A/N: Last part, darlings~!

Enjoy!

Part 3

Two hours of scouring the city, and Aang had nothing. Toph really knew how to be invisible.

He had walked up and down all of the main streets and checked all of the restaurants, taverns, and shops he could find. He walked through the large park in the middle of the city twice, and even went so far as the scale some of the roofs in the busier parts of the city in hopes that he would get a better view and see her. He questioned so many people that he was sure he had to have interviewed at least half the city. Aang even sat down on the ground at one point and tried to feel as far down into the Earth as possible to see if Toph was hiding underground in one of the tunnels they fashioned over the past few weeks. But over and over again, Aang came to dead ends. After finally hanging his head and giving up, he had fully convinced himself that Toph had picked up her bags, left the city, and gone somewhere else.

Of course, there really was no one else to blame except for himself. In his excitement and desperation to finally admit to feelings he had been ignoring for so long, he forgot to consider Toph's feelings as well. Now any and all hopes he had of finally pursuing something because he wanted to and not because he felt he needed to were dashed to hell, and Aang had absolutely no idea what to do with himself now. Was there even a reason for him to stay here anymore? Should he go back to Zuko and insist he was cured? Even though he had finally gotten over his doubts about his past relationship, Aang was sure that his mind wouldn't rest knowing that he and Toph had ended on bad terms. He had to find her and set things right. She couldn't have gone far. Maybe a neighboring town or city. If he left now, he could still catch up.

Aang ran back to the hotel and was about to turn sharply through the front door, but only barely stopped himself before he collided straight into the woman at the front desk he met that first night. Luckily, he didn't go and reflexively start Airbending and practically announce that he was the Avatar. Instead, he just managed to catch the armful of boxes she was holding before it crashed to the ground.

"Woah!" she cried out. "Be careful, would you? You're gonna kill someone. " She raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. "Whoever you're running after is not going anywhere."

Aang frowned and watched as she walked around to the side of the building. "How'd you—?"

"Please!" she cackled with her head thrown back for measure. "The people in this hotel who don't know about that girl you've been running around with are in some serious denial," she gushed at him with a smile. She plopped the boxes down on the ground in the alley to be picked up later. "So, is she your girlfriend?"

The monk averted his eyes and probably looked like a little boy lost and abandoned when he answered. "…no…not really."

The woman propped a foot on the largest crate on the bottom of the pile and leaned her elbows on her knee. "Huh. Complicated?"

"You have no idea."

She shrugged and jiggled the box under her foot. "Well, she actually just ran upstairs like an hour ago. Looked pretty frazzled too. I don't know what happened but if you're—"

"Wait, she's here!?" Aang practically shouted. This was the first place he checked. The only obvious place she would be. Why was she hiding here?

The receptionist's eyes widened and she started walking back to the front of the building. "Calm down, hon. Yeah, she's upstairs. I didn't see her leave at any rate. Plus, she just dumped that little box down here and asked me where she could throw it out." She shot an annoyed look over her shoulder. "I only just got a chance to trash it."

Aang peered back at box that was sitting innocuously in the dim alley. "Huh…what was in it?"

She shrugged and started to step through the doorway. "Hell if I know. Bottles of perfume maybe? It's what it sounded like anyway. Though why any girl would have that much perfume is beyond—hey, what's wrong?"

Aang had already darted into the alley and started to wrench the familiar looking box. It was nailed shut with stone nails, and Aang subtly removed them with Earthbending before the woman raced back into the alley and peered over his shoulder. "What? Isn't it just junk? I didn't think it was anything important."

The Airbender didn't answer as to how this was actually crucially important. He was too busy pulling out the small glass bottles inside and staring at them in wonder. The sleeping draughts. They were sleeping draughts. At least a week's worth of doses.

Toph threw them all out.

Aang leaned back and sat down on the ground, ignoring how dirty and crusted in garbage it was. None of that mattered because just when he thought everything was messed up and totally ruined, there was a little glimmer of hope that was starting to come to life in his chest and he couldn't help but smile into his hand and shake his head in amusement. He probably looked crazy sitting there laughing at a box of what to anyone else was just some garbage, but all his panic seeped out into the air and he dropped his head into his hands smiling. "She's still here…"

The woman was confused. "Well of course she's still here, she hasn't paid yet. Wait, why would she be leaving? Did something happen between you two?"

Aang shook his head emphatically. "No, no…well sort of, yeah," he explained, brushing off his pants as he stood up. "But it's fine…I think it's going to be fine."

"You think?"

Aang laughed uncaringly, too relieved that he wouldn't have to trek the globe anymore to find Toph. "With her, you never know. But at least I think I know what to do now."

