Three little Toko drabbles written for the Secret Santa Gift Exchange on ASN.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender and am making no money off of this piece.
Toph's filthy toes were wiggling expectantly in front of Zuko's face. He was sure his expression was priceless, not that she could see it.
"Well?" The irritated look fit so well on her childish face.
"Wha – I don't-" He looped his finger into his collar and rubbed the fabric between his index finger and thumb nervously. "Huh?"
Toph huffed. "You. Show me. What a sunset looks like." She pointedly gestured back and forth between the two of them. "Now."
"Toph, I-"
Her foot kicked out, nearly ramming into his face in the process – he fell off his haunches, uncomfortably close to landing in the dying embers of the campfire remains.
"C'mon Spark Rock! Heat up my feet! Show me why you seeing people can spend hours staring at this thing with your arms around each other sighing like a bunch of…of… Just show me!" Her toes wiggled more violently and her mouth twisted into a demanding scowl.
Zuko sighed in defeat.
Toph's toes stopped wriggling, but she left her foot suspended in mid-air.
Zuko sighed again and reached out to take the blind girl's small, dirt-encrusted foot into his hands. He cupped the back of her ankle with his left hand and pressed the palm of his right hand to her heel. He closed his eyes and took a deep, even breath, before letting the smallest amount of heat, barely classifiable as fire, puff from his hand and warm her skin.
"So, the sun's down here, just sort of slipping down over the horizon and-"
"Shush! No talking – just bending."
He could've laughed at the concentration lining her features.
Zuko continued his work, lessening the heat as he made his way up to her toes. Once he'd finished, Toph pulled her foot out of his grasp and traced the contours of the sunset he'd mapped out on it. She looked lost in thought.
And then she was on her feet and a fist collided painfully with his shoulder. "Thanks Spark Rock." A smile and she was gone.
"Are you really disfigured?"
Zuko nearly choked on his tea, eyes shooting to Toph in incredulity.
Toph took a bite out of her apple, appreciating Zuko's reaction. "I mean, they say you have a great, big, ugly scar covering half of your face," she felt several drops of spittle fly out of her lips and smirked, imagining the scarred side of his face crinkling up, uncomfortable with the bluntness of her statement and the way she spoke with her mouth filled to the brim.
"I…have a scar…"
Toph felt his teacup clink against the rocky ground of the Western Air Temple as a small procession of vibrations washing over her, giving her goose bumps. China, no matter how terrible the quality, really grated her when it hit rock.
"Is it really as nasty looking as they say?" She reached for his teacup and took a swig. Even Aang could've felt him wince.
"I-. Wait, as who says?"
She could practically hear his eyebrows knit together and his mouth curl into a frown.
"I dunno. People." She downed the rest of his tea and wiped her mouth on her wristband.
"Oh, I see." His head drooped.
"I don't."
Zuko laughed pathetically.
Toph rolled her eyes. Suddenly, she shot her hand out and grasped the scarred side of Zuko's face.
He froze, his teeth working against each other in his jaw as Toph's fingers brushed against the damaged skin encircling his eye. They traveled up, over his lash-less eyelid and continued until they reached the spot where his left eyebrow had never grown back. From there they glided back to his shriveled ear and followed his jaw line to his chin. She gave him a sharp flick before standing up, stretching, and beginning to walk away.
"I've seen a lot uglier people than you Sparky. Thanks for the tea – it was terrible."
And Zuko felt better, yet affronted. He wondered if Toph left everyone feeling so aggravated.
Toph's ears perked up when she heard her mother laugh her polite laugh. She groaned in exasperation. Not the tea joke. Spark Rock really didn't have any social skills other than awkwardly embarrassing himself.
One would have thought that being an important figure in society with a few as-successful-as-they-could-be years of reign under his belt would've weaned any social ineptness from the man. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought – Zuko was a complete and utter dork. He would always be a dork.
But she admitted to herself that Sparky's unfortunate trait of being socially impossible was one of the things she liked most about him. It's not like her parents would say anything anyway – he was the Firelord and he was courting their daughter.