WHO: Toph Beifong and Tommy Shepherd WHAT: Hooooo boy, Tommy tries to confront Toph about the kid thing at Boyd's. They yell. Tommy steps in it. Toph eats food bribes. It's #messyAF WHEN: Thursday, November 4 WARNINGS: None, really? STATUS: Complete!
Tommy was so not good with Serious Talks. It was obvious by his lack of taking anything seriously that when it mattered the most he got all weird and squirmy. He would much rather run laps around Vallo over hot coals—hell, jump into a volcano, willingly—than approach Toph with this whole thing about their kid. Why couldn't this happen with someone else? Why did he think he was totally free of all the strange shit Vallo threw at everyone? There was no quick way of moving on, he had to have a conversation that he was totally not equipped to handle.
So, Tommy did what he did best: just stuck his foot right in it. He knew Toph was working at Boyd's because it was either that or the lava cave, and she clearly didn't want to let her boss down by disappearing. Or at least, Tommy was banking on that when he sped over to the garage with jalapeno poppers, a ridiculous amount of tacos, and a tiny dino toy that reminded him of Sil's costume.
Because food and gifts lessened the freaky future blow, right?
The bay doors were open, and Tommy sped right in, catching Toph by the arm. "Sup. You're going to take lunch right now. Cool, thanks," Tommy said, not waiting for an answer. "You'll get your oil changed in the order in which the complaint was received or whatever!" That was shouted to the people waiting in the lobby as he dragged her out and to the side of the building where they could have some privacy. That was good, he hoped. Fuck, he should have ran his stupid plan through with Billy.
"Before you put me inside of a rock or whatever retaliation your brain is cooking up, I brought you food so lunch wasn't a fucking lie."
Toph wasn’t expecting to be pulled away from work for food, but she had put off her lunch anyway, despite there being other people at the shop, just because getting tacos or sitting down meant thinking and focusing and Toph was not especially a fan of either one of those things.
“It’s a good thing Adam’s on his honeymoon.” She yanked her arm out of hold, just on principal and not because she disliked the feeling of his hand on her arm. That was dumb. All of this was dumb.
It almost felt normal though, the being dumb. Every conversation since the kids had been here had been kind of awkward and avoiding, but having this feel normal and like something he would have done before all of the weird shit Vallo had thrown at them was kind of nice.
Not that she would admit that out loud. Ever. Instead she’d just stand there on the side of Boyd’s, face all scrunched up like she was annoyed. “It better be good food. Hang on, why are you bringing me food? Do you have bad news? Is your mom making me come to dinner because I don’t remember it?”
"No, I'm gonna bring you crappy food. Who do you think I am? Sheesh," Tommy said, as he aggressively started handing Toph food from the bag. He only briefly paused when Toph asked why? He could have just brushed it off and said I don't know or Just shut up and eat, which was what he usually did because then he could procrastinate forever until he died.
But the part of him that was actually a decent human being, and the reason he fit really well on his team at home was because he cared. Yes, he'd probably deny it if blatantly asked, but they existed. And he wanted to make sure that Toph wouldn't disappear off the planet or never talk to him again because Vallo decided they somehow, miraculously, made good parents. And also kissed in the future.
Not that he was going to kiss her now. Naturally, because Tommy's brain was buzzing right along, his answer to her questions was just, "I'm not going to kiss you, don't worry." Wait. That wasn't right. Fuck. He grabbed her arm again so she wouldn't burrow, or wouldn't burrow without him. This is what he got for winging it.
"Look, my mom is definitely going to invite you to dinner again. Just think of it as free food. I just thought, ugh. We should probably do that thing where we talk like people about, you know. And you're less likely to turn into a badgermole if I bribe you with jalapeno poppers."
Toph froze, which meant she even let him grab her arm again. It was probably a smart move, because she very well may have just let the earth swallow her whole as her cheeks inflamed. “”I wasn’t worried about that but I guess now I am.” She knew it wouldn’t take much to break free, but he was faster than her and could probably latch on again.
So she let him win this round and didn’t go anywhere. She did put her free hand on her hip and surveyed his form with her senses. He was jittery, but Tommy was always jittery, and she had to force herself not to read into it just because of everything that had happened.
It wasn’t a big deal. She’d dealt with a kid before, both of them were awesome, like her. “Guacamole loves jalapeno poppers.” As if on cue, the ground below Tommy’s feet rumbled lightly, the threatening presence of a badgermole that might come up and take a few jalapeno poppers for himself.