OOO

It was a couple of days before Aang saw Toph again.

Not that he was surprised in the very least. For someone who claimed she hated dreaming, she was probably doing a lot of it right now and was probably loathing every minute of it. It meant she had to think and dwell, and as strange as it sounded to say so, Aang knew how much of a pain that was. But either way, he supposed that it was better than Toph doing something completely drastic like packing her bags and running off halfway across the world to another out-of-the-way town so that no one could find her—not even Aang. But thankfully the receptionist kindly informed him that Toph hadn't left—and if she did, she always came back.

Now that their daily excursions had halted to a complete stop, Aang had taken to going to the hawk post and delivering messages to Zuko telling him that he was doing better and also relaying some ideas he had about quieting some stuffed shirts in the Fire Nation who were mad about raised taxes going towards rebuilding damaged parts of the country. His head wasn't in a haze of confusion. That had passed. Now it was just a waiting game.

Aang was walking around the corner back onto the main road when he ran into Toph. Literally.

He was looking down, and she must not have been paying attention to where she was going and didn't see him coming because they bashed foreheads together so hard they both stumbled back a few steps and immediately brought hands up to their bruises.

Aang hissed and started massaging the pain away when he blinked up and noticed that it was Toph that he ran into and that she was in a similar position, rubbing her hand across her forehead.

"Head in the clouds as usual, Twinkle Toes," Toph grumbled in annoyance. "Didn't know you were hardheaded too."

Aang falling into a response to her quip was just all too natural. "Says the stubborn Badgermole herself," Aang shot back.

Taking in her appearance very quickly, she already looked different. She looked tired, like she had spent half the night awake and had only fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion. Looks like her dreams were keeping her up again just like they were before. But at the very least, this time she wasn't hunched over and passive and looking altogether depressed. She had enough energy to snap back at him and manage a frightening glare that Aang was all too familiar with. Her shoulders were squared, her chin was up, and her hands were crossed defensively across her chest as she made another retort about him being a whiny little boy who couldn't take responsibility for his own mistakes.

"You know most people just manage an apology and go along their way instead of arguing with the other person," Aang complained.

Toph smirked. "Yet, as you've no doubt discovered, I am not most people. So I'll stop arguing when I want to and not when you tell me."

Aang couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of her abrasive attitude that was so many leagues different from the lethargic and detached Toph or the overly exuberant Toph that just wanted to get up, run outside, and do things. He quickly realized that he preferred this Toph more. It kept things interesting, plus he had to owe his prowess in debating and biting repartee to Toph. She was a great source of practice and so much fun to rile up.

He didn't bother thinking of the implications of such a request when he asked Toph, "Do you want to go grab a bit of lunch?"

Toph's eyes widened slightly, almost as if she remembered the first time he had dragged her off to a meal, back when they were so willing to just forget they had a life to go back to and problems to resolve before they could. Among other things, he imagined. But she frowned and tightened her arms and appraised him curiously. "Why? This isn't a sit down interrogation or an 'I need to tell you something important' deal, is it?"

Aang rolled his eyes and adjusted the strap of the pack he was wearing. "I've already told you all the important things I had to say," he reminded her. Unlike you, was the unspoken statement left hanging in the air, and Toph had the decency to look guilty.

"Besides, why is it so weird for two friends to go out for some lunch? We've done it so many times before."

Toph raised a brow. Yeah. Before you confessed that you liked me and kissed me senseless, her eyes seemed to say, and Aang had to relent a little and understand her point. The tone of the offer was different because now they couldn't ignore that something between them was present in a way that it wasn't before. Suddenly, even simple things like saying hello to each other took on a different meaning.

An annoying side effect of not having your feelings reciprocated, but he supposed he should have seen this coming. The monk sighed and nodded in defeat. "Alright fine, I get it," he acknowledged preparing to pass her and go back to his room and…work probably. "I guess I'll just…I don't know, see you around town or something. I'll just be—"

"Okay."

"—in my room or…wait, what?"

Toph fidgeted on her feet and inhaled deeply, standing as straight as she could manage. "I said okay. I'll go to lunch with you," she repeated.

He frowned and scratched at the cap itching his scalp. "Don't hide your enthusiasm from me. Really. I can totally take it."

Toph shoved his shoulder. "Look don't be sarcastic, I said I'm going with you so just…take it, alright?"

Well, she's certainly all calm and under control this morning, Aang noted to himself. The stubbornness was appreciated, but only to a degree. Still, he knew that if she called her out on the behavior she would probably smack him across the face and stomp off in the opposite direction, and he didn't want to waste the chance to take advantage of her actually agreeing to the last thing she probably wanted to be doing.

