Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or else we would be seeing a lot more Tokka.

Author's Notes: Just me babbling on and on about what I think Toph and Sokka's relationship would be like if they were together. It's disconnected and jumps a bit, but I like it nonetheless. Oh, and just so you won't complain to me about this, Toph had her thirteenth birthday before this story takes place. Let's say it's set sometime in Book 3.

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Alisa

Sokka still blushed when Toph kissed him, and he probably always would.

It was awkward for the Boomeraang Squad when they first started dating, and it still seemed somewhat awkward now, at least for him. When he would hold her hand, as rare as that was, he would feel his face heating up and see Aang and Katara watching them, Aang curiously and Katara with a smirk. When they would kiss, much more often behind the backs of their friends than in front of them, his face would tinge under her oblivious or perhaps just unconcerned lips and he would squeeze his eyes shut so that he wouldn't be able to see Aang gaping or Katara smirking.

But now that they were a bit older (if only by a few weeks), it seemed just a bit more natural for her to peck him on the lips in the morning or sit next to him when flying on Appa. It didn't seem quite as strange when he slipped his hand in hers or settled his arm around her shoulders, or when they sat by the campfire for hours at a time, just talking and bantering and forgetting to gather more wood.

No matter how natural those things seemed to be, though, her kiss still made him blush, no matter where they were. She wasn't like Suki, with sweet, light kisses and gentle lips. She was forceful and demanding and seemed to draw the air out of his very lungs with her soft chapped lips.

She was still just as short and still just as smart, always Bending herself to his height before attacking him right in front of his baby sister and the Avatar, not caring that they were staring as she kissed him fiercely. He would respond, though, by kissing her with just as much fervor until he was flushed not only by his blush, but with hers, too. They would break apart and she would be smiling her beautiful smile at him, and he would stare at her hazy eyes until Aang and Katara would catch his eye. Aang always had his mouth slightly open and his cheeks blotched Fire Nation-red, while Katara looked shocked and just as pink as Aang. But Toph either didn't know or didn't care, because she would give him one last lingering kiss before Bending herself her natural height and going on with her business. Sokka would always rub his neck and give the other two a "what can I do?" look, followed by a quick tending to for the fire or offering to brush Appa, which he would wish he'd never suggested a few minutes later.

It still amazed him every once in a while, when he was really thinking and reflecting, that they were together. She was Toph and he was Sokka and at first the idea made no sense or just seemed too strange to work out, but the more he contemplated it the more he liked it. They were alike in a lot of ways, and yet as different as night and day, and it just seemed to click for them. They would yell sometimes, or banter, or throw things at each other, but the day always ended with a goodnight kiss regardless, and he liked that about them, that they could be consistent. It was nice, he noticed after the first week, to be involved with someone who actually stuck around.

Aang asked him once if it was awkward being with someone so much younger than him, and that was the first time he really noticed it. She was thirteen and he was sixteen and there were three years in between those two numbers. But he told Aang it didn't matter because she didn't seem younger than him at all—he still respected her just as much at thirteen as he would have if she was sixteen too. She kissed him for that; she seemed to kiss him for a lot of things, he noticed.

And she might have kissed him a lot, but that was about it. She wasn't one to hold hands or give hugs or be too touchy. She liked personal space and he was happy with that, because then he didn't have to be with her all the time or sit next to her at every meal. Frankly, she could get pretty annoying at times, and he knew she felt the same way about him. Besides, that meant that when she did actually hold his hand or hug him or let him put his arm around her shoulders, it seemed special because she would always smile at him and the world wouldn't seem quite as unfriendly during that moment.

If he had to pick the worst part of his relationship with Toph, he would certainly pick the teasing. Katara, it seemed, liked picking on her older brother and the blind Earthbender without mercy. She called it harmless banter, but he called it torture. Whether about kissing or holding hands or being overly protective (but when wasn't he?), Katara was always one to point it out. Toph was, as always, immune to the teasing, though every once in a while she would blush pink and send a shock wave at Katara that would keep her quiet for a while. Sokka would just flush and stutter his way through insults and retorts about the Avatar that Katara would easily brush off. But it didn't matter because Toph always came up with better ones that would make both Katara and poor Aang blush, who Sokka would pity until he remembered what Toph was teasing them about, and then he would urge her on.

If he had to pick the second worse part of his relationship with Toph, it would be the caring. Sometimes it was just too much to care about her like this, to watch her fight the Fire Nation and be in so much danger all the time. He wondered if she felt the same way about him, seeking him out in battle just to know that he's all right and that when the fighting's over they'll still be able to find each other and share a thankful kiss. He wondered if she wished she didn't care quite as much so the worry wouldn't build up quite like it did, but then he realized he would rather take the worry than give up the feelings for her inside of him.

And sometimes he wondered if he was in love with her. He really wasn't sure what it was like to be in love—no one had ever told him and he didn't think he knew from experience. Was it the way he wanted to melt into a pool of Sokka goo when she kissed him, or the way he glowed when she held his hand, or the way her smile could light up his day? Was it the way he blushed whenever she touched her lips to his? Because if that's being in love, Sokka had no doubt in his mind that he loved Toph just like that.

Sokka still blushed when Toph kissed him, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

FIN.