#bonez writes

TBD Name

Fandom: A:TLA

They were in the Northern Water Tribe when he asked. It was one of their more personal trips, so there wasn’t any official Avatar business to pull Aang away immediately. Sokka wanted to introduce Suki to his extended family since she was finally not being swamped by her duties after the war, and of course, Katara was going with them.

Aang had suggested that he and Toph could walk around town and get some extra supplies for when they were ready to leave. Everyone had agreed to those plans and soon half of the group was gone, leaving the last Airbender and the greatest Earthbender to have some nice leisure time.

Toph really did not like being in any of the water tribe locations unfortunately. The people were always nice of course, and the food was always something to write home about if she could (in the good and bad sense), but these were the places where she felt the most useless. The ice beneath her was just cold and Toph had to wear shoes in order to not get frostbite, so it wasn’t just useless, she also felt confined. It was not a set of feelings Toph liked. It always made her feel like the way her parents had thought of her. Blind, fragile, powerless.

But thankfully this time around she had Aang to hang on to. Toph grabbed onto his arm almost immediately after getting down from Appa. She felt her own heartbeat go just a bit faster as she felt the warmth against the cold air. Aang knew perfectly well that ice was not Toph’s friend, and he made up with it spectacularly by distracting her with constant fun idle talk. Toph really did like Aang’s voice, so already she felt much better than back in those times when her parents dictated her life. And as they went about buying supplies and talking about everything and nothing, laughing at the silliest things they could not laugh about with the others, and maybe spending some of the money on not so necessary snacks for later, Toph felt something in her heart grow warmer as well.

They returned to the meet up spot some time later, with bags of supplies on their backs and remnants of street food on their faces, and if Toph had clung to Aang’s arm a bit longer than necessary once the group was back together, well, the ice was at fault for sure.

***

Bonus excerpt:

(I wanted to show some of the dialogue haha)

Aang passed a hand over his face trying to wipe away the sleep, then when that didn’t work, he slapped his cheeks with both of his hands to try to bully sleep out of his body. That didn’t work either and his cheeks were now stinging pretty bad.

“I can help with that if you want.” Sokka said, smiling at Aang from his spot.

He also had some dark circles under his eyes, but he looked pretty okay overall.

Aang chuckled softly, “Thanks, I think I got it though.”

Sokka looked back at Aang and then at where Toph was resting on Appa, his smile turned sly. He pointed with his thumb at the sleeping pair. “You can take a quick power nap over there if you want. We have maybe an hour before we have to wake everyone up.”

Aang followed where his finger was pointing at and a very slight blush crossed his face, “What about you? Aren’t you tired?”

“Not as tired as you.” Sokka replied, “and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind that much either.”

Aang’s blush grew much more crimson and he groaned. “Sokka, come on…” He was not about to stand for this, “Don’t say it.”

Sokka’s smile grew even bigger as he slid towards Aang wrapping an arm around him. “Say what, Mister Avatar, sir?”

“Nothing! Don’t say anything!” Aang pleaded.

“Ok, fine. I don’t have anything to say anyways.” Sokka unwrapped him and put both of his hands up as a sign of peace. Then without so much as a warning. “HEY, TOPH-“

*******

WELP THAT IS ALL I CAN GIVE

Said foot was, as always, firmly set on the ground and ‘seeing’ her father making small twitches of annoyance at Aang. He’d never really forgiven him for supposedly stealing his precious daughter away. Her mother was much more collected. She had always been of the mind (after the war actually, when their side had won) that while the circumstances of Toph running away to travel the world had been less than ideal, at least some good had come of it. Mainly that now the Beifong name would for a long time be associated with such a powerful person as the Avatar. Toph’s family was already filthy rich, but this cemented their influence in other places outside of the Earth Kingdom.

Toph turned her attention to Aang who despite having grown into a pretty self assured peacemaker of the world, seemed to still have some trouble controlling his nervousness when it came to Toph’s parents. Unlike her, Aang actually liked following traditions up to a point. Which unfortunately meant that even though Toph could have cared less about announcing to her mom and dad that she was going to be married and would have pushed (had pushed) for just getting the gAang together for a small ceremony and then eloping to their honey moon, Aang had put his own foot down and said he wanted to appease her parents by at least making the effort to look like they were a proper marriage. What a stubborn man.

Toph had been both proud and attracted in that moment, and had relented.