Committed to being as civil and understanding as possible, Aang walked them to the nearest restaurant, one that they had frequented more than once since their stay here. Toph must have remembered it, because she didn't need Aang to read her the menu before she ordered one of the dishes on the lunch special. She was curt and started sipping on her tea in order to keep her mouth busy so that she wouldn't have to fill up the awkward silence. Aang ordered a vegetarian dish and handed the menus over to the waitress, leaving him to dissipate the strange mood before the two of them. He hated to admit it, but nothing between them had ever felt this uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat and picked at the sleeve of his shirt. "So is everything…okay with you?"

Toph kept her eyes down, either staring blankly either into her cup or down at the wooden table. "Yeah, fine."

"Sleeping well?"

She hesitated for a moment and caught her lips in between her teeth. "Yeah, just great." Such a liar. She was exhausted he could tell.

"Good, that's…good," he finished lamely, suddenly very unsure of how he was supposed to proceed.

Toph cleared her throat. "So, um, you've been keeping busy I guess?"

Aang nodded, jumping straight into a topic he could at least elaborate on past 'good.' "Yeah, just corresponding back and forth with Zuko on some things. I heard from the Water Tribes regarding some outstanding issues that we've decided to put off until certain people were present and available. That might keep me busy for a few days too."

"Sugar Queen's department, isn't it?" She was looking just past his ear but he could tell she was eyeing him carefully.

Aang shrugged nonchalantly and peeked over Toph's head to see where the server was with their food. "Probably, yeah. If it's international affairs, she's usually present."

"Do you work well together?" Toph asked, clicking her nails against her cup distractedly.

Aang furrowed his brows as he waved the server over, but still answered the question. "Well we did, but I honestly don't know how our dynamic has changed. I mean she was the one who sent me the letter about business, and nothing in her tone has changed since…you know. Well, minus the mushy paragraphs," he amended. "But I think she should be fine. I think I left things as positively as I could."

Plates of food were placed down in front of them and Toph immediately started digging in, not responding to his answer right away. Aang ignored his food for the moment and asked, "What have you been up to?"

Toph swallowed and licked at her lips. "Nothing much. I go underground for a few hours and practice some Earthbending, but other than that not much. Just sit in my room and think a lot. Kinda gets lonely," she trailed off.

"Oh," Aang answered. "Well, maybe you should go out and do something," Aang suggested, referring back to some old advice that the healer had given him. "You can't just stew alone in your room all day. Sometimes company helps."

"Says the monk holed up in his room all day," Toph commented back at him with a smirk. "Follow your own advice. I'll bet some people are dying to see you. Katara, Sparky, Snoozles…"

Aang darted his eyes to her again, but didn't see her acting strangely. Just quietly eating across from him like she normally did. Still, he answered slowly. "Yeah, I guess," Aang agreed. "But I think I'm fine now. Besides, I get more done when I'm left alone."

Toph pursed her lips but nodded. "Whatever you say."

Nothing more was exchanged between the two, and they finished their meals in a silence that Aang thought was nothing short of excruciating. They used to be able to fill up hours with talk. Now, they couldn't even bring up their daily activities without making it sound forced. Add in the fact that Toph looked and sounded better but was acting beyond abnormal and you had a situation that was far too complex for Aang to handle on his own.

Aang asked for their plates to be cleared and asked Toph if she was interested in any dessert. She waved off the comment and insisted on getting whatever Aang wanted, not caring whatever that happened to be. She went back to keeping her head down and her hands interlaced on the table and didn't offer another suggestion. He kept his eyes on her as he muttered to the server to bring them two rose petal fruit tarts.

"You know," Aang began casually, "I was thinking of traveling to the Earth Kingdom for a little bit. I haven't seen the Earth King in a while and I think I might want to visit him. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. It might be worth it to go back to someplace familiar for a while."

But Toph chuckled while she was still chewing on a particularly sweet bit of the tart he ordered for her. "And you're inviting me? Ray of sunshine that I am?"

"I just thought you might want to go a little closer to home," Aang explained. "Just a suggestion."

"Don't worry about it," Toph insisted. "I'd probably just be a killjoy anyway, right?"

Aang frowned again and actually had to put his utensils down when he regarded her next. "I'm not suggesting that at all. I was just trying to be nice and extend an invitation to you. If you don't want to come with me that's fine."

Toph glared across the table. "Don't take it personally. I'm just saying you could afford better company than me. Take someone nicer or something. Hell I'd bet Katara would love to go with you."

Aang smiled humorlessly and pushed his plate away. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"You bringing up Katara into the conversation so much. Stop it. I see what you're doing."

