Toph and Sokka fighting together. Toph and Sokka sparring. Toph and Sokka knowing what moves the other is going to make before they do. Toph and Sokka being instinctual. Toph and Sokka understanding each other’s fighting styles. Toph and Sokka playing off of each other on the field. Toph and Sokka knowing each other more than anyone else. Toph and Sokka being the best kinds of partners. Toph and Sokka trusting one another more than anyone else in the world. Toph and Sokka—
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Pairing: platonic!gaang x fem!water tribe!reader (+ implies future Zuko x fem!r)
Summary: Team Avatar has enough to worry about without taking time to fix their hair before and after every fight. That's where you come in, but it's not quite the same as it used to be.
Warnings/Word Count: r is a nonbender from the southern water tribe, banter, fluff, r braids everybody's hair (Aang gets left out :( ). takes place between the comics and the movie, no spoilers. pic credit. 2.2k+ words
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The first time you reached for Zuko's hair, you didn’t think about it. Didn’t think about how he might react or what assumptions he’d make about your intentions. Growing up in the southern water tribe, you had never been in a position to hesitate to touch another person.
Even when you reached for Zuko that night, Sokka’s arm had been tossed lazily over your shoulder. He was rambling about a new invention he was working on when you noticed a dried leaf in Zuko’s hair, just out of his reach. Without thought, you stepped forward and extended your arm to remove it. Zuko turned before you could and wrapped his warm fingers around your wrist.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“There’s a leaf in your hair,” you replied easily. “Hold still.”
Zuko hadn’t released you. But he did hold still, watching with tensed muscles as you used your other hand to brush the debris from his hair.
“Thanks,” he muttered. “But don’t think this means you can braid my hair now. I’m not Katara.”
Katara muttered something while you smiled at Zuko. Sokka never brought the occurrence up again, though he began to carry two spare hair ties. It was like he knew something you didn’t.
10 Years Later
“Wow,” you muse, squinting in the bright Republic City sunlight. “Trying something new with your hair?”
Toph spins on the ball of her foot and drops in front of you. With her back to you, she blocks the light and presents her tangled hair to you.
“Yes?” you press, wondering if she’ll ever say please or thank you again. Not that you care if she deserts her manners — you grew up with Sokka. And she’s the world’s greatest earth bender.
“Aang made me reinforce the foundation of the new air temple,” she sighs. “My power isn’t for free labor!”
Humming, you gather her hair in one hand as you reach into the bag beside you in search of a comb.
“Me next?” Sokka asks from behind you.
“Toph can’t see where the tangles start, Katara’s arms get tired from bending… What’s your excuse for having someone else do your ponytail?” you question.
“My arms get tired too!”
“Well, if Sokka isn’t next… does that mean I am?” someone else interjects.
You laugh, Toph snorts, and Sokka sighs. Aang crosses his ankles and sinks easily to the ground. He smiles at you, then taps a scar on your arm.
“You okay?” he checks.
You detangle a section of Toph’s hair before answering, “Great. How’s the temple and the exploring going?”
“He’s doing too much of the exploring,” Katara murmurs, standing behind Aang with her hand cupped over her brows against the sun. “Why are you sitting outside?”
“I found her here, not my idea,” Toph defends. She raises her hands to show her innocence.
“I’m next,” Sokka tells Katara.
“Do your own hair,” she responds. “But do it quickly. The Order of the White Lotus invited us to dinner.”
“Tell Piandao hi for me,” you request. Toph holds her hair in place atop her head while you pin it in place, then earth bends to push herself up.
“She said we’re going to dinner,” Sokka repeats. He reaches down, takes your hand, and pulls you to your feet. “Team Avatar.”
“Since when does that include me?” you wonder.
“You were supposed to be with us when we found Aang!” Sokka reminds you. “And you made him his first homemade meal after he came out of the ice!”
“Which he hated!” you point out. “And it’s your fault I wasn’t with you! Your snow shovel contraption buried me in the snow and Gran Gran told me I had to stay warm!”
“I didn’t hate it,” Aang offers quietly, ever aware of your feelings. “It was just… different.”
“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” someone else interjects.
You, Sokka, and Aang turn toward Zuko the moment he begins speaking. He looks tired, his royal robe exchanged for a simpler red and gold tunic and his hair tied back out of his face.
“She won’t come with!” Sokka exclaims, gesturing toward you with both arms.
Zuko’s brow lifts as he looks at you. “Why not?”