“So” her father begin, drawing his daughter’s attention back to him, “Avatar Aang, would you like to state the reason for this visit?”

She was already annoyed. He knew why they were here already, Aang had sent a letter weeks before!

Toph breathed deeply, trying to imitate the man next to her since he was the better of the two in meditating. She would keep her promise of not interfering. She was Toph Bei-freakin-fong and she would NOT break her promise no matter how much her parents irritated her.

Aang bowed his head in respect and acknowledgement to him and then his wife, not mentioning anything about his letter, “Mr. Beifong, Lady Beifong.” He said evenly, “I am here to ask for your blessings to make your daughter my wife.”

Toph felt her father stiffen and her mother tilt her head curiously. Her father inhaled sharply and seemed on the verge to say something, but her mother placed a hand in his arm and he exhaled all the air with a huff.

“I see.” Mr. Beifong must have said through gritted teeth because the words sounded strangely muffled. “And may I ask why you decided to come here in person rather than use a matchmaker? Tradition demands that one be used to make sure both you and my daughter are a match after all.”

Toph gritted her own teeth. There it was. Blatant and without any premise.

“It does Mr. Beifong, but if there is anything your daughter has taught me is that directness can sometimes be the best approach. I have always admired that part of her, so I, no, we decided to come to you ourselves.” Aang responded with a slight smile.

Said daughter felt her cheeks warm up a little bit. As soon as this was over she was going to punch Aang’s arm harder than usual...

Lao Beifong felt like he could be up to doing some physical harm himself albeit for entirely different reasons.

“And are there any gifts that you will present to us for the fortune of uniting with my daughter?”

Toph‘s hands turned fists. She felt her mother stiffen, probably since she expected to hear something crashing somewhere. Gifts. They had talked about this with Aang, but really, did they know who they were talking to? No, she knew what this was. ‘A pissing contest’ Her brain hissed at her crudely.

Most rich families didn’t follow a lot of marriage rules really, like birthdates being favorable and whatnot because they mostly cared about getting richer more than a marriage being auspicious. The custom to gift each other stuff though? Of course that stayed. Why would they pass on an opportunity to show off how much money they had to each other?

But Aang as a monk could not be part of this, and her father knew that. Her father wanted to make him look bad on purpose. He wanted for Aang realize that they were different in status that he was not right for her just because he did not parade around in fine silk and silly posture when in reality... Aang was everything she wanted and needed.

She really wished they hadn’t come to her parents. They could have been married already and celebrating somewhere far away from everybody. Agh! Stupid high class people and their stupid high class traditions and their stupid stupidity and–

It was then she realized she was probably muttering louder than she thought because she felt Aang’s warm hand take her own and give it a small squeeze. Toph squeezed back harder than he expected and she felt him wince. Serves him right for putting her in this position in the first place!

Then she interlaced her fingers with his because damn it all, she liked holding his hand.

Lao cleared his throat very loudly. “Avatar Aang.” He said warningly, “The gifts?”

“You promised, you promised, you promised.” The master earthbender kept reminding herself.

On a night where the group had settled by a lake, traveling back from the Fire Nation to the Southern Water Tribe after visiting their Fire Lord friend for a few days, she had asked Aang after he’d sent the letter to her family if he was prepared to give Momo and Appa to her parents because Aang definitely didn’t have anything that could really be used for the gifts. The airbender had said that it was ok, he knew what he was going to say, but in the event that he did need something actually material for them, he would gladly give Sokka to be their personal genius fool.

Toph had barked a laugh at that, even more so because said fool was sitting close to them and had yelled out an indignant “Hey!”

It was later that same night, after they had gone to rest in their tent and the vague sounds of night creatures had lulled Aang to sleep that Toph had decided that at least during their meeting, she would try to not ruin Aang’s chances at having her parents’ blessings. Who knows? Maybe it would work out...

...Which is why she had said nothing up to this point, trying to remain quiet from beginning to end in order to not blurt anything that would jeopardize the proposal, but man! It was difficult not to at least roll her eyes at her dad’s behavior!

Mr. Beifong for his part was looking at Aang expectantly. Aang bowed his head and with a gentle smile said, “I have none.”

By the awkward silence that followed that, Toph could guess both of her parents’ jaws had gone slack.

The blind Earthbender grinned at Aang, breaking her temporary vow of silence for a moment, “You sure always know how to keep it interesting Twinkletoes.” She half whispered to him.

