#tophzula

Azula leaned against the pillows, her brow furrowed in focus over the thick tome of ancient military strategy open in her lap. 'The Art of War, Earth Kingdom Dynasty edition' not light reading. She exhaled sharply when her mattress creaked. "Toph... What are you doing?"

Silent as a shadow, Toph slipped under the blankets like an eel. Her movements were so quiet that Azula only realized when the girl's head suddenly popped up right beneath her chin. Startled, Azula instinctively lifted her book high, now hovering above Toph's head like a small roof. Toph's sightless eyes 'stared' straight up at her, blank but somehow defiant.

"What? It's warm in here. Your bed's soft," Toph grinned from beneath the covers, her cheek pressed comfortably against Azula's stomach. "And your book is boring, Princess Sleeping Beauty. I can 'hear' it from how stiff you sound reading."

Azula glanced down at the mischievous face looking up at her, blocked by both the pages and the fact that Toph's gaze had never once landed on ink. Her finger still slipped between the sheets, marking the paragraph she'd been on. "I'm reading 'The Art of War, Earth Kingdom Dynasty edition', not a fairy tale. And you just covered... well, now you're lying under the final paragraph on siege formations. Move."

Instead of moving, Toph got more comfortable. Her arms circled Azula's waist from under the blanket, her quiet laugh vibrating through the mattress, through skin. Toph 'read' it clearly. "Siege formations? The best strategy right now is for you to surrender and hug me. This is called 'conquering enemy territory from within'." She paused, tilting her head as if listening to Azula's pulse through touch. "Besides, I can feel your heart beating faster than before. The vibrations don't lie the way your face does. You're not really mad, are you?"

Azula's lips pressed into a thin line. She fought to keep her expression flat, even as the tips of her ears burned red. The book in her right hand stayed lifted, but her left hand slowly lowered. "You... are truly the most annoying, ill-mannered disruption, Beifong. This is my private space."

"I am a disruption," Toph tipped her head up, 'looking' at Azula with blind eyes that always seemed to know more than people who could see. "But I'm your favorite disruption, that's why you haven't breathed fire at me yet." She tapped the underside of the book with her fingers, feeling the texture of paper that meant nothing to her. "Come on, quit acting tough. If you won't hug me, then read it out loud. I want to hear how boring that ancient book is... from under my roof."

Azula scoffed softly. "Besides, you can't even read," she bit out, sharp. Her eyes met Toph's unfocused irises, and for a moment her voice lost half its edge without her meaning to. "Why are you telling me to read a book when you can't even see the letters?"

Without closing the book in her right hand, her left finally landed on Toph's back. Her fingers curled into the girl's shirt through the blanket, feeling the shape of her shoulder blade beneath her palm. "...Chapter 7," she said then, her tone forcibly flat. "Attacking through weakness. If you want to listen, don't move."

Feeling the touch, Toph's smile stretched into a satisfied smirk. She burrowed forward until her forehead now rested against Azula's chest. The book above them had become a little canopy, sealing them off from the outside world. For Toph, the world was always dark, but here, under Azula's book, it felt brightest. Her voice echoed softly from beneath the covers, "My weakness? This. Warm. Not as annoying as you when you're pretending to be mad. Go on, Princess. I'm listening... to your heartbeat too, which is getting louder."