Notes: Part of an unfinished drabble meme I've had sitting around for a few months now. Figured I might as well post them. :)

::A Gentleman and a Lady::

The Fire Nation, Sokka is not at all surprised to learn, stands pretty big on ceremony. Apparently the marriage of the Fire Lord is a pretty big deal, and the guests are expected to adhere to a certain dress code. Wearing the wrong colors is unlucky, or something.

Which is why Toph is in the room behind him terrorizing the bevy of unfortunate servants assigned to dress her.

There's a screech and a thud and the bellowing of a familiar voice, and Sokka grins. Those poor girls probably had no idea what hit 'em.

He smooths a hand down the front of the formal robe he's borrowed for the occasion and is almost, almost tempted to go change back into his usual clothes. Just to see what would happen. But hey, if he's man enough fight in a dress, he's man enough to wear one to a wedding. Besides, the bride'd turn him into a pincushion if he tried.

Sokka kind of suspects that Zuko might've proposed at knife point. Call it a hunch.

There's more bellowing and Sokka hears, "Are you trying to rip my hair out?" He chuckles at the empty hallway.

A few minutes pass and the door slams open and Toph stomps out wearing an expression fit to kill. She's wearing layers of gauzy red and gold, half of her hair drawn up in a top knot, the rest left loose around her shoulders. It been years since they met and months since he saw her last, and she's almost as tall as he is now.

She's turning into a beautiful woman, irate expression notwithstanding, and Sokka realizes it's the first time he's thought of her that way. Toph was never a girl, Toph was always just...Toph. And yet here she is, looking like a particularly grumpy lady, and now that Sokka's seen it, he can't unsee it.

"You gonna stand there all day or are we gonna do this thing?" she grumps, and Sokka grins and thinks maybe it's okay that he can't unsee it, because hey, she really is pretty when she wants to be. Or is forced to be. Whatever.

"You look nice," he tells her, and Toph looks pleased for the split-second before she slugs him in the arm. Hard.

"Stuff the chitchat and let's go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get out of these pajamas and into some real clothes."

"You're the boss," Sokka says, and offers his arm because he's a gentleman like that.

He almost manages not to be surprised when she takes it.