“What is there to talk about? In some world we have a kid and she’s great and not here anymore, just like Lin. I’m getting used to it.” There was an edge of bitterness and annoyance laced into her voice, that she didn’t bother to mask just for Tommy’s benefit.
"Well fine, good job for you getting used to it," Tommy said, letting go of her arm that was a little bratty and a lot hurt. She was talking like she wasn't bound to immediately run away like Tommy had suspected, but now he wanted to run away and come back when he was more used to it. Tommy wasn't like Toph—he never had a future kid show up and cause his whole being to be the upside down smiling emoji.
Forget that he brought the food for Toph, he grumbled a bunch before eating a jalapeno popper because he needed sustenance for this conversation. And if his mouth was somewhat on fire, better distraction. He wished she wasn't halfway kidding about Guacamole rumbling underneath them. He wanted to back out of this conversation.
But push through, he just had to get it out.
"But okay fine, so I'm not used to it. And it's kind of bullshit to be like okay we somehow get to the kid point, when we're not even at the dating point, and I feel like this is one big cosmic joke. And I fucking hate jokes at my expense. Only like three people can do it without punching them a thousand times in a second. Which I can do by the way!"
Oh. There was a dawning realization that probably showed on her expressive face. Forever in her own head, Toph hadn’t quite realized that Tommy, who laughed everything off with a very cavalier attitude, would have been taking this badly. She’d just expected that he would go back to acting like nothing was different and changed and that would be that.
She hated being wrong, but she didn’t disappear into the ground like she really really wanted to do just so she didn’t have to admit she was.
Instead, she shoved a jalapeno popper into her mouth in an unintentionally mirrored move to his own. When she was done chewing, Toph tentatively piped up. “She was cool, at least? Right? I thought she was cool.” Cool and familiar feeling, despite never having met before. Toph had gotten attached pretty quickly, even with the weirdness, and avoidance had always been better than confronting her feelings. Always.
Except maybe when Tommy was apparently having a crisis in the alley next to Boyd’s. That wasn’t optimal. “I just figured you’d pretend it was dumb and never happened. Sorry.” Where the apology would have normally sounded loud and sarcastic, this time it was quiet and sincere. Damn near contrite for Toph.
"Yeah, Sil was fucking cool. I mean, a big nerd and awkward as fuck, but look at everyone we're around all the time. She definitely got that from them and not us," Tommy said, as he went for one of the tacos. He had bought this bribery food mostly for Toph, but he was also bribing himself to keep talking because they were going to get somewhere with all of this. Maybe, hopefully. At least Tommy could say he tried.
But his face fell a little at her apology. He attempted to not sound bummed—so naturally Tommy went for annoyed. "I don't know, do you want me to? I figured you were just gonna run off to your lava cave and then come back like three days later and be all whatever losers, and then we would fight in all caps and never talk about it. I can pretend though. We can just say I brought you food because I lost a bet or something."
And now he was bouncing on his feet, circling the drain on the heart of the matter. Tommy was not good with this shit. "Or we can talk about it. Like, ugh, adults. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped just because a kid said we are her parents. Maybe she was lying?" Tommy asked, in that way he knew that Sil definitely was not lying.
The food was a good bribery for Toph, it kept her there. I mean, so did a little smattering of guilt and then the whole thing where maybe they should talk about it, sure. That was part of it too. Next up was her own taco, and she ended up mumbling around the crunchy bits. “I can’t run off to my lava cave because Adam went and got married and I promised him I’d look after things. So save your idea about the fight for later.” And it was easy to say that like it was the only reason, because it was a good one.
But Tommy’s suggestion, even feeling his heartbeat with it - that was always fast, he was tricky in that way - made her scowl. “She was not lying, I can tell these things. Besides who the hell else would end up with an earthbender and a speedy whatever?” Not many people.
She shoveled another jalapeno popper in her mouth before crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t feel trapped, do you feel trapped? It’s not like she’s forcing you to kiss me or whatever since you already said you wouldn’t do that.”
Tommy just needed to confirm that his thought about Sil lying was incorrect, and he dropped that line of thinking when Toph helpfully pointed out that their daughter was both an earthbender and a speedster. Who else would have a kid like that? He wanted to be right and wrong at the same time. He started to chew his food more thoughtfully, slowly. A Tommy Shepherd in deep thought was not a good one.
"Ughhhhhh, we have to stop saying kissing, it's making me feel weird," Tommy said around a mouthful of food. It was like the more they said it, the more he considered it. But was that because he wanted to or was it because the word kept cropping up into their conversation? Stupid, everything was stupid.
