Zuko’s birthday party is the the next day and the palace seemed to be buzzing with activity as maids hurried to their destinations carrying out various tasks. Toph’s on her way to the arena to bend a little to get away from all of the pounding feet she can feel throughout the palace.
When she arrives, she notices that Aang is already there practicing various forms for all the elements. She hesitates for a moment before stepping into the arena. She kicks up a good size rock and chunks it at him and it just barely misses him before crashing into the wall behind him.
He whirls around, not expecting anyone to be in the arena with him and when he sees her, Toph can feel his heartbeat falter for a moment in shock and then speed up at the sight of her. She fights down the blush that threatens to come to her cheeks.
“You wanna spar, Twinkletoes?”
He feels slightly lighter on his feet at her question which she smirks at. “Always. Are we doing just Earth or what?”
“Nah, don’t go easy on me. I’ll still kick your ass either way,” she drops into her fighting stance. She hears him slightly chuckle before getting into his stance as well. He doesn’t go easy on her either, but it doesn't matter, she still has him knocked down and with him underneath her, her forearm resting against his throat.
“Do you yield?” She asks, breathing heavily, their faces just inches apart.
It takes a moment for Aang to respond; he can’t take his eyes off of her dirt smeared face, the bleeding cut she got on her chin, her hair falling out of its bun and hanging around her face. His heart is beating fast and hard, and for just a moment, the feeling of her on top of him is all that matters.
Her smile falters when she realizes his rapid heartbeat is not from the exertion but rather because of her. She quickly climbs off of him and is suddenly standing a few feet away, a blush staining her cheeks.
“Toph, I-”
“Master Beifong, Avatar Aang,” A voice cuts him off, “Dinner is being served in the guest dining room, Chief Sokka and Princess Azula have also arrived,” a servant says to them before turning on his heel and walking out of the arena.
Toph raises an eyebrow, “Azula and Sokka? When did that happen?”
They begin walking out of the arena and towards the guest dining room where the rest of their friends are waiting. Toph pulls her hair out of its bun and does a quick braid to keep it out of her face.
“About a year or so ago? Him and Suki called it off a few months after you left, they're still really good friends though. And then, when Azula was released from the hospital, she was wanting to travel, and Sokka was traveling to make trade deals with other nations and cities, so she tagged along with him. Not entirely sure on the exact details of how they got together though. She's actually really cool once you look past the fact she tried to kill us,” he explains.
Toph is still hesitant about the whole ‘Azula’ thing, but once they round the corner into the guest dining room, she can't help but the large smile that comes onto her face. She remembers everyone's heartbeats and footsteps, they’re almost all the same since she last hung out with them, and she didn't realize how much she missed them until she felt them.
The only person she doesn't recognize is standing at the edge of the table near Zuko, speaking to him in a quiet tone. The person in question has light footsteps, similar to Aang's, but are more hesitant and not completely sure. Her heartbeat isn't steady, constantly changing rhythms and patterns as if fighting something within herself.
“Toph!” She hears Sokka exclaim and his footsteps come running towards her. The smile she is trying to hold back breaks free when he picks her up off the flood in a hug and spins her around. “Oh my Spirits, look at you! You're all womanly now, and your hair! I don't think I've ever seen it down!” He sets Toph back on her feet and runs his hands down her braid.
She smirks and punches him in the arm, “Nice to be assaulted by you again, Snoozles. Last time I saw you, you still felt super punny.”
“I was not puny!” His voice almost cracks as he yells at her. “Come on, I want you to meet someone,” he grabs her elbow and drags her over to the person standing beside Zuko.
“Toph, you remember Azula?” He says, and she can hear the pride in his voice.
“This is Azula?” The way her footsteps feel are completely different from how they use to be. Before, she was sure and determined, but now, she was as fluttery as a butterfly.
“So nice to see you again, Toph. Glad we can meet under different circumstances.” She's still able to pick up on the sharp edge of Azula’s voice but everything else about the girl in front of her feels different, like she's a completely different person.
“Right, nice to meet you… again,” she replies awkwardly. Not knowing what else to do, she turns and moves to sit in an empty chair next to Aang. Azula and Sokka sit directly across from her and Toph with Zuko and Iroh at the heads of the table and Katara on the other side of Aang.
The chatter continues around them after the quick introductions. She’s grown enough that her feet now touch the floor completely when sitting in chairs so she is able to still feel everyone's vibrations even as they talk amongst themselves.
Dinner seems to fly by as Iroh and her talk throughout the meal. Anytime she would laugh, Aang’s heartbeat next to her would speed up for a moment before calming and going back to its regular pace. It was hard to ignore and but she want to draw attention to it.
After everyone has finished and said their goodnights, Toph closed the door to her guest room and made her way over to the bed, shedding her top tonic and pants as she goes leaving her in just her bandu and bottom wraps.
