adult!toph beifong x fem!reader
IN WHICH, reader has a crush on toph & the gaang knows.
this is based on @toph-is-my-wife request!
you had a crush on toph. a huge one, and you weren’t exactly discreet about it either. you had known toph for so long, how could you not? you found yourself part of the gaang not long after toph, allowing yourself to get close to her.
initially, you weren’t aware of this crush. you’d never bothered to think of as to why you mindlessly stared, did acts of service without a second thought, and got nervous whenever she was around. you summed it up to just be something as simple as deeply caring for your friend. yeah! you deeply cared for toph. platonically- as a friend.
though, deep down- you knew that was a lie. you’d stammer whenever she was around, practically going insane trying to act as you normally would before your acknowledgment of your crush. if you didn’t know any better, you were enamored with toph.
eventually, you came to accept your feelings, seeing as the denial toward them was just causing bottled stress. you weren’t sure whether or not you should confess, toph had been your closest friend since you joined the group. toph was very reticent with what she felt, if she liked you it wasn’t as evident as your so embarrassingly clear crush on her.
in the end, you decided you’d never dare to ever speak of your feelings. you valued your friendship with toph, dearly. you were sure you hid your feelings well, until one day katara, zuko, aang, & sokka pull you out of your daydreaming state.
“hey, you okay?” katara quietly asks.
“huh?” you question back still in a daze.
“your eyes have been glued to toph for a while now. tell me, what’s going on?” katara says. the rest of the group await your response, as you sheepishly respond:
“oh that- nothing. just a bit stressed!” you lie, trying to save your own skin.
but katara eyes you skeptically. you knew katara was the one person you wouldn’t be able to lie to. kataras ability to read people was nerving. she took note of the change in your behavior a few months back, wondering what made you act so differently. though, katara being katara, it didn’t take her long to put the pieces together. all she needed was confirmation from you now, so she could be completely sure.
growing hopeless, you sigh. you didn’t think you’d be faced head on with a question about your feelings toward toph from the whole gaang excluding her. now aang, katara, sokka, and zuko are becoming aware of your feelings toward toph. this couldn’t have played out any worse; ideally, you wanted to question katara for advice. you planned to never let the truth see the light of day, but here you are being interrogated by everybody but toph.
“i think you should tell her how you feel- when you’re ready of course.” katara says. aang shakes his head, agreeing with katara immediately.
“yeah! worst case scenario: toph sends a boulder flying at you as rejection!” sokka joking claims, laughing.
zuko smiles, softly nodding toward sokka and kataras statements.
“you’ll never know unless you try?” zuko tells you. though, he sounded like he was unsure of his own advice himself.
you groan. if you hadn’t been staring, you never would’ve been caught! nonetheless, you know what they’re saying is true. you needed to get the feeling off your chest, rather than avoiding any confrontation. the only thing stopping you is the fear of losing your bond with toph.
“besides,” aang begins. “bottling up feelings for too long might be worse than confessing.” he states, glancing toward you with genuineness.
sighing, you nod replying, “yeah, i’ll figure something out soon. thank you guys, i appreciate the help.” you utter with a small smile, emphasizing your thankfulness. you truly were grateful for the advice they offered, the only thing setting you back was your dread of being rejected.
they leave you alone at the campfire, giving you time to reflect on your next course of action. should you confess? you and toph have been close friends since you two were little, what if this ruins that?
while aang, katara, sokka, and zuko leave, you look down at the fire. this seems to be the only moment of today where your eyes aren’t glued to toph practicing her bending. though, her eyes are on you. she saw the whole conversation happen, what had you guys been talking about with out her, especially you?
you stir, rubbing your eyes. it’s probably around the time where everybody’s already up doing errands. you must’ve woken up late due to how late you slept from contemplating all night. tidying up, you begin to look for where everybody was at. you find yourself in front of sokka and katara, where you instinctively ask, “where’s toph?”
sokka grins, wiggling his brows at your need to know where she was. to which you grumble. stifling a laugh, katara explains she went to train, and will be back soon, pointing you toward the direction where she went. upon hearing this, your face lights up. could you have been more obvious?
