1Discalimer: I do not own Avatar the last airbender
Chapter 6: Mud is your color
Toph sat shivering on the porch, heartbroken. The night had become very cold, and Toph's wet kimono just made her colder. She had no idea how long she had been sitting there in the dark. Her friends had stopped signing happy birthday some time ago, but the earthbender still dare not go inside.
She tapped her once, and she could still feel her friends vibrations in the living room. So she waited in the freezing cold , waiting for the party to end so she could sneak in unseen. 'How could I be so stupid' she mentally scolded herself, 'How could I think that Aang would love me; who would want some muddy blind girl' she thought miserably.
The earthbender hugged her knees tighter as the temperature continued to drop. Her shivering was worse than ever, and she rubbed her feet to keep blood flowing to her toes, preventing them from freezing. Suddenly Toph longed for the comfort and warmth of her bed, where she could sleep and forget this terrible day. But she knew she couldn't forget Aang, no matter how hard she tried.
If she slept he would be in her dreams, and when she woke up he would be there. The whole situations seemed to taunt the blind girl. The part hadn't ended yet but she could still hear them, thy probably forgot all about her. The earthbender wrestled with the idea of going inside, or staying outside in the cold.
If she went inside, she ran the risk of being seen by them, and the whole situation would be embarrassing. But if But is she stayed out, she would definitely catch a cold; and then she would be sick and miserable. Neither of the scenarios appealed to mer very much. Finally, not being able to endure the cold any longer, Toph decided she would have to risk being caught. The vibrations told her that her two firends and one love were still gathered in the living room.
She would have to be very quiet if she wished to remain undetected. But if she could make it to hallway unseen, she could make it the rest of the way without being seen. Of course if she succeeded, she would have to explain why she didn't come to the party in the morning. She decided she would probably make up some story about feeling sick or something last night, it was a believable story and they wouldn't question it.
This would be hard, but then again this whole day had been hard. Toph stood up from the porch and walked to the door. She placed her hand on the door, and took a deep breath before executing her plan. Toph then placed the other hand on the big wooden door. Toph ever so gently began to push the door open. Her pace was agonizingly slow, she went slow because Toph knew that the door creaked sometimes.
She opened the door just enough for her to slide her body through, then closed it just as slow. So far so good, it looked like none of them noticed her; 'just like always' she thought bitterly. Now all she needed to do was make it to the hall, and she'd be home free. The earthbender tip toed as quietly as she could. Careful not to make a sound that could alert her friends to her presence. Toph kept quiet as she crept closer and closer to hallway, another few feet and she would be out of view. But as quiet as she was, her presence was still detected by one friend.
Just as she was about to take the last step into the hall, she suddenly felt her presence had been noticed. Momo stood at the earthbender's feet, chittering loudly. "Momo, Shhh!" Toph whispered, but he only chittered louder. "No Momo, I can't feed you now, go away" she whispered a little louder. Ignoring her words, the lemur leapt onto her head, wanting to play. The blind girl wrestled the flying monkey off her head. However the the lemur kept slipping through her fingers. As Toph wrestled with the lemur on her head, she was obliviious that the struggle with the monkey had caught the attention of some people.
Just as she had succeeded in removing Momo from her head, did she hear. "Toph?"; she quickly turned around at the sound of Aang's voice. The blind bandit soon realized that they were all staring at her. She then remembered what she must look like, dirty and a mess. The blind bender just stood there, silent and dazed at the embarrassing situation she was caught in. Toph suddenly wished she had stayed outside and frozen to death instead.
"Toph?" she heard again, this time from Katara. As she stood there she couldn't help but think, 'This is so unfair; of all the times for him to notice me, why now?, why like this?'. Her tears returned with renewed sorrow. Toph burst into tears right on the spot.
Throwing the bag down, Toph ran down the hall, she then proceeded to run to her room. Not even bothering to change her clothes, the young bender threw herself on her futon and cried her eyes out on her pillow.
Just as the flow of tears stopped, Toph heard a knocking at her door. "GO AWAY!" she shouted, not even bothering to check their vibrations. "Toph; it's me Katara" she said softly, "can I come in?". "I don't care" she said harshly. Katara gently slid the door open, despite Toph's outburst, Katara knew she needed a friend right now. She kneeled down to where her earthbending friend laid, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright Toph, everything's going to be okay" she told her patting her back trying to soothe her friend. "No" she said miserably, "It's not". "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, "you know I always listen" Katara said kindly. Without warning, Toph flew into the waterbenders arms, the tears began to flow once more.
"K-Ka- Katara" she sobbed, "It's awful" she cried, her tears soaking Katara's shoulder. "Shhh, Shhh, it's okay" she cooed; Toph continued to let the tears fall as she vented her sorrows to the water tribe girl. "I just wanted to be pretty" she told her still crying, "I just wanted to be noticed". "Toph; believe me you are pretty, your beautiful in fact" she informed her. "And believe me; ever since you joined our group, it's been nothing but fun" she told Toph.