She crawls onto the bed and pulls the covers around her and breathes out a deep sigh of comfort.
“Hey.”
Toph jerks herself into a sitting position at his voice, “Spirits fuck, Aang. What are you doing in here?” She feels the dip in the bed where he sits down next to her.
“I can't come hang out with you? We used to do this all the time,” he says, laying down and pulling her pillow over to him and lays back on it.
Toph snatches her pillow back and smacks him in the face with it, “Yeah, when we were kids and it wasn’t scandalous for you to be laying in my bed,” she huffs and sets the pillow back behind her and lays down, pulling the blanket up to her chin.
Aang reaches over her and grabs the extra pillow that is beside her, “True. But still, I miss hanging out with you.”
Toph fights back a blush and brings her hand up to her mouth, biting at her nail as an excuse for keeping quiet. The two of them lay there in semi-awkward silence until he lets out a deep breath and rolls over onto his side to face her, “So, what have you been doing the past three years?”
“What?”
“What have you been doing? I know you left because of me, but it wouldn’t be like you to be boring on an adventure like that.”
“Well, this may come as a shocker, but I didn’t do much. I got a measly job, a shit apartment- as you saw. I didn’t really do anything, I hardly even earthbended,” her voice slowly lowering until the last part comes out as a whisper.
----------
Aang snaps his eyes over to her at that admission. Hearing that she had been doing absolutely nothing the past three years, including earthbending was heartbreaking. He so badly wants to continue their friendship, but the more he talks to her, the more he finds out how badly he actually destroyed her.
He searches her face and can see small signs of her heartbreak and how it has changed her. “Well, if you want, we can spar tomorrow. I promise not to go easy on you again,” he says with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
Toph lets out a snort, “Oh please, you couldn’t beat me even if you use the damn avatar state.” Aang laughs at her confidence and rolls back onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. They continue to talk through the night and it isn’t under the sky starts to lighten that Toph finally falls asleep. She is lying on her side facing him, her mouth open just slightly and her puffs of air move the strands of hair that is hanging down around her face.
He watches her face for a moment, reaching out a hand, he moves the hair out of her face and behind her ear. His heart breaks for her and all that he has put her through, but he vows to make up for it in any way.
He knows he should get up and go back to his designated room with Katara, but he closes his eyes instead, just wanting to rest for a moment longer.
----------
Katara is spread across Zuko’s bed watching him as he paces back and forth, venting about a meeting he had recently gotten out of.
“I mean, it’s been what, 6 or 7 years since I took the throne? You think these assholes would have started listening to me!” Katara can’t help but smile at how riled up he is; he’s so cute running his hands through his hair and waving his arms in over-exaggerated motions.
Katara moves off the bed and walks over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders to stop him from pacing, “Hey. You need to stop worrying about it. It’s over for day, you can’t let small things like that affect your life after the fact. Okay?” Zuko looks down at her and the tension leaves his shoulders.
She’s right, she’s always right. He needs to calm down. He continues to look down at her, into her crystal blue eyes, and he can’t help but think about how beautiful she looks.
Mentally, he shakes his head and pulls away from her and walks over to the bed and throws himself down on his back. He hears Katara make her way over to the opposite side of the bed and do the same, so that their heads are right next to each other.
“So, tell me what life has been like since I was last here,” She says, as if nothing awkward had just happened between them.
----------
When he wakes up, his eyes are still closed and he is so warm and comfortable. He can’t remember the last time he has slept so soundly or comfortably. Aang buries his head into Katara and inhales her scent of fresh turned earth and mint.
Wait. Fresh turned earth… mint?
Aang picks his head up and looks down at the girl in front of him. Toph has her face buried in his chest, one of her hands clutching the fabric of his tunic, his arms wrapped around her, holding her to him, and he has a leg slotted in between hers.
Fuck.
He fell asleep in Toph’s bed; she is going to kill him when she finds out. But, at the same time, he can’t bring himself to pull away from her either. He lifts one of his arms and runs his hands through her hair and it’s so soft and silky.
Katara’s hair is thick and easily tangled, but Toph’s hair just slides right through his fingers and he doesn’t think he will ever be able to run his fingers through Katara’s hair without comparing the two.
As he lays there, he thinks of their interactions before she left for those three years and how blind he was to see everything. It was so blindingly obvious how much she was hurting and he just never took the time to notice. He isn’t one hundred percent sure that he completely has her back, that she won’t run away from him again, but he is willing to do almost anything to make sure she stays.
The longer Aang thinks about how much he would go through for her, he starts to compare it to how he feels about Katara. Would he do the same for her? Would he have crossed nations at a moments notice to see her? He can’t bring himself to say yes and be completely truthful about it.