"I don't feel trapped. Don't start putting words in my mouth, I can say the wrong thing all by myself, okay? I'm just saying," Tommy started to say, swallowed his food, then continued while leading against the side of the shop. "That if you wanted to do something about it, now is the time to think about it or whatever. Because I'm here all the time, I don't hide out in caves." No, Tommy just ran away really fast—oh, was that where Sil got it from?
If Toph could scowl further, she would have. She immediately took his meaning that weird was bad, and she was half-tempted to kick him. “Well sorry to make you think of something so horrible.” She didn’t even care that it was an exaggeration, she was annoyed he sounded annoyed even when he was partially muffled with food in his mouth.
But now she was confused. He didn’t want to talk about kissing but he was talking about her doing something about it now? What now?
Her eyes widened back up with the leaps her brain started taking. “What? NO I do NOT want a child right now! I’ve only ever kissed one person before and that was Zuko so--” Toph made an annoyed sound and went for another jalapeno popper to take the edge off her annoyance level as it steadily rose, just by nature of Toph working herself up. “Also stop accusing me of hiding in caves or I’m going to start hiding in more caves.”
Toph may not have been able to see Tommy's face, but he hoped that his expression—one of pure disgust—could be felt in the immediate area. "Ughhhhh, God, no, ew, you kissed Fire Guy? Are you serious?!" Tommy was now getting worked up himself, because Toph was getting worked up. They were talking around the problem, and misinterpreting each other and Jesus Christ—how did they even get far enough to decide hey, a kid sounds good?
But his face went stark white, because Toph was not seriously insulated that they... no. No. "I don't mean—are you—why in the world would you think that! Not now! Oh my fucking god, I cannot believe you thought I mean a kid now!" His voice was rising, not angrily, just shouty. Apparently to Tommy if he spoke louder and faster, he was heard better?
"Toph, I'm not trying to, like, get a head start on the future when I literally don't even plan for my week. I wing it. I'm winging it right now! And you know what I mean about the caves, it's not about the caves, I don't care about the caves, I just, I just, I just—" He was like a volcano, and the words erupted out of him before he could stop. "A DATE! I meant a DATE! Doyouwanttogooutonadate?"
If she could pretend to be casual, which she couldn’t, her shrug would have been the most casual. But instead it was kind of manic. “Yeah it was fine. It’s Zuko so,” She shrugged, like that was supposed to explain Zuko, who was one of her best friends but still Zuko.
Toph did reach out to poke him in the shoulder, pushing him away a step. “What else was I supposed to think? You got all ooooh, we have a future kid, so if you want to do something about it,” her Tommy impression wasn’t great, just a lot of fast talking and deep voice mimicking, but Toph stood by it. It wasn’t until his rushed out question - that she had to decipher, and then decipher again because it was so fast, that she stopped in her tracks and looked at him with wide eyes.
Wide eyes that suddenly narrowed into a slit as she second-guessed everything. “Are you only asking me because of Sil?”
Tommy did not get winded easily—he was a speedster, and a speedster without stamina was a death trap waiting to happen. But right now? He was sucking in huge lungfuls of air because he felt out of breath. Ripping off that bandaid to ask Toph on a date was a big deal. Especially to him. Mostly because the last (kind of) date he went on was noodles with David. And before that there was that whole thing with Kate. All of it felt like a lifetime ago, and neither of them were anything like Toph.
But of course she didn't believe him, because why not? Why couldn't Tommy just be taken at face value and not have everyone question his motives? He groaned so loudly that he would place money on the fact that Guacamole could probably hear it all the way through the ground.
"Are you only asking me if I'm asking because of Sil?" Tommy asked, fully intending on having a stare off with Toph. But she was going to win obviously, so he huffed and gave up after an uncomfortably long moment. "No. I don't know. Fuck, maybe? Maybe not? Like maybe I would have later on or something, but we'll never know because I'm asking you now, because maybe Sil arriving shook everything up and now the timing is all off and weird. I'm fucked if I do and I'm fucked if I don't."
He sighed, and scrubbed at his face. This was why he never did this talking shit. "But asking now is better than not asking and you thinking that I think you're horrible or some shit because in some future we have a kid."
Toph had never been on a rollercoaster, but this conversation was turning into what she assumed the equivalent of one was. He was practically hyperventilating that she could hear, not to mention going back and forth on his reasons, and turning it back around on her, and then back on himself and-- it was a jumbled mess, and she stood there, quiet and downright pensive for Toph, trying to sort through it all.
