Disclaimer: All hail Mike and Bryan!

Author's Notes: Finally! I've been working on this for some time, and now it's finally finished! This was written as a challenge from Nerf-or-Nothing. I needed to include a Zuko/Toph/Sokka triangle, as well as Kataang, and hopefully it's up to par. I hope you like it, Nerf-or-Nothing!

Just so you know, I've adhered to the ever-popular Zuko-and-Iroh-join-the-gaang cliche. And of course, there is Zuko-bashing, a la Sokka. But mostly, it's all for the Sokka jealousy, because it's the best kind.

And of course, I'd like to thank Invaderk, for putting up with my many emails and beta'ing this for me! Thank you, dear!

I hope you like it, and please review!

Alisa

Sparring

Sparring.

That's what she said when he walked into the clearing to find Angry Jerk pressed against a tree, Toph's tiny hands on his shoulders, both breathing hard and looking noticeably flushed. He stood there for a moment, just staring, Angry Jerk staring right back. Then Sokka exploded.

"What d'you think you're doing!" he cried, pulling out his machete and swinging it haphazardly at the ex-prince. "Don't touch her! Get away!"

His foot sank harmlessly into the ground and Toph pushed herself away from His Royally Exiled. She stomped over to where Sokka was unsuccessfully tugging his leg from the ground and said forcefully, "I can take care of myself, Sokka." She enforced her words with a flick to his forehead. "Besides," she added, voice softening, "Sparky and I were just… sparring."

Sokka didn't like the way she said it, with that lilt in her voice and that smirk on her very pink lips. He narrowed his eyes at His High-and-Dry-ness, who was leaning against the tree with a frown on his face as he studied the ground. Princess raised his eyes and glowered at Sokka.

"Just sparring," he reiterated. Then he pushed himself from the tree and began the trek back to their camp without another word.

"We'll finish this later, Sparky!" Toph called after him in a voice Sokka couldn't quite identify. Then she rounded on him. "Why'd you have to come and interrupt, stupid!" she said, cuffing him on the back of the head. "It was just getting interesting!"

Sokka rubbed his abused head. "Sorry I didn't know you and Angry Jerk were trying to kill each other out here," he shot. "I was just looking for some dinner."

"Right."

"If you don't wanna believe me, fine," Sokka retorted, "but at least get my let outta here."

She narrowed her eyes, stomped her foot, and walked in the direction Zuzu had gone, back toward camp. Sokka sat down to massage his now-free foot and frowned at Toph's retreating form.

What's eating her?

Sokka was blissfully free of any sparring-related problems until two days later, when their gang found a nice spot to rest not far from a stream. He was just on his way to take a bath (Katara had insisted) when—

"Toph! Zuko!"

The Fire Nation Failure jumped away from Toph instantly, turning bright eyes on Sokka. Toph hit her forehead with a palm and leaned back against the tree as the handprints on either side of her head continued to smolder. They were charcoal black on the tree.

"What—what were you doing!" squeaked Sokka, his voice alarmingly high-pitched as he looked from Toph to Sparky and back to Toph again.

"We were trying to spar," snapped Toph, sounding strangely annoyed for someone who had just been saved from a guy whose mood swings were worse than Katara's.

"And I was winning," huffed Zuko moodily, arms folded.

"Well, can you at least make it seem like you're actually sparring instead of doing… you know, something else!" exclaimed Sokka, voice still high. It seemed he was in shock.

"Maybe if you weren't constantly interrupting we would look like we're sparring!" spat Toph.

"Then stop picking places I go!" shot back Sokka.

"Then stop following us!"

"I'm not following you! Maybe you're the one following me!" he shouted, both their voices ringing throughout the forest.

"Why would I follow you? All you do is sit around waiting for dinner to come by!" she screeched.

"And it's a good thing I do, or you wouldn't have food to eat!"

Her voice was low when she spoke, and dangerous. It hurt him more than he would ever admit.

"I don't need you, for anything."

