Nan (nanthimus) wrote in het_challenge, @ 2007-10-16 00:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: nanthimus, f: avatar: the last airbender |
"[Nearly] Impossible Possibilities (Sokka/Toph, A:TLA)
Title: [Nearly] Impossible Possibilities
Author: nanthimus
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Sokka/Toph
Rating: G
Warnings: FLUFF.
Prompt: the last to know: all of A and B's friends already think they should be a couple.
“Sokka! Hurry up! If you don’t get your gangly butt out here, I’m leaving without you!” Toph yelled as she toed the ground, arms crossed over her chest. They were suppose to be heading over to Aang and Katara’s place; the two were holding a party and had insisted that Sokka and Toph show up. Why they automatically assumed that Sokka and Toph would show up together was a mystery , though it might have had something to do with the fact that the two were constantly together.
“Sokka, come on!”
“I’m coming!” A distant voice yelled back and Sokka appeared, carrying several luggage bags and cursing under his breath. The mumbled words grew louder as he got closer to Toph.
“Heey! You could help a little,” he said, throwing the bags down and glaring at her. “I’m not your bellboy!”
“I could help,” Toph said, nodding in agreement. “It’s just not going to happen.”
Sokka sighed deeply and picked up the bags again. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I should have expected that. So, when’s the train coming by, anyway?”
Toph cocked her head. “It’s headed this way,” she said, stomping on the ground and making herself a seat. “It’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Sokka waited before frowning. “Where’s my seat?” he said. Toph snorted and stomped the ground again. A small pillar shot up under his feet startling him backwards onto the hard, stony stool she made for him.
“Happy?”
“Thrilled.” Sokka glared at her for a moment before remembering, once again, that the expression was wasted on her. He sighed and crossed his arms over the bag sitting in his lap. “I wonder why Aang and Katara are throwing this party?”
“Does it really matter why?” Toph asked. “A party is a party, right?”
Sokka snorted. “Yeah, except that this is Aang and Katara. There’s got to be something happening.” Something, but what? Sokka had been thinking about it ever since he got the party invitation - and promptly got in touch with Toph - but he couldn’t figure out.
Toph shrugged. “The train’s almost here.” Sure enough, Sokka could see it in the distance, black smoke billowing up and the painful grind of metal against metal signaling it’s arrival. “Get our bags,” Toph demanded, standing up.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “It’s always me who has to do all of the menial labor.”
Toph raised her eyebrows, clearly not impressed. “At least you’re being useful,” she pointed out. “Besides, aren’t you the big, strong man? You should be happy to help me out.”
Sokka snorted. “Yeah, right,” he said. “You’re manlier than me and I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit it.” Still, he looped the bags around his arms and hefted them up. “Did you put rocks in yours?!” he demanded as the train came to a stop in front of them, it’s doors sliding open.
“Yes.” Toph didn’t wait for his answer, instead walking up to the stairs of the train and disappearing inside. Sokka followed, once again mumbling under his breath.
After stowing their luggage, Sokka found Toph towards the end of the passenger car, sitting in an aisle seat.
“Why didn’t you take the window seat?” he asked, going ahead and slipping past her, sitting down in a graceless sprawl.
“It’s not like I can enjoy the view,” she said, shrugging. “Go ahead.”
Sokka paused. “Yeah, but maybe I should sit in the aisle seat. I mean, people are probably going to be walking by with bags. While I’d just get hit in the shoulder, you’ll get hit in the face.”
“This thing is made of metal. They won’t hit me,” she said, and a shark’s grin spread on her lips. “At least, not more than once.”
Sokka raised his eyebrows. “Don’t ever smile like that again,” he said, leaning against the window. “It’s just a little bit creepy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved her hand negligently at that. “So how long is this trip, anyway?”
“About six hours,” he said absently.
“…what?!”
***
Several hours later, Sokka woke with a start. He was leaning heavily against the open window of the train, and his cheek was throbbing from the pressure. Wincing, he sat up, jostling Toph, who was slumped against his shoulder.
“Are we there yet?” Toph muttered, not even bothering to move away from him.
Sokka shook his head, belatedly remembering that she couldn’t see him. “No, we’ve still got a few more hours left to go,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”
Toph murmured, already doing so. Sokka peered at her from the corner of his eye before looking away, scratching his chin absently. While Toph had never said anything about her crush, they both knew it was there; Sokka never acknowledged it for fear that she would hurt him badly but both Katara and Aang had told him to take her up on the unvoiced offer. Katara had even gone so far as to suggest that Toph was the only person who would be able to put up with Sokka for more than a week. Which really was a mean thing of her to say, he thought. Even if it was turning out to be true. Girls came and girls went but Toph was always there: a comrade in arms, a drinking buddy, an ill-tempered friend. But really, is there more than that? I mean, this is Toph I’m thinking about here.
Sokka knew he cared for Toph more than any other girl he could think of. Well, except Katara, anyway. He’d never told anyone, but that was a big reason why a lot of his ex-girlfriends didn’t stick around; they’d decided he was already in love with Toph, despite all of his protestations, and left him.
So…maybe there is something more there? I mean, girls are suppose to be intuitive to that kind of stuff. Maybe they were seeing something that I couldn’t? Sokka thought it over. That…makes sense. Besides, so what if Toph is kind of disgusting at times and can drink me under the table - note to self: work on alcohol tolerance - she’s also my best friend and she’s kind of cute, I guess. Sokka looked down at her, trying to see the woman that he knew hid behind his friend. And she was there: in the inky eyelashes resting against angled cheeks, in the strong jaw line and thin lips.
Sokka raised an eyebrow, and looked away, into the darkness outside the train. This isn’t really the time to be thinking about this, he thought. Katara and Aang are going to be springing a horrible surprise on me in a few hours, I just know it. So he would put this off for now. Maybe after the party he would confront Toph. Sokka nodded and yawned. Yeah, I’ll think about this later. He closed his eyes and rested his head on Toph’s, knowing that he would wake up painfully for doing so, but not really minding.
***
“I’m sorry! Oww, back off, will you?!”
“You were using me as a pillow!”