"And I believe it's because of you we're able to have so much fun, you bring fun and laughter to our family; it can't be easy considering our lives right now, I really admire that about you Toph; we all do" she finished. Toph sniffled a little, "Really?" she asked. "Yes" the waterbender said firmly, Toph wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thanks Katara, I needed to hear that" she told her. "Any time Toph, you're an important person to me, to all of us". "I'm glad you're my friend Katara", "Same here" Katara replied.
"But still; no matter how hard I try, as long as this mud still here I suppose that no one will ever love me" Toph said sadly. "Don't say that it's not true" Katara told her, "Listen... I know how you feel about Aang" "What!, how do you know?" she practically yelled. "I have eyes to you know" the older girl said simply. Toph could feel herself turn red as she heard Katara's words, she looked at the floor.
Katara continued, "I don't know how Aang feels about you, but I do know this, you are a wonderful person, and Aang would be lucky be lucky to have someone like you; and that is the truth" she finished. The earthbender sighed, maybe Katara was right, the again maybe she was wrong, Toph just didn't know anymore.
As she thought about her words, Toph heard another knock at her door. The blind earthbender panicked when she recognized whose vibrations were at the door. "Toph, can I come in?" she heard Aang say.
The blind girl sat rooted to the floor unable to move, she just clutched her pillow tighter. Katara however tood up and opened the door for him, "Hey Katara, can I talk to Toph?" he asked quietly. "Sure Aang, I'll leave you two alone" the waterbender left the room and closed the door behind her.
Aang sat down in front of Toph, he placed a piece of birthday cake in front of her as well, she still did nothing. An awkward silence filled the room, growing more unbearable with each passing second. Finally, the airbender decided to break the silence and say something, "I, uh... really like my gift" he said. Was he making fun of her, the bison was smashed to pieces; suddenly all her sadness turned to anger. "Very funny!" she snapped, "Don't lie, the gift was destroyed, thanks for reminding me".
Aang up his hands in defense, "I was talking about your other gift" he told her. "What other gift?" she asked, wondering what the monk was talking about. "The coupon" he said pulling a piece of paper from his pocket.
"For the free cup of tea, I found it in the bag, I really like it a lot" Aang said. Toph wondered how such a thing got inside her gift bag, when she remembered her encounter with the tea man Mushi. He had asked to see the gift, and she handed him the bag; he must of slipped it in without her noticing. 'Thank you, tea man' she thought.
Toph took a deep breath, she needed to tell Aang now regardless of all the mud. She needed to tell him even though she was sure he would never love her back.
"Aang there's something I want to tell you, so please listen, okay?"
"Of course Toph"
"You see Aang, I know you don't notice me; but I notice you and I really admire all the nice things you do, and your good heart"
"Actually Toph I..."
"And for your birthday I wanted to look nice for you, and do something nice for you , but I can't even do that right"
"Listen Toph I..."
"The truth is I was really tired of you not noticing me, so I tried to get rid of all the mud and so you would finally notice me, so you would like me better"
"Toph..."
"But I know now that you will never see me the way I see you, and that you couldn't so long as I was covered in mud. I just wanted you to know how special I think you are"
"Toph..."
"I love you Aang!, I love you, I just wanted you to know that. Even though I know you could never love some ugly muddy blind girl I"
"TOPH!" he shouted not wanting to be interrupted again. The earthbender stopped talking at the airbenders outburst, she lowered her head thinking he was mad at her.
But soon she felt his hand gently lift her chin so she was looking at him. She waited for him to do something when she heard him say. "Toph; mud is your color" he said before he brought his lips to hers in a passionate and romantic kiss, mud and all.
Once Aang had finally released her lips, Toph sat there stunned. Finally after she recovered enough from the kiss to speak, she could only say one thing "Aang" she said still in shock from the kiss. "Surprised?" the monk asked. "B- But I thought...". "You thought wrong Toph, I have always noticed you, and I've always loved you since the day we met" he tod her wiping some mud from her cheek with his thumb.
"I love everything about you" he continued, "Your eyes, your heart, and even your mud, don't ever change Toph". "Wait a minute" Toph said, "you've loved me this entire time?" she asked. "Yes" he answered. "And you didn't tell me; you!" she shouted , sounding like her old self, ignoring the fact she was just as cowardly about telling him about her feelings.
Aang laughed a little, "To tell you the truth I was going to tell you tonight, but you never showed up" he said. Toph sighed, "Well, that doesn't matter now" she said, as she drew her love into a warm embrace; she rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. "Happy birthday Aang, I love you" she said. "I love you too Toph" he replied.
"I still wish I could give you something for your birthday" the blind girl said. "Toph, I have everything I want right here" he said as he held her tighter. Toph was still covered in mud, but she didn't care. She was happy, she loved Aang and he loved her, she was truly happy in her loves arms.
They pulled apart and they kissed; they kissed with all the love and passion they could give each other; which was all of it.
THE END
The final chapter finished at 9:48 P.M.
I hope you enjoyed my story, I might do a sequel or a spin off.