She spun on her feel and was gone in an instant. Sokka immediately turned narrowed eyes to where Princess had been, but found the area empty. He had slinked off during Toph and Sokka's argument like the pansy he was. Sokka frowned and kicked at a tree before howling in pain.

The third time he walked in on them sparring, it was almost routine. He approached the edge of a small clearing when he saw two flashes of green between the trees. He could hear a small Earthbending sound and an oomph! as Zuko hit a tree. Giving a small squeak, Sokka turned in the other direction and nearly ran back to camp.

It was after this third incident that Sokka decided it was time to do what he did best—complain. Aang, Katara, and Iroh were gathered around a small fire and seemed to be enjoying a cup of tea when he stomped back into camp, a scowl on his face.

"I can't believe them!" he said, incensed, as he sat next to Katara on a log, making sure to huff loudly and noticeably.

Allowing Iroh to take her cup and pour her some more tea, Katara asked absentmindedly, "You can't believe who?"

"Toph and Zuko!" Sokka spat. He grumpily accepted a cup of tea from Iroh.

"Why?" asked Aang. "What're they doing that's got you so upset?"

Sokka took an angry slurp of tea. "I'm just hunting for some dinner, minding my own business, and I walk in on them in a clearing! Toph says they're sparring, but it sure doesn't look like it. And then she yells at me for interrupting them!"

He took another gulp of hot tea before looking up and finding three pairs of inquisitive eyes on him. "What?" he asked testily.

"They were… sparring?" asked Katara uncertainly.

"That's what Toph said," answered Sokka spitefully. "But it didn't look like sparring to me."

"What were they doing, if they weren't fighting?" asked Aang, sounding almost curious.

Sokka suddenly felt a hot flush work up his neck as the memory of Zuko's hands on either side of Toph's head popped up unbidden in his mind. Words faltered in his throat and Katara noticed.

"What were they doing, Sokka?" she asked, voice bordering sharp. "What happened?"

He took a hasty sip of his tea. "She was—against a tree," Sokka said carefully and uncomfortably. "He had his hands—"

"Where?" shot Katara, very sharply this time. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes that gave Sokka shivers.

"On either side of her head," Sokka finished nervously. "When he moved, there were—burn marks on the tree."

Katara was looking halfway between suspicion and relief. Aang had his eyes narrowed at the thought of burning hands so near Toph. But unlike the teens, Iroh's eyes were alight with delight.

"Ahh," he crooned, hands together and stars in his eyes, "how delightful! Young love! Why, I remember my first encounter—"

"WHAT?"

All three of his companions stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Suddenly Katara's eyes procured a glassy, enchanted look.

"You've noticed it, too?" she asked Iroh excitedly, who gave a happy nod. "At first I thought it was just me imagining things, but if they're—oh, this is so exciting!"

"What's so exciting?" asked Aang quickly, looking eagerly from Iroh to Katara. "What is it?"

"They're in love!" said both Iroh and Katara at the same time. Katara was staring off into the distance with a dreamy look in her eyes while Iroh nodded merrily.

"I'd always hoped my nephew would pick a fine, strong girl," he said, smiling happily, "but the thought of choosing Toph never crossed my mind! I'm amazed!"

Aang opened his mouth to respond when Sokka cut him off loudly:

"Hold on."

An elated Firebender, a wistful Waterbender, and a decidedly confused Airbender all paused to stare at him.

"You think," Sokka said disbelievingly, "that Toph and Angry Jerk are in love? With each other?"

Two nodded eagerly—Aang shrugged.

"Besides," added Iroh, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "they're not the only two people who have been getting rather cozy lately."

Aang and Katara both turned a rather suspicious shade of pink as Iroh chuckled. Sokka narrowed his eyes.

"At least I know Aang," he said. "But we hardly know Zuko!"

"Apparently that's enough!" exclaimed Katara, who still looked rather flushed.

"Well, it's not good enough for me," said Sokka, brow dipping into a frown. Iroh tipped more tea into his half-full cup and Sokka's scowl deepened.