Toph put her utensils down as well and grinned sarcastically at him. "Well then you must be as blind as me because whatever you think you're seeing is not there. I'm just making a suggestion. She'd be better company," she explained. "If you're in such a chipper mood now, you might want someone with a more positive attitude to enable you."

Aang was sure he looked affronted as he lifted his tea to his lips. "I need someone to enable me?"

"Yeah," Toph shrugged. "Not in a bad way, just…someone to match your mood. I'd just be a downer for the whole trip so you might as well leave me here. You and Katara seem more compatible with the whole optimistic outlook on everything that's practically infectious. In fact, I'd bet she—"

Aang slammed his cup down on the table. "Cut it out already!"

"What?!" Toph exclaimed in annoyance.

Aang leaned over the edge of the table and glared at her fiercely, not caring that she couldn't see it and hoping more that she could feel it burning through her. "Does everything I said to you mean absolutely nothing to you?"

"What are you talking about?" Toph asked tiredly.

Aang reached across, grabbed Toph's hand in his, and squeezed it tightly. "What do I have to do to get it through your thick head that I could care less about hanging out with Katara, going on trips with Katara, and trying to get her to match to me. I don't need to be with someone who's perfect. I need someone that I can be honest with. Someone that makes me happy. And that isn't her," Aang emphasized with meaning. "It's you."

"Don't be such an idiot," Toph answered back looking visibly upset. "Katara is literally the best thing that happened to you. She's saved your life more times than I can count."

"So have you!" Aang countered back. "Besides that has nothing to do with anything."

"Yes it does!" Toph insisted. "She was in love with you. And you were in love with her."

Aang shook his head. "It wasn't the same kind of love. I know that now. That's why I broke it off with. I made the decision, Toph! I knew what I was doing."

"You're throwing away the only good thing you've had in over a hundred years!" Toph argued with him, and suddenly Aang was starting to put some terrifyingly illuminating pieces together. "She is perfect for you!"

Others in tables nearby were starting to turn their heads towards them, and others were already shushing at Toph to keep the shouting down so that they could eat in peace. Aang quickly stood up and slid into the booth next to Toph, ignoring her protests. He leaned his head close so that his voice was barely audible, trying to keep the conversation a private affair but more to talk to her while she was close to him so that she could really get a good read on whether or not he was fibbing.

"Why do you think that I don't care about you?" he asked honestly. "That I'm making a mistake in liking you. I'll admit, I don't exactly know where this attraction will go. I have no way of telling the future." No matter how much he believed in the feelings he had at the moment, they were still new and impossible to see to completion this early on. But damn it, he was going to try and see where this would go because this felt right to him.

"But I'll tell you that Katara never made me feel like this," Aang continued with conviction. "I can't act like a little kid with her. I can't tell jokes and play pranks and expect her to laugh along with me. She can never push me to constantly be better and be stronger and be more caring like you can. All this time when I wanted to be near you, to protect you even though you didn't need it, to listen to you, to help you, and to be happy with you…I thought that was me wanting to be your friend." He took her face into his hands and leaned in closer to her, their noses barely brushing. "It was nowhere close. It's more than that. But…forgive me for being too stupid to see it until now. I care about you, Toph. So much. And I just wish you'd see that."

Aang pulled her in for a kiss before she had time to protest, this time less to prove a point and more because it felt right in the moment. It wasn't rushed, frantic, and messy like the one behind the teashop had been. It was such a simple and innocent kiss that it shouldn't have felt like much, but for some reason his heart swelled and his elation rose to the skies on contact. He was trying his hardest to be sincere. This wasn't a case of random attraction placed coincidentally after a breakup. This was real affection for someone he had cared about for years. And when he pulled away from her and stared into her eyes that were far too expressive for someone who couldn't even see, he knew that all of that talk about her not wanting any part of this was a brave act.

Still, she shook her head—as if exiting from a trance—and pushed herself away from him so violently that she stumbled out of the booth and had to hold on to neighboring chair for balance. "No," she pleaded, blinking and panting. "Just…stop confusing me."

But Aang refused to relent. "What's so confusing about a kiss?" he questioned with confusion. "Why do you keep pushing me away? Why do you keep pushing everyone away?"

Toph's grip on the chair was crushing and he could see her arm trembling from the force of it. The restaurant was already starting to fall silent and heads were starting to turn, so Aang left their food unfinished and slammed ten silver pieces on the table before he dragged Toph out the restaurant before they brought any more attention to themselves.

"Let go of me!" Toph struggled in his grip. "I didn't agree to this so you could interrogate me!"

"Do you blame me?" Aang shouted over his shoulder as stalked down the road. "I don't know what to think anymore. You're not giving me anything to work with!"