You shrug, suddenly unable to think of an excuse. You were in the air temple with the others when Zuko joined the team, so arguing that you aren’t part of this team seems unlikely to work.
“My uncle would like to see you,” he adds.
“Iroh!” Aang yells at Sokka. “Why didn’t we think of using him?”
Within minutes, you’re all seated in Appa’s saddle and leaving Republic City for Ba Sing Se. Toph has Sokka’s arm in her grasp, Katara and Aang are whispering, and you and Zuko are sitting beside one another with your eyes closed against the setting sun.
“Is he still talking?” Zuko checks softly.
Cracking an eye open, you confirm that Sokka is still telling a story with much enthusiasm and animation. Zuko sighs and links his hands against his stomach.
“Hey, hold still,” you murmur, shifting closer to him.
“Right. I was planning to jump.”
You tap your knuckles against his arm, then pull a loose strand of hair away from his face. Sitting up, you twist his hair gently until you find the fraying red thread you noticed before. Only when you stop touching him does he turn his face toward you and open his eyes.
“What?” you check.
Zuko’s lips quirk up, and then Sokka announces that you’ve arrived in Ba Sing Se.
“So,” Katara hums as you comb her windblown hair in Iroh's tea shop. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It?” you repeat, setting the comb aside to brush your fingers through her hair and part it.
“You’re playing dumb? Really?”
“I don’t know what we’re talking about either,” Aang interrupts. He’s resting his chin on crossed arms, watching Katara as you twist a section of her hair.
“Me next!” Sokka yells. “I’d like to try a braided ponytail.”
“Get in line, Sokka,” Zuko calls from the back of the Jasmine Dragon.
“I miss when I was the only one getting my hair braided,” Toph sighs.
“You guys focus on saving the world,” you hum. “I’ll make sure your hair looks good while you do it.”
“What?” Zuko asks over his cup of tea.
“You tell me,” Iroh hums.
“Nothing.”
“She doesn’t seem like nothing.”
Zuko huffs a laugh as he sets his cup down. “We’re on the same team, Uncle.”
“Which seems to be the entirety of the problem. You and the Avatar are friends, no?”
Without thinking, Zuko’s gaze strays to you. You’re nodding along to a conversation between Sokka and Piandao, sharing a look with the master when Sokka lifts an arm to demonstrate something.
Suddenly, a shadow crosses over the sky. You lift your chin to view it, then turn toward Zuko. He doesn’t have to ask. He’s by your side before you manage to draw Sokka’s attention away from his story.
“Go get Katara,” Zuko tells him.
“For what?” Sokka wonders.
“A fight,” you murmur. “One that I don’t think Aang is anticipating.”
“Perhaps the Avatar should anticipate fights everywhere he goes,” Piandao deadpans. “Seeing as they find him so easily.”
“Uh oh,” you whisper before Zuko circles his right leg behind his left and raises an arm to block an errant flame.
“Aang!” he yells. “I think it’s for you!”
When the fight ends, Zuko is lowered to one knee, panting for breath. Katara and Aang are balancing on the edge of a cracking roof, and Sokka is straightening a wheel on his new moving platform.
“Are you alright?” Zuko checks when you step out of a nearby alley.
“I’m fine,” you assure him. “You?”
“One time,” he sighs. “I’m waiting for Aang to visit somewhere one time that doesn’t end in a fight.”
“Hey, I didn’t start it!” Aang calls from above you.
Zuko rolls his eyes and gathers his hair in one hand to lift it off his neck.
“Want some help?” you offer.
He drops his hair and nods, straightening so you can reach him. Since your first visit to the palace after he became fire lord, you’ve begun asking Zuko before you touch him. You straightened his headpiece in the courtyard once, then overheard people talking about your so-called carelessness and overstepping for the remainder of your stay. It seemed that being careful was no substitute for being mindful.
“Sorry,” you whisper when your fingertips brush the edge of his scar.
“I have a present for you!” Sokka singsongs. He slides to a stop beside you and elbows you lightly in the ribs.
“For me or to me?” you question suspiciously.
Sokka ignores your question and gestures for you to finish fixing Zuko’s hair. In all his years of fighting, he’s yet to find a way to secure it so that it stays in place. Perhaps that has been your place in Team Avatar all along — pre- and post-fight hairstylist.
Katara and Aang join you, Sokka, and Zuko in the street. Katara narrows her eyes at Sokka, then shrugs. Aang taps your shoulder twice before asking if you’re safe.