“don’t get too happy now!” sokka sarcastically jokes, noticing the change in your state.
“sokka enough! what if she hears one day?” you shush him quickly, wanting to put an end to his teasing. “you’d be lucky- her hearing one of our conversations is probably the closest she’d get to a confession from you.” he retorts, making you quickly turn and walk away.
you weren’t in the mood to deal with sokka at the moment. you’re on your way to find toph now. you haven’t spoken since yesterday afternoon. after you conversed with the other four, toph seemed to be nowhere in sight, so you just headed to bed- assuming she went to train.
after a couple of minutes of walking, you find her practicing on rocky terrain. unknowingly, you quicken your pace to greet her. she senses you, turning around.
“hey toph!” you say with a hint of excitement. smiling a bit. your heart rate goes faster, but you pay no mind to it, used to it. toph does, catching the second the rhythm of your heart even slightly changed. over the course of the past few months, she noticed the changes from you immediately. toph never questioned you about it, saving you the embarrassment. shes growing impatient now, especially after seeing you talking with the group excluding her.
“hey” toph quickly replies, “what’re you doing over here?” she asks.
“i came to find you!” you reply to toph. “we haven’t spoken since yesterday, i wanted to come chat with you.” you say, honestly. you’re happily smiling, glad at the chance to finally speak to toph.
“wanna chat? how about you tell me what you and the other four were chatting about yesterday?” she bluntly asks, wanting an answer to her question immediately, as she had been wondering all night.
“wha-“ you stutter, your smile faltering. but instantly pick yourself back up with “we were just talking about stress..” you timidly reply, knowing you didn’t sound too convincing.
toph wasn’t as great as katara when it came to knowing whether or not somebody was lying from tone, or nervousness. no, but she was great at being able to tell from her supernatural hearing. she heard your heartbeat race faster than it did initially, when you had first greeted her.
she eyes you, with an unconvinced look. you knew she knew. and you weren’t great at not buckling under pressure while being put on the spot, so ultimately, you sighed.
“toph i..” you quietly mutter. you weren’t sure how to formulate your words at the moment. your face was hot, and your palms were sweaty.
“before i tell you what we spoke about, i need to get something off my chest.” she raises a brow at this, capturing her attention entirely.
your heart was practically pounding at this point, and you hadn’t even planned out how to properly tell toph about your feelings.
“toph, i really like you. i’ve known this for a while, but i wasn’t sure on whether or not you liked me- so i ultimately never confessed to you wanting to preserve our friendship and i didn’t want to lose you so i avoided ever trying to confess because of my fear of-“
toph grabs your face and stops your rambling by smashing her lips onto yours. you lean into her touch immediately, happily reciprocating. pulling your face closer toward hers, toph runs her hand through your hair, placing her hand behind your head, deepening the kiss. she runs her hand down your waist, hungrily touching you wherever she could. toph was starved for a while, waiting on you to finally say something regarding your feelings. after a while, toph pulls away from the kiss; hugging your waist and making eye contact with you, she remarks,
“about time. quit your rambling sweetheart. i like you too.”
“about time? did you know?” you quickly question, under the assumption one of the group members you told yesterday said something.
“sort of. i assumed you did. because of how fast your heart would beat whenever i came around. not to mention you’d get clammy and try to keep your composure. i think it’s cute honestly-“
“toph i get it!” you quickly shush her, face heating up.
from afar, sokka, katara, zuko, and aang stare at the scene before them. “didn’t think she’d confess this quick after what we said.” sokka remarked, surprised of how quickly you acted on their words.
aang and katara softly smile at the view.
hi guys! im sorry this request took forever to post. im glad you requested though, i greatly appreciate it. feedback is appreciated as well!!