“Just pretend to be my date” - Toph & Sokka
“I DON’T WANT TO GO.”
Sokka winces as a glass topples off the table, shattering on the ground. “I get that,” he says once the tremor has passed, though Toph’s fists are still clenched. “But it’s really important we all go, as a symbol of unity.”
“But my parents will be there. I don’t want to be at a party with them. It doesn’t matter what I did or can do, they only care about my manners and being a proper little lady.”
“You won’t have to talk to them for long,” Sokka points out. “And we’ll all be there.” When she doesn’t say anything, he adds, “Look, they want you to be all girly, right? And what could be girlier than showing up with a hot date?”
She furrows her brow. “I’m listening.”
“Just pretend to be my date. At least it’ll get them off your back for a little bit, right? if you show up on the arm of some hunky war hero?”
“Are you hunky?” she asks skeptically. “I’m blind, but not that blind.”
He elbows her roughly. “I’m very hunky, I’ll have you know. I’m an extremely eligible bachelor who any proper young lady’s parents would kill to have date their daughter. Your parents will be thrilled. Trust me.”
“But I don’t want to show up as your girlfriend just so that they’ll be nice to me,” she huffs. “I want them to like me for me.”
“No offense, Toph, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. You invented a whole new form of bending, and they weren’t impressed by that.”
She turns her face away so that he can’t see. “I know.”
He clears his throat. “And maybe I want you to come as my date for more than just your parents.”
“What?”
He clears his throat again. “I mean, maybe, I want you to come as my date...because...I want to go on a date with you.”
Toph can feel herself blushing. “You do?”
“Well...yes.”
She doesn’t sense a lie, and that, somehow, makes her blush even harder. “We can go on a date.”
“We can?” he asks, elated.
“Yes. But not to the banquet. Not for our first date, anyway. Our first date should be fun. Banquets aren’t fun.”
“I’ll think of something,” Sokka promises. “Something fun.”
Toph smiles. “I’m sure you will.”