You look at Zuko’s hair as you slide the pin into his headpiece. For years now, you’ve lingered around Zuko when the team is all together. He’s the only one who doesn’t act like you need to be protected, like you can’t take care of yourself when things get hard. He’s saved your life more than once but never brings it up. He simply does it because he’s good.
“Presenting…” Sokka begins. He pulls a thin plastic tube from his pocket and announces, “The Air Clip! Get it? Like hair clip but air because of air bending. Oh, and the construction of this clip has an extra piece that squeezes the hair, like pushing the air out—”
“Let me see it,” Katara interrupts, extending her hand toward her brother.
“Why is it blue?” Zuko wonders. He stands then, his shoulder pressed to your side.
“Have something against blue?” Aang asks. “You liked it before.”
“No, let me guess,” Toph interjects. She has a cookie in her hand as she posits, “It clashes with the red?”
“No,” you and Zuko answer together. Only you add, “He looks good in anything.”
“Oh,” Toph utters. She waves toward you and asks, “Is that new?”
“No,” Sokka and Katara reply.
“Is what new?” Aang checks, tipping his head.
“Who wants to be the lucky first user of the Air Clip?” Sokka asks after he snatches it back from Katara.
“Any new inventions I can try?” Aang asks hopefully.
Sokka thinks for a moment, then nods. “South Pole. Next week?”
“Sure!”
“Give me the clip, Sokka,” Zuko mutters.
Sokka hisses excitedly, then passes it. Zuko hands it directly to you, then lowers to one knee.
“Oh,” Aang sighs. He nods at Katara and asks, “Toph meant the—”
“Yes,” she interrupts, rubbing his back. “That’s what she meant.”
“Oh, Twinkle Toes,” Toph sighs. “It’s a good thing Katara puts up with you, and you didn’t have to try to get a date.”
Aang doesn’t really listen past Katara’s name, and you’re too focused on twisting Zuko’s hair in the clip to come to his defense.
The sky above Ba Sing Se is black, stars sparkling far above the walls of the city. You’re lying on a plush bed, staring out the window to see the city and the night above. Until someone knocks quietly on your door, at least.
“Yes?” you call.
“It’s me,” Zuko says.
“Come in,” you invite, shifting to sit up.
Zuko enters, closes the door behind him, and lowers to sit beside you.
“It’s stuck,” he murmurs.
“Huh?”
“The clip Sokka made. I can’t get it out.”
“Oh. Hold still.”
Covering your mouth, you stifle a laugh at his predicament. Then you shift onto your knees and tap your fingers along the clip in his hair.
“Does it bother you?” you wonder.
“The clip being stuck?” Zuko clarifies.
“No. Uh, I mean me touching your hair.”
“Why would it bother me?”
Your only response is a shrug. You can understand that Zuko might not want to be touched after all he’s endured. Maybe that’s what the women in the fire nation meant. Or maybe they were jealous Zuko allowed you close enough.
“It’ doesn’t,” Zuko adds.
“Good,” you hum, struggling to unclasp the bottom of the clip. “Bad news… this is really stuck.”
Zuko leans backward, pressing some of his weight against you. “Figure it out.”
“Why is everyone so quiet?” Toph asks, holding yet another cookie when she enters the Jasmine Dragon.
“We are admiring Zuko’s hair,” Iroh admits.
“Please stop,” Zuko groans, his voice muffled.
“Why are you talking like that?” Toph wonders. She focuses on the floor, then smirks. “Oh.”
“Hey, where’s the clip?” Sokka whines.
Zuko presses his chin harder against your shoulder, hiding his smile.
“It broke,” you admit. “Sorry, Sokka.”
“I’ll get started on version two,” he decides. “Uh, Katara, you want try this one?”
Katara pinches one of her ‘hair loopies’ worriedly and suggests, “Maybe you try it?”
“You’d betray your own brother’s invention to have her braid your hair too?” Sokka exclaims, pointing at you with both hands.
Zuko pinches the end of the braid you did last night. He’d fallen asleep with your hands in his hair. Perhaps the fire lord is the one member of Team Avatar who asks you to do his hair for more than convenience. If you’d asked Iroh, he could have told you that years ago.
Toph and Sokka are each other's person, whether it is romantic or platonic, and they are incredibly important to each other. DO.NOT.SEPARATE.THEM.EVER!!!!!!
