to mind is Lin’s paternity. Kanto was a serious romantic partner who, due to unknown circumstances, was not a part of her or her child’s life. I vacillate between your fic and another one for ideas on the details of those circumstances, but regardless, this is an area that she doesn’t have any qualms keeping to herself from subsequent partners. They don’t need to know past shit, especially concerning her kid.