Toph scoffed and snatched her hand back. "Well excuse me for not jumping on you the minute you drop a bomb of a confession on me! I'm not obligated to give you what you want."

Aang turned to her and glared fiercely at her. "You don't realize how unfair you're being, do you?"

"I'm being unfair?" Toph repeated scandalized.

"Yes! Extremely," Aang insisted. He rubbed a hand across his forehead and dropped his hand in defeat. "If you really didn't reciprocate anything…if you're really so set on the fact that I made a mistake in pursuing you, why did you kiss me that night on the roof?" He asked her desperately. "Why didn't you push me off the minute I got near you two days ago? You let me get close only to push me away again." He threw his arms out in a show of surrender. "You're the one confusing me!"

Toph opened her mouth to interrupt, but Aang didn't let her. "Not only that, but it's like you want me to change my mind. It isn't enough that you claim you feel nothing for me, but you're trying to suggest that I don't really feel anything for you." Aang laughed humorlessly and shook his head in disbelief. "I mean, who does that if not someone who's purposefully hiding things from me and isn't telling me something?"

Toph's hands were trembling and she immediately hid them in the crooks of her arms so as not to give anything away, but her silence was enough for Aang. Always with secrets, always with hiding things from other people, always scared to open up to others. It was the single most frustrating thing about her, and he wasn't about to let that be the reason she went and made a fool of his feelings.

The monk set his jaw and asked, "Is that what happened with that noble you were going to marry?" He immediately saw her head snap towards him and her entire body tense up. This was a low blow—an extremely low blow—but he couldn't stand being in the dark anymore. If he was going to be rejected, he wanted to know why, not be fooled into turning his back.

"Shut up, Aang," Toph growled between gritted teeth. She said his name with so much self control that he knew he was really hitting a nerve. "I mean it."

"Did you do the same thing? He showed you how he really felt about you and you panicked and pushed him off? Is that what this is?" he continued, letting his mouth run away with him.

"Aang!" Toph shouted desperately. "Don't make me knock you out! I said stop it!"

"I'm not stopping! Not until you talk to me!" Aang shouted back to her. "Just tell me why you pushed him away…why you pushed me away. I can't stand this hot and cold act with you. I'd leave you alone if only you gave me a straight answer."

Toph was floundering around for something to say. "Twinkle Toes, please, just…just cut it out. I don't want to have this conversation."

Aang wasn't relenting He stepped closer to her. "Why didn't you marry that man?"

"I'm not answering that," she bit back, looking down and hiding her face behind her long bangs.

"Was it because you didn't really love him?" Aang continued. "Were you scared to commit? Did it happen too fast?"

"Aang!" Toph screamed.

"Hell, I don't know, were you just pulling him along because it was fun?"

"STOP IT!"

"Then answer me!" Aang screamed at her, holding her shoulders in an iron grip.

Toph let out an inhuman sound and thrust both of her fists forward, pulling a thick slab of Earth from the ground that connected to Aang's gut and sent him reeling back ten feet. The pain started to furl through his entire body and he could already feel the bruise forming on his stomach. But he propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her in shock. They were supposed to be going incognito as Fire Nation citizens. She just Earthbended in front of a crowd of people. He could already hear them muttering to themselves in shock.

"What's an Earthbender doing dressed as Fire Nation?"

"She looks so familiar…you don't see eyes like that just anywhere…"

"You idiot she's blind!"

"Wait! You don't think she's…"

Toph was ignoring all the talk around and was visible trying to quell her rage. Tears were prickling at the corners of her eyes and she was blinking back the moisture. Katara had said she had only ever seen Toph cry once, and Aang himself had only seen such a rare event on one other occasion himself. His eyes were close to popping out of his head at the sight. But he didn't dare say anything or move from his spot on the ground as he watched Toph walk towards him.

She rubbed her eyes furiously across her eyes and wiped off the tears that were so close to trailing down her cheeks. Her face was turned straight ahead, her shoulders were squared, and she spoke calmly.

"I didn't marry him because I hadn't gotten over you yet." Toph shook her head and smiled sadly. "I still haven't gotten over you yet."

With that, Toph walked down the road, leaving Aang sprawled on the ground and frozen in shock.

OOO

Going on the roof was probably a very bad idea—mainly because that was exactly where Aang knew Toph would be stewing in private. He waited until the middle of the night to even brave walking up the rest of stairs to the very top of the building. He even stood seated on the stairs for about an hour, going through everything in his head before he made an appearance. There was no guarantee that she was even sitting there, but he at least prided himself in being able to predict her habits. If he were Toph, he would go somewhere where he could breathe. He remembered her telling him that she couldn't do that anywhere else.

