#aangxtoph

He remembers now, something Zuko had said about a storm coming in from the South that would last the rest of the weekend at Ember Island. Not wanting to ride Appa through the storm, the group decided to wait out the storm before heading back. 

Turning over onto his back, he sees that her eyes are closed and her little puffs of breath move the hair hanging down in front of her face just slightly. Snaking an arm underneath her, he pulls her closer to him. 

Toph moves so that her head is resting on his chest, her hand coming up to press flat against his heart. Aang had noticed that she always placed her hand on his pulse points when she was unsure about something and when he asked about it she had muttered to him one night about wanting a second opinion.

He stares up at the ceiling and sees the flash of lightning illuminate the main sitting room, he grips Toph tighter to him until the roll of thunder has passed. Craning his head, he gets a glimpse of the hallways and sees that there aren’t any flickering candlelight coming from there and guesses that everyone must have gone to bed. Well, until Sokka walks through the sitting room in nothing but his underwear, obviously heading towards the kitchen. 

“Nice underwear,” Aang whisper shouts to Sokka. 

He can’t help but stifle a laugh when Sokka jumps and gets into a defensive stance. Seeing that it’s only Aang, he lowers his hands back down to his side.

“Spirits Aang. What the hell are you doing on the sofa? Go to your fucking room!” Sokka whisper yells at him. 

“I would if I could, but its thundering and Toph is on me.”

“Oh, Toph is on you, huh? Didn’t realize you guys had stopped screwing around and sealed the deal,” he says, waggling his eyebrows at him. 

A bright blush covers Aang’s cheeks, he sputters out, “What? You don’t know- Shut up. There’s nothing going on between us. She just doesn’t like the thunder, you know that. She’s clung to you before.”

“Yeah, she hasn’t done that in years buddy, it’s always you she goes for. The sooner you guys admit it the sooner the rest of us will stop teasing you,” he says before turning on his heel and pushing through the swinging door to the kitchen. 

Dropping his head back down onto the couch, he takes a deep breath and considers what Sokka is saying. Even though he is one hundred percent certain of his feelings towards her, she was harder to read. In fear of rejection once again, he wasn’t going to say anything to her until she said something first. 

Taking a deep breath, he sits up and gathers Toph up into his arms and makes the trek to his room. Laying her down in the bed, he stretches his arms up over his head and before he has time to react, a bolt of lightening streaks across the sky and a clap of thunder quickly follows. Toph bolts straight up in bed breathing hard, her eyes wide and panicked. 

Aang immediately sits down on the bed beside her and gently touches her shoulder to let her know he is beside her, “Hey, hey. I’m right here. I had just set you down for a moment,” he whispers. Toph nods her head slightly and slowly, she lays back down. 

Aang pulls the blanket over them and immediately, Toph is laying her head against his shoulder with her hand on his heart. He turns over onto his side and pulls her closer to him so that she is nestled just under his chin. 

“It just scared me and I couldn’t feel you,” she whispers to him. 

“I know,” he whispers back and without thinking, he kisses her forehead in reassurance. His eyes instantly go wide in panic of how she is going to react. He feels her slowly lift her face up to his, the feel of her nose ghosting along his throat as she looks up at him makes him swallow hard. 

“You kissed me.”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry,” he says softly hoping she doesn’t push him off. A few moments pass and the longer she has her face tilted up at him not saying anything, the more he is worried he has pissed her off.

“So you’re the Greatest Earthbender in the World, huh?” 

The words piqued Aang’s attention and he turned around to see a man leaning on a wall, in conversation with Aang’s girlfriend who seemed to only be entertaining the man with a small smirk on her face. 

“That I am. And you are?” 

“Huaping.” He held out a hand for her to shake, which she took. “What are you doing at this lowly party all by yourself?” 

“Well, I’m not. I’m here with my boyfriend” is what Aang expected her to say- or at least something along those lines. 

Instead, Toph said, “Well, I only save the world by day. By night, I like to party occasionally.” 

“Yeah? Do you mind if I get you a drink?” Huaping asked with a smile that Aang was sure he called “the lady-killer.” 

“Get me two.” Toph replied, keeping up with his flirty tone. 

As soon as the other man stepped away, Aang sped over to her, almost knocking someone else over in his haste. “Hey, what- uh who’s that guy?” 

“Huaping. He’s getting us drinks.” Toph said, blowing a piece of hair off her cheek. 

“He wanted to get you drinks.” 

Toph shrugged. “He can want to do that. I can’t stop him.” 

Aang was frustrated; Toph didn’t seem to really understand his issue with the situation. “Toph, you were flirting back with him.” 

“Just so he’d get me drinks!” She said, suddenly exasperated. “Aang, do you really think I’d actively flirt with another person while at a party with you? Or, at all?” 

“No! I didn’t think you would that’s why I was so surprised.” 

“I knew you could hear us, dummy.” Toph laughed. “Here, he’s coming back. Do you wanna claim me in front of him, Mr. Quick-To-Be-Jealous.” 

Aang paused before admitting quietly, “Kind of.” 

Before she got the chance to respond, Huaping’s voice made them both direct their attention toward him. “I got drinks- oh, shit, the Avatar.” 

Aang saw him holding out the drinks and, before he could properly think, took them both out of his hands, gave one to Toph, and said, “Thanks, buddy.” 

“Uh, you’re welcome.” His hands hovered in the air for a moment before he let them drop to his sides. 

Aang slipped his arm around Toph’s waist, who naturally settled into his side without much question. “Hey, I think Sokka and Suki just came in.” 

“Ah, gotta go then. Thanks again, Huaping.” Toph tilted her head, giving him the same smirk she gave when he first approached her. 

Huaping lifted a hand as he watched them walk away. “See you later.” 

Once they were out of his earshot, Toph started snickering. “That was a little mean, Aang.” 

Aang grinned. “It’s only mean because you decided to lead him on.” 

“But I got us drinks!” She lifted the cup up. 

Aang buried his head into hair and gave her a kiss. “Just tell me to get you a drink next time. you vixen.”