Her parents were not as amused. “Are you making fun of our ways?! Simply because you are the Avatar does not exempt you from following our marriage traditions!” Mr. Beifong said in what could only be described as a raised squawk. His manners would not allow for actual yelling. Beside him, Mrs. Beifong nodded passionately in agreement.

Aang just kept his eye contact with her parents. He inhaled softly, quietly, then said, “No, it certainly does not, but my own traditions forbid it.”

“Avatar Aang, you must understand that while this may be true, you are marrying into our family.” Her mother said firmly. “The customs that need to be followed are ours!”

Aang nodded, “You are not wrong, Lady Beifong. But as you know, I am the last of my people. I need to uphold to our own beliefs as much as I can.”

“But—“ Mr. Beifong started.

Toph didn’t let him finish. Enough was enough.

“But nothing except ours out the door if you don’t listen to him!” She said loudly, finally exploding. Her parents’ slight movements telling her they disapproved of her behavior. Toph had not cared about that for a while now, and honestly it just felt good to finally say something in her regular loud voice. “You both KNOW that you don’t care about the gifts or the matchmaker or anything else that has to do with those so called “traditions”! Well, guess what? Neither do we!”

Toph “stared” at her parents and pointed a finger at Aang, “This is the Avatar. The. Avatar. Do you guys understand that? Sure he’s not loaded with money, but you know he’s a sweet deal right?!” Aang laughed nervously at that.

Toph lifted her chin defiantly at both her parents, “Aang has always been there for me and he accepted me the way I was from the very beginning. He cares for me and I care for him and that should be enough for the both of you!”

“Sweetie, you know very well we are simply looking out for your well being!” Her father said imploringly.

“And part of that well being is about looking out for your honor as the daughter of a high ranking family.” Her mother continued. “Especially when you do nothing for yourself in that category.”

Toph stood up quickly, literally pulling at her hair and ready to tell them exactly what she thought of their high class family and their precious pride for it, but Aang, who probably knew that if she did this meeting would sink quicker than that library in the desert, put a hand on her arm to calm her down.

He then fixed his eyes at the Beifong lord and lady with a look that was usually deserved for the truly evil humans that were not redeemable to the world. Toph could feel the chill that went through her parents’ spines.

“I’m sure you know this, Mr. and Mrs. Beifong, but your daughter is highly regarded around the most powerful people in the world.” He kept them transfixed with his eyes, “Toph has gained the respect of everyone she meets by not only being an amazing earthbender, but because above all else, she has never attempted to be anyone but herself. She is strong, fearless, honest, and confident. She has made her own way in the world without needing the influence of her family name ever since she decided to join me and our friends to put an end to the war.”

That was a lie. There had been that time in the Serpent’s Pass, but she didn’t say anything.

Toph stood still as Aang spoke and felt the hand that had stopped her from saying too much travel down to hold her own again. It was still warm and despite what he was showing to her parents, it was still as gentle as ever.

“Toph has never needed the politics and etiquette that you want her to follow to impress anyone and traditions or formalities are just not her, and for that I am thankful everyday because...” Aang chuckled softly, “because if she did I know I would never be able to marry her unless you accepted the clothes off my back as gifts.”

He looked away from the Beifongs, releasing them from his hold and Aang sighed, “My people did not believe in material possessions, and I will try to uphold our own traditions as much as I can. I am sorry for the trouble though.”

He finished what he was saying and everyone was silent for a minute. Toph for her part would have loved to kiss Aang right there and then, but then whatever he’d just said would be thrown out of the window as her parents would try to physically separate them.

And then Toph heard a quiet sniffle and realized it came from her mother.

Her dad seemed to have heard it too since Toph felt him turn and say, “Poppy...?”

Mrs. Beifong shook her head and after seeming to compose herself, she declared, “Avatar Aang. You have our permission to marry our daughter.”

Mr. Beifong balked. “But– but my love! He—“

Said love waved her hand at him, “Oh, Lao... did you really think we could win this argument? Toph very obviously will not listen to us and Avatar Aang is clearly smitten. We gave it a try and we failed. I don’t think all our power and money would put a dent to their relationship.”

Toph’s father had a very clear ‘Watch me try’ aura about him, but her mother must have given him some kind of look because it quickly withered.

Toph’s jaw was hanging. She had never heard her mother speak so... honestly about her or her decision to be with Aang. Toph could feel that Aang was just as stunned.