Aang pushed the door open and immediately removed his hat as the heat from outside hit him. It was terribly dark outside save for the moon offering a small bit of light outside. Faintly, on the other side of the roof, he could see Toph sitting on that same ledge she was accustomed to occupying every time she came up here. She was kicking her feet against the side of the building and was bending her space bracelet into different shapes—something she always did to calm her down and cheer herself up.

There was no doubt that she had already felt him, but the fact that she wasn't shouting at him or asking him to get out of here was as good a sign as any that he could have hoped for. Still, he walked slowly and cautiously across the roof until he was standing right next to Toph, his toes hanging just off the edge.

One time, Sokka had made it a point to say how dangerous that was whenever he caught Aang doing it. Katara always sided with her brother, saying that it made her nervous whenever Aang stood at the edges of cliffs and roofs whenever he wanted to think—it didn't matter that he was an Airbender. But whenever he couldn't grab his glider and fly off somewhere, this was the next best thing. Whenever he stood like this and looked down at his toes, it always looked like he was standing in mid air—the closest he could get to the feeling of soaring through the air. Flashes of his first night here in the city immediately hit him, and he wondered how everything got so confusing.

Aang allowed for the silence to pervade for a few more minutes before he spoke up. "I tried to squash the rumor that you were in the city as best I could. Said you were a friend visiting from Omashu. A few people bought it."

Clearing her throat before she spoke, Toph asked, "But not everyone?"

The monk shook his head. "I'm not that good at lying. That's your department."

Toph chuckled and offered a small smile. "Yeah. You were always terrible at it. Remember when we messed up Zuko's topiary garden after an Earthbending match?"

Aang laughed at the memory and nodded his head. "I think I babbled off some nonsense about an Earthquake that only the two of us felt."

"Which was still half the truth," Toph reminded him. They were showing off who could make the ground rumble the loudest.

The memory lingered in Aang's mind and guilt immediately started to wash over him. For someone who was so set on having fun with his friends and living as carefree as possible, he also made himself a promise that he would never let anyone have an ill thought about him. An unrealistic goal, but one that he pursued valiantly. Then he went and made his one true friend—no, more than a friend—reduce herself to tears.

He turned to her and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"No, don't you dare," Toph stopped him. "You didn't do anything wrong. I should be apologizing to you."

Aang sat down next to her and let his feet dangle over the edge of the building as well. "I was cruel to you. I can't excuse that."

Toph shrugged and leaned her elbows on her knees. "Yeah, well. Sometimes that's all that works. Zuko always told me that I tend to laugh off anything that anyone says to me so long as it isn't an insult or a personal subject." Toph laughed and tucked her bangs behind her ears. "At least it got my attention."

Aang looked down at his hands. "Did you mean what you said?"

She turned her body towards him and spoke clearly. "Yeah. Every word of it."

Immediately, Aang felt his heart soar. All the stress and insecurities that were clawing up his throat and tightening up his chest immediately released their grip until he could finally take in a deep breath of air and finally know that he wasn't just imagining things. Stuck in the disbelief of such a surreal confession, he looked at her earnestly and asked quietly, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I don't know," Toph muttered, sounding just as lost as she looked.

Aang reached across from him and took her hand in his. She blinked for a moment, but let him take her hand up to his lips and press a small kiss on the backs of her fingers. He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "Toph, please. Tell me."

There was a look of fear for just a second—like she was debating just closing up again and forgetting that she had even said such a thing to him. Maybe he was just seeing emotions that he couldn't' really decipher. But he was relieved when she moved closer to him until her knees were touching his thigh. Toph didn't let go of his hand, and instead started tracing out patterns along his skin and following the lines on his palm that she had taught him how to read a long time ago. The skin on her forehead was bunched together and she stared down in concentration.

"I don't know when it started," Toph began. "I think it was after Sokka practically risked his life to go save his girlfriend. Whatever stupid little fascination I had with him was shot to pieces right then and there. I didn't mind it much. I mean, I knew that he was taken and I wasn't about to try and pretend like I had a chance. It was a stupid crush, you know? It went away."

Aang chuckled at that. "I figured you liked him," he smiled.

Toph shrugged in a nonchalant matter, as if admitting that there was nothing she could do about such a thing. "That's when I started bothering you in the afternoons at the temple so much. Besides Sokka, you were the only one I could really talk to easily. It was like breathing with you. You talked, I listened, and you just…understood me. There was never any doubt in my mind that you were humoring me. You were genuine around me. That's something that I can't say for many people."