Cause clearly yelling into the sky wasn’t doing shit for their words. But it wasn’t like she had the answers in her head, either. Speaking from the heart or any other stupid shit like that was for Aang and Katara.
But she knew a few things, besides just kicking ass and being awesome. “Maybe or maybe not or what? I don’t want to be some maybe out of obligation, that just makes me feel like crap.” For the first time she could see why Aang had stuck his foot in it so deeply with Katara, after years of teasing them for their fumbles. She kicked a rock petulantly. “I don’t know, I’m not good at this lovey-dovey bullshit, not even with people I like.”
Tommy was going to shake her, legitimately shake her. How did they work through all this in the future again? Tommy should have grilled Sil with a hundred more questions, got the inside scoop. Clearly older him figured it out, but he felt like they were careening off a cliff in a wagon and supposed to somehow survive it. Toph would probably make the ground into a net to catch her without breaking a bone and Tommy would be fucked but what was new?
Pensive Toph was unnerving though. She was supposed to be yelling back and now Tommy felt like a tool. He shoved his palms into his eyes, and just made a noise that sounded like a mix between someone gargling mouthwash and a long whine.
"You're not an obligation, you're so stupid about this shit. Not everyone is an asshole. Can I just kick whoever's ass who made you get all weird about this and then we move on?" Tommy asked, like it was normal to offer to beat someone up who hurt Toph's feelings and caused long term emotional damage. "And okay, before you get all fucking bent again, we don't do the lovey-dovey shit. And we don't do what we usually do. We just IDK—" Yes, he said the letters rather than what they stood for.
He almost teased her about the people I like bit but that would have just started this whole thing over again, and Tommy didn't want to shout anymore. "If you decide smashing your face against mine sounds not like garbage, then we revisit this."
Toph thought she was handling this pretty well all things considered, and then Tommy called her stupid and she had to stop herself from tripping him. Again. Adam and Aang were going to be so proud of her restraint. She didn’t want to talk about her own parents right now, who had been-- them. Controlling up until they couldn’t control her anymore, then disowning for standing up for herself and doing the right thing. The thought just made her more sad than angry.
“You can’t just call me stupid and act like I’m supposed to assume the best when all you’ve done is admitted you might be asking me out because of our future kid showing up.” Future kid that was never going to be born at this rate. Which was a bummer, since Toph had really liked her.
She waved a hand, as if dismissing him. It was a bold move, since it put her in the range to be grabbed again, but she knew she could tunnel into the ground if he was a jerk. “Whatever, maybe I would’ve been into the face smashing thing but something tells me we’re better off without.” She started to turn and kept her face impassive even as she knew she was full of shit. “I have to get back to work.”
"Oh my god, you call me stupid all the time," Tommy complained. Then second guessed it. Did she? Was he just so defensive about everything that he just assumed Toph did?
"Well, maybe I think you're lying," Tommy said, sounding too cocky for his own good, crossing his arms. He was calling her bluff because Toph was not so stoic and hardass as she thought she was. Leave it to someone who could bend earth to think she was impenetrable. Tommy thought he could run away from his problems 'super fast', but that didn't mean they disappeared. They showed up eventually.
"Because I remember when that Vallo weirdness was happening, and you saw my face and you definitely definitely, not maybe, but definitely thought you wanted to smash faces together." He scooped up his bag of food, now determined to rectify whatever verbal mishaps he had made in this conversation. A lot, apparently. "Go back to work. I'll be back," Tommy said, reconsidered, then added, "Not in a creepy stalker way. Just as in a 'I'm not giving up' way, but like consent is important and not—ughhh, you know what I mean."
Toph’s response was to turn her dismissing hand into a middle finger, as it felt the most appropriate. This part of their conversation actually felt normal, the back and forth teasing with less of a worry about saying the wrong thing. “I think you wish that was the case.” But he might not have been wrong, not that she would say so now.
“If you get too annoying, remember I’m a teenage girl who can scream about a creepy stalker and like twenty people will come to my aid.” Even if she’d never do that just because Toph hated other people trying to protect her. But maybe as a prank, sure. “But I’m sure I’ll see you back in an hour because CLEARLY you can’t get enough of me.”
Because it was a typical fight of theirs to see who got the last word, she took the shortcut back into the shop by just opening up a wall, stepping through, and closing the brick back up again effortlessly. More efficient than closing any door in his face. “BYE!”