His train of thought is interrupted by Toph stirring. He had waited too long to move out of her embrace and now she is waking up and really about to lay into him. She rubs her face against his chest and smacks her lips a few times before turning her face upwards towards him. She is still for a moment before her eyes snap open and she quickly shoves him away.
“What the fuck, Aang?!” She yells at him.
“Shit, Toph! I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry!”
“Why are you here? Why didn’t you go back to your room?! Back to your fucking wife ?”
“I’m sorry Toph, I meant to, I just fell asleep,” his voice sounds dejected, Toph’s face softens ever so slightly, “But, Toph-”
“No, it’s fine, Twinkletoes. Can you just go, please?” She walks over to the door and holds it open for him. Feeling like total shit, he moves towards the door
Her face is pointed downwards, but whenever he comes closer, she raises her face towards his, and he couldn’t hold himself back.
Aang reaches out and grabs her by the waist, pulling her against him. He catches her lips in a hard kiss, her mouth opening just slightly. There was nothing gentle about this kiss, but rather, full of white hot need. He closes the door with his hand and pushes her up against it, rattling it against her back.
He takes her face in his hands and kisses her deep. Every thought that was in Aang’s head about his duties and Katara are forced away by the pounding of his heart and the dark curl of desire that begins to twist inside of him.
It has been so long since he felt like this, so turned on and needing to be with someone. Toph pulls away from him “Aang, no. We can’t.”
“Yes, we can,” and he pulls her lips back to his. It felt just like it did back when they were 17 and he had chased her through the abandoned hallways only to end up in that abandoned coat room. She is sliding her hands under his tunic and pulls him closer to her.
Toph releases a small moan from the back of her throat and the sound drives Aang wild. He moves his lips from her and begins to kiss down her neck, biting down on her clavicle.
Toph tilts her head to the side as his lips make their way down her throat. All coherent thoughts have left her and all she can focus on is the sensations he is giving her.
She runs her hand over his back and her fingers brush against the scar that Azula had given him and he shutters against her. Feeling frustrated with the garment that is keeping her from feeling all of him, she yanks at the material until he pulls back slightly and she is able to pull it over his head.
Aang dips his head to press his lips back against her and his hands move from her face to rest on her lower back, pulling her in close. She can feel his arousal brushing against her lower stomach as they kiss.
He pushes a leg between hers and without realizing it, she grinds down against him. A moan comes from her and Aang smiles against her neck. He remembers these sounds all too well; he hadn’t realized until he heard him again, that whenever he was with Katara or pleasuring himself, he would listen for her.
----------
This is wrong. She knows what she is doing is wrong, but she can’t bring herself to push him away. The feeling of his bare skin on her fingertips, his lips on hers, his taste in her mouth, all of it is so intoxicating.
He has her crowded against the door and she knows that if anyone walks too close to it, that they will hear her. Toph pushes him off and towards the bed; she follows him, never quite leaving his grasp.
He sits down hard on the bed and Toph steps between his legs, her hands on his shoulders, “Are you sure about this, Twinkletoes?”
Aang grabs one of her hands from his shoulder and pulls her to him. She brackets her thighs around him and sits in his lap and his hands come to rest on her hips, pulling her even closer to him, “I’m so sure about this, T.. I’m only ever going to want you ever.”
Toph bites her lip and slides her hand over his heart to feel for his pulse, but only feels the honesty of his words in his heartbeat. He lifts himself slightly to reconnect their lips and at first, the kiss is soft and gentle. Aang lifts his hands from her hips and cradles her face, and that’s when he feels it.
She wasn’t even aware she is crying until he pulls away, and suddenly, she can’t get enough air and these giant sobs are coming from her. She can hear Aang panicking and trying to get her to talk to him, but can’t make out what he is saying over her sobs.
She scrambles off of his lap and stays a small distance away from him, her sobs calming down until its just a slight hiccup and a few tears rolling down her face, “No. No, you don’t get to do this to me again. This is the second time, Aang. The second time.”
She feels him get up from the bed and start to walk towards her, “Toph, I-”
“No! Don’t you see how fucked up this is? What you’re doing to me? What you’re doing to Katara, your fucking wife?!” She thrusts her hands into her hair and pulls at it, “Spirits, dammit!”
She can feel the heartbreak and despair in his vibrations, she didn’t think so much was able to come off of someone.
She turns towards him, the panic clear on her face, until suddenly, she decides enough is enough and she just turns off her emotions. She puts up that wall that she has had for the last three years, the one that had kept her out of any type of relationship and protected her from anymore heartache she felt towards him.
“Get out, Aang,” she says softly.
“Toph, please-,”
“Get the fuck out before I bend you through a fucking wall, Aang! I swear to all fucking Spirits, I will do it!”
She feels him hesitate so she shifts her foot, just about to throw him out, when the bedroom door opens and Katara and Zuko walk in.