Aang remembered that day when he was meditating one of the atriums in the Western Air Temple and Toph knocked a perfectly aimed pebble against his temple, asking if he was willing to talk for a bit. It was something that he had never expected out of her, but he was more than willing to oblige. He even remembered their first conversation that day: the explosive fight that Katara and Zuko had that morning over breakfast. Fleshing out the details of what was said turned into making fun of their faces contorted into rage that then turned into the two of them trying to mimic the fight to the best of their memories. It was an afternoon that left them sprawled out on the floor and clutching their stomachs from laughter. That was a memory that Aang looked back on fondly, and it was an event that encouraged their daily talks by the fountain every afternoon right before lunch.

"I always looked forward to when you'd interrupt my meditating to talk," Aang reminisced, squeezing her hand.

"Me too," she smiled. "Every single day. It actually got so bad that sometimes I'd shirk off chores and let Sugar Queen rip on me afterwards just to go see you. It was getting bad. At first I thought it was just that I really loved having you as a friend."

Aang immediately saw her face grow apprehensive, and he squeezed her hands, urging her to go on.

"It wasn't until you and Katara were together for a few months that I realized us constantly hanging out as friends didn't feel friendly to me anymore. I was starting to really like you. More than just that stupid crush I had on Sokka. I mean I was severely…" She paused and sighed in frustration. "…I cared about you more than I cared about anyone else."

There were no words for a confession like that. Part of Aang wanted to grab her and kiss her all over and show that yes he felt the same and there was no one else to come in between that anymore. But Toph continued on.

"But you were with Katara," Toph sighed deeply. "So of course all I could do was start comparing. I'd hear everyone say how gorgeous she was, how kind she was, how good the two of you looked together, and how happy the both of you were. There was no way I was going to come in between that. I knew that I had to get over you too. It was only fair. That was around the time I decided to go back home."

"That was the day I flew you over to Gaoling, right?" Aang asked her.

She nodded. "Mmhm. I wanted to apologize to them. And like I told you, all went well, and I wanted to repay them for the kindness. And that's when I met him."

Aang watched her smile sadly to herself and her fingers on his palm stilled completely. "It was…sweet with him. Comfortable. He really liked me. He was always taking me out to dinner in the city, coming over to have meals with my parents. We even sat out in the garden some nights getting our clothes all full of dirt and just talked. It wasn't just to make my parents happy. I thought that if I tried hard enough I could forget about you and maybe move on to someone else. But at Zuko's wedding…it felt too right being with you. I got really scared. That's why I never really fell back into contact with you when you left for Ba Sing Se after that. I thought that I could replace you so that you could be with Katara. Because…I thought that you deserved her over me."

Denial was on the tip of his tongue to assure her that none of that was true, because being with her on the roof of Zuko's palace at the wedding felt right and comfortable to him too. But he held back the comment. Rather, he let the shock of a few hours ago wash over him again so that the enormity of her statement could really hit home and make an impression. "You couldn't marry him because you were still stuck on me."

"Horribly stuck on you," Toph lamented. "I felt terrible. Spirits, I heard his breath catch in his throat when I told him no. I mean…he was so excited about marrying me. And honestly…" She hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not she could dare admit such a thing to herself. "I think I could have done it. I think I could have married him and settled for a sweet marriage. But I couldn't do that to him. I would have only been giving him half of me. That wasn't fair."

Aang took both of her hands in his. "So you ran away."

Toph nodded and cleared her throat. "I thought that if I spent some time alone, I could finally come to terms with the fact that I couldn't have you." She laughed to herself. "Then you mess everything up by showing up at the same hotel in the same city in the Fire Nation."

Aang shrugged. "Sorry about that."

"No, no, I thought it was gonna be okay," she insisted. "I could condition myself to just be friends with you again. At first it was hard…I mean I wasn't sleeping because every time I dreamed, it was almost always about you. I was torn up. I didn't want to think about you because the feelings always resurfaced. But then you gave me those draughts and they…I dunno it made me sleep a sleep that let me forget about my dreams about you and sleep off the stress of what happened before I came here. I could just focus on the now and just let myself be friends with you. Just friends."

That's why she was so happy to spend time with him for so long. They both forgot about past and future and just focused on the two of them in the moment. After being so distraught, such a thing was refreshing and welcomed. There was no way that Aang could ever hold it against Toph for wanting to latch onto that.

"Then I told you I broke up with Katara…that I never really loved her like I thought I did," he reminded.

"Reflexively, I kissed you because I thought that it was my chance to have you for myself," Toph confessed. "But I just couldn't believe that such a picture perfect relationship like that was over, and that you were the one that ended it. I got defensive. I thought you were messing around with me. I tried to push you away because it was just too good to be true. It's still too good to be true."