“So... does this mean we’re good?” Aang asked, all traces of Avatar presence gone, now only a nervous man who is in front of his future parents in law.

Lao Beifong looked at him gravelly and finally sighed. “Yes, Avatar Aang. We are... ‘good’”

“Well, jeez!” Toph said, throwing her hands in the air, one of them still holding onto Aang. “You guys really had to drag this out just to realize what everyone and their past ten lives knew?! Of course I’m marrying Aang no matter what anyone says!” Toph sat down abruptly again and huffed her bangs away in frustration.

Aang laughed, Poppy giggled in amusement, and Lao sighed again.

“In any case, we do need to make arrangements for the marriage.” Mr. Beifong said seriously, “I will not hear anything about it being a small affair. Such a thing would bring shame to our family name. Now, we must invite all the elit—“ a stomach rumbled loudly in the room and Toph quickly realized it was her father’s. She snickered.

“Welp! I guess we have to cut the boring stuff short since I think we can all agree it’s time for dinner!” Toph smiled brightly.

“It has been quite the long day.” Her mother agreed, “shall we go to the dining room everyone?”

In then end, everyone agreed that dinner sounded very nice and that they would continue their planning later. Her parents got up first, bowing politely and leading the way to the dining area.

Before they got to the dining room table though, Toph pulled Aang to the side, away from her parent’s view. She took a moment to feel Aang’s heartbeat speed up just a bit, and then kissed Aang, almost passionately. Almost, just because they had no time for more later. Aang’s breath was still taken away and as she pulled away, it took him a few seconds to come back.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that about?” He asked.

Toph shrugged, “For all the stuff you said about me before. It was really sweet Twinkletoes. Wished you had warned me about it since I’m pretty sure I looked dumb just sitting there with my mouth open though.”

Aang laughed softly and Toph casually fell a little bit more in love.

They went back to the dining room, both smiling widely. The rest of the night might not be as fun, but neither cared at that moment.

Toph had always hated formalities and politics and posture, and she was glad Aang understood her well enough to the point she didn’t have to explain why. That was just her.

And not even hundreds of years of tradition could keep them apart.

You've never actually met the guy, but you can already tell he's the kind of troll who will most likely mess everything up when you and all your friends actually enter the game. You've chatted with all the people who are supposed to be on your team. All of them are pretty capable of at least the most basic troll functions of not getting culled, but Gamzee? No.

How the fuck the guy has actually survived to this day is probably worthy of a movie. That shitty kind of movie that halfway through you want to tear your eyes out and throw them at the T.V. in wrongful vengeance for showing you the reason why troll Will Smith was put on this planet to save your kind from such a spectacle. Gamzee is probably the actual reason you'll start believing in miracles just for making it to his sixth sweep.

You sigh in frustration and rub at your eyes. Your team sucks, but you'll reveal your blood color to the Empress herself before you admit defeat. It's really a good thing you established your leadership to the jackasses or else everyone would have been lost without your great leadership.

You keep your hand over your eyes and despite your best efforts your thoughts stay on the purple blood joke of a troll. You know he's been eating those “pies” of his for most of his life. How the fuck did his lusus ever let him do that? Or maybe his lusus actually eats the stuff too. That could be it. Gamzee probably had the poor luck of getting a lusus that was too dumb to actually teach him anything.

Then you remember Gamzee sometimes telling you that he likes to wait by the beach to wait for his lusus to return. But then... he's normally by the beach whenever you want to get in contact with him. Granted, you don't make many efforts to keep in contact with your “best friend”, but it's been enough that you think Gamzee's lusus is most likely not around often.

Your hand falls away from your face to reveal a frown. Okay, your face was used to frowning. You frowned at your neighbors, you frowned at your friends, your frowned at yourself, you frowned at life in general really. This time however you frowned at your husktop.

You wonder if Gamzee is actually up for playing in the game. What if he hasn't eaten or anything? What if he hasn't slept? Trollkind as a whole were good natural fighters. He could probably hold his own despite his less than ideal state. But that didn't mean, he should be fighting that way. Maybe you should make sure he was okay?

You don't give yourself time to think. You are the leader and leaders take action. If your team was to be successful, then it was your job make sure all your team mates were in their optimal state. True you were only bothering to really check on Gamzee, but he was the one that needed it the most.

That stupid mess of a troll...