"You know, Sokka," said his sister thoughtfully, an all-too-familiar smirk gracing her features that just reeked of mischief, "it sounds to me like you might be a little jealous of Zuko."

Sokka scoffed. "Jealous of what?"

"Jealous of my nephew's blossoming relationship with the beautifully blossoming Lady Bei Fong!" cried Iroh, looking star-struck yet again. "Perhaps your thoughts of Toph are none to innocent themselves?" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down as Sokka gave a yelp.

"What! But that's so—I would never—Suki wouldn't—I—I would never be jealous of an angry jerk like him!" he cried, nearly upsetting his tea all over Katara.

"But… you do like Toph!" exclaimed the Avatar, his face lighting up as if something terribly obvious had just been revealed to him.

Sokka reached over and cuffed Aang on the back of the head. "Would you quit saying that?" he shot irritably, folding his arms crossly.

"But you're not denying it!" Katara practically sang. "You never said you didn't! That means you must!"

"Would you quit?" cried the warrior, swatting at Katara as she laughed delightedly. "I never said I didn't because—"

"Sokka!" cut in Aang loudly. His eyes were bright, as though he'd had an epiphany, and he was hovering a foot from the ground. "Sokka, d'you think Toph might be trying to make you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous!" Sokka roared. "And besides, why would Toph want me jealous?"

"Because she likes you!" declared the Airbender with a triumphant grin. Iroh and Katara ceased their giggling to ogle Aang.

"Listen, listen!" said Aang excitedly. "She's pretending to be in love with Zuko because she wants to make Sokka jealous because she likes him, not Zuko!"

Iroh and Katara continued to ogle Aang and Sokka looked as if he was about to explode. None of them seemed to notice that Toph and Zuko were bickering their way back into camp.

"I already told you," Sokka said fiercely, "Toph said they were sparring! Not trying to make me jealous, or any of the other crazy stuff you're thinking up!"

Katara clucked. "Come on, Sokka, you don't really think they were sparring? Because if I remember correctly, you and Suki were doing some sparring of your own."

Sokka frowned at her for a moment, confused, and then turned pink. "That's not sparring! That's—"

He was cut short by a hand to the back of his head. "You're not still on about that, are you, Snoozles?" said Toph's voice as she nudged him over on the log with a foot. She plopped down next to him and accepted a cup of tea from Iroh, who kept winking at her, never mind that she had no idea he was doing it.

"No!" Sokka exclaimed. "Katara just keeps saying that you're not sparring at all!"

Toph raised an eyebrow, managing to look both curious and suspicious at the same time. "What else would we be doing?" she asked.

"Toph! Zuko!" cried Katara, cutting off her brother before he even had a chance to open his mouth. "I just wanted to say congratulations!"

"Congratulations?" repeated Toph. "What for?"

"Well, for…" Katara faltered. "You know…" She made a vague hand gesture and closed her mouth.

"For that?" said Toph. "Well, thanks, Sugar Queen!"

"Hey, Toph," said Aang, while Katara looked affronted, "why don't you ever spar with me?"

"Why would I spar with an Airbender? There's only one of you left," said Toph. She took a long sip of her tea and continued, "Not very practical, if you ask me. Besides, you're my student. That wouldn't work out."

"How come you never spar with me?"

"Meathead?" Toph looked thoughtful for a moment, then smirked. "I suppose we could work something out."

When they did finally spar, in the middle of a deserted clearing far from camp, it wasn't quite what Sokka had expected. (This was after Toph and Zuko had been drilled and they kindly explained—"Me, in love with Sparky? Ha!"—that all they had been doing was fighting, much to Iroh's disappointment.) As Toph pushed him against a tree rather harder than was necessary, Sokka only hoped that this wasn't the kind of sparring she did with His Royal Highness, because if it was, a certain banished Fire Nation prince was about to spar with the end of Sokka's machete, and he was certain that it wouldn't feel quite as nice as this.

END.