Aang caught his lip in between his teeth and stole a look at her face. She wasn't angry, and she wasn't dejected. She looked contemplative, almost as if all of this was just one large mystery that she didn't have all the clues for or one large puzzle that was missing a piece. There was no denial and no desire to run away. She was finally done with all of that. She was just apprehensive. After being denied something for so long, to see it land in her lap must have seemed so surreal. Aang could definitely understand how that felt.

"You wanna know what Gyatso told me one time when I was younger?" Toph nodded at him, ears and heart open and listening. "He told me once that love is like a friendship caught on fire. Of course, I was ten and I didn't understand a word of it, but now it makes sense."

"What do you mean?" Toph asked.

"Katara and I were never friends like you and I are," Aang explained. "Don't get me wrong, I still consider her my friend to this day and I always will. But she was always so maternal."

Toph scoffed. "Don't I know it."

"No, don't me wrong, it wasn't always bad," Aang amended. "But…sometimes I felt like she was always trying to protect me from my mistakes instead of helping me learn from them. She was always too gentle. If ever I needed a kick in the rear to get me to do something, she just couldn't do that. She kept me from getting hurt, and she was always passive aggressive when it came to me."

Aang smiled at her and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "You were never like that. You were never worried about hurting my feelings or trying to sugar coat things. You were real with me. You always are. That's why it was always so easy to come to you with things and talk to you. You were more worried about getting me to see the things that I needed to see than about me getting hurt along the way. Because sometimes, you have to trudge through a lot of garbage in order to get to what you really need."

"And I'm what you need?" Toph asked incredulously. "You're sure?"

Aang shrugged. "It's what I came here to figure out. I spent so long just working and doing things for other people, to then come back and realize that the love that I had that was supposed to be helping me was actually more beneficial to someone else than it was for me. I felt unfulfilled. No matter what I did, it didn't feel like I was doing things for myself anymore. So I ran to think and just be with myself and take care of myself for a change. And I know you hate the whole idea of fate and destiny, but I don't think it's a coincidence that at that moment of realization, you pop up again. The very person I needed to let me be myself."

Toph blinked and breathed in a large breath without letting it out. "…that's a lot to take in considering I was practically tripping over my adoration for you for as long as I can remember."

"I don't mean to overwhelm you," Aang frowned. That was the last thing that he wanted to do.

She shook her head slowly. "No, you aren't. I just…" She trailed off, and Aang leaned in hanging on her last word, waiting for her to finish her sentence. But whatever she wanted to say was lost if she even had anything to say to him at all, because suddenly he was feeling her fingers brush up against his jaw line and her lips were meeting his in a sweet but very short kiss. It shouldn't have felt like much of anything, but just the fact that Toph was initiating it and Toph was finally willingly kissing him made his emotions soar and caused him to melt straight into her lips.

Toph pulled away too soon and suddenly looked extremely embarrassed—a look that he certainly wasn't used to seeing on her but could definitely grow to get used to. She was about to push him away, but Aang grabbed her elbow and slowly pulled her closer to him until she was pressed against his side. He tipped her chin up gently and kissed her back firmly. Her hands immediately shot up to circle around his shoulders and he couldn't resist the temptation to bury his fingers in her thick hair.

Everything was slow and drawn out, but Aang couldn't even bring himself to indulge in more. There was a feeling of tenderness and longing that he had never felt with Toph before, and he didn't want to let go of such an all-consuming warmth, especially when Toph was reciprocating so beautifully. Suddenly, everything emerged with clarity and Aang could all of a sudden imagine being with Toph like this for far into the future. Such a desire for companionship and closeness had never been so strong with anyone else before, and Aang had no intentions of ever letting it go anytime soon.

There wasn't any way that Aang could tell how long they had sat wrapped around each other like that, but Toph eventually pulled away and bit her lip in apprehension as she fixed her bangs that immediately fell back into her face.

Aang chuckled and helped her pull her hair back. "You just…?"

"Oh, shut up," she scowled playfully. "I'm trying to be romantic here, and you're ruining it."

"You. Romantic? That I have to see…"

"And what, that whole speech wasn't good enough for you? I practically spilled my heart out to you."

Aang smiled and pulled her closer to him. "Well then I guess you're just going to have to do a better job at convincing me then, aren't you?"

Toph's eyes were half lidded and she smirked while curling a hand to the back of his collar. "You know, I was always prided for my stubborn persuasiveness."

"I'm sure you were."

She gripped tighter. "And you definitely don't want to see me when I get too enthusiastic."

Aang smirked and thought that he so definitely did want to see her get that enthusiastic. But he shut her up and kissed her again before she started filling up valuable time with more of her competitive streak.

A/N: And that's all, folks! Thanks for reading this (abysmally long) tale. Loved it? Hated it? Wished I'd done something different? Leave me a comment. They're all lovely to read through.

Until next time!