"Hey Suki," The tone of voice drew an immediate groan from the person being spoken to, she knew that tone, "Wouldn't you say that Toph and Aang have a rocky relationship?"

"Sokka, I know I love you and everything… but that joke was old the second time you told it. It's definitely old the thirty-second time… this week," Suki glanced over at the short girl who had stopped beside her, gritting her teeth and nearly shaking, "And I really don't think Toph appreciates it."

"Awww… but it's a good one!" the water-tribe warrior pouted at his girlfriend, "Come on… it's perfect!"

A growl from a certain earthbender cut off any further protests from Sokka about getting rid of his joke, "Snoozles…" Surprisingly, his nickname sounded particularly threatening the way she said it.

Sokka, the groups resident buffoon, did have his moments of genius, this was thankfully one of them. The teen was smart enough to shut up and look sheepish, intelligently cowering before the barely controlled rage of the groups resident earthbending master.

Toph had been ever so patient with Snoozles. He had practically been insinuating that Toph and Aang were together over, and over, and over, ever since that stupid play. A stupid play almost three years ago! And she had been trying to not kill him ever since.

She had taken it quite well she thought. She had laughed along with him on the first two times, ignored him the next couple repeats, and eventually tried to playfully earthbend him a couple feet into the air whenever he made the joke, hoping he would get the idea.

He hadn't. And Toph had reached her breaking point. He didn't realize just how lucky he was that they were at the beach, Toph's dislike of sandbending the only thing that had kept her from earthbending Sokka all the way to the spirit world right then. Toph stomped her foot, sending a small tremor through the sand beneath her and making Sokka cower just a bit.

At least, until a certain bald monk leapt over to stand beside the irate earthbender, one of his hands going to her elbow and the other to her bare shoulder as he almost literally held her back.

The sight of this caused an evil glint to flash across Sokka's blue eyes and a smirk spread across his face as he watched his close friend tried to soothe and calm the near raging Toph.

"Hey, Toph… I'm sorry, I was wrong," this definitely got everyone's attention, making even Toph and Aang freeze in place, comically looking at Sokka even though Toph had been roughly trying to pull out of her student's hold seconds before.

After several seconds, Toph managed a confused, "What?"

"I'm sorry. I was wrong," Sokka repeated it slowly, trying oh so hard to keep the grin off his face.

But before the impossibility of Sokka flat out admitting he was wrong could sink into the gaang's heads, Sokka went on, "Your relationship with Aang isn't rocky at all is it?"

If they had been shocked before, now they were dumbstruck, was Sokka really that stupid? Would he really take what was once just a joke for his actor of the Ember Island Players and not only repeat it, but keep going with it? Was he really foolish enough to further prod the angry, earthbending Komodo-Rhino that was named Toph Bei Fong?

Sadly, he was, he would, and he was going to.

"I mean, I can't believe we didn't notice! When was the last time we actually got to see you and Aang train together? You two always disappear whenever the two of you go off to train… are you trying to keep him all to yourself, hmmm?"

A startling shade of pink appeared on Toph's face and the earthbender tensed up for just a moment before working up a growl once again, her companion, equally startled, was jerked back into action when the girl he was holding onto suddenly tried to not be held onto.

Sokka, either exceedingly brave or exceedingly stupid This author is betting on the latter, didn't stop there. He somehow sidled up beside Aang in half a moment, putting the airbender between him and Toph, "And Aang, what about you, you sly dog?"

"Huh?" Sokka's choice of words briefly confused both benders, at least, long enough for him to continue.

"I mean, you always pretend to not want to go to Toph's training… but you're always smiling the whole time! And don't you always come back from training sweaty, shirtless, and with a huge grin… well, a bigger grin than usual."

Sokka grinned devilishly at the airbender as he sputtered and blushed at the implication, ""W-W-W-What?! N-N-No! I j-just gets really hot when we're training-!" But when Sokka raised his eye brows suggestively and air-quoted 'training', the monks face turned beet red.

Katara decided to speak up in Aang's defense, though she would tease the two of them about this later, Sokka was taking this a bit far… and Aang was going out with her, and had been for the three years since the end of the war, that was plenty of defense, "Sokka, when Aang trains with Zuko he takes off his shirt. And he ends up sweaty. AND he's always smiling when he's having fun with his friends. I'm sure he's not doing anything with Toph."

"Ah, all true," Sokka conceded the point, but his tone said otherwise as he wrapped an arm around Aang's shoulder even as the younger boy tried to throw Katara a thankful look, "But last I checked, when he's done training with Jerkbender his pants aren't ruffled… and he usually doesn't come back from training with Zuko with welts on his back that need healing, welts that look suspiciously like suspiciously like nails made them…"

Sokka leaned around Aang to give Toph an appreciative look, "I should've known you were like that Toph but still, rawr," the water-tribe boy made a pawing motion in the air with his free hand as he grinned at the two blushing benders.

Toph snarled, her cheeks still flushed a bright pink, "Snoozles…"

Said teen nearly danced off, letting go of Aang and ignoring Toph's threatening tone as he continued, "And Toph, don't you always come back from training putting your hair up? Isn't it always down when you're training?"

Now it was Toph's turn to sputter, but she soon shook it off to growl at Sokka, "My hair's down when we're coming back from training 'cause Twinkles has gotten good enough to knock it loose when we're sparring!" Luckily for Sokka, Aang had yet to let go of Toph's arm, otherwise he would've been flying through the air when Toph lunged at the end of her sentence.

Katara opened her mouth to interject something about that in Toph's defense, but Sokka interrupted her; the water-tribe boy was on a roll, and he wasn't about to stop.

"Well, then why do you always train in your swimwear or your wrappings? And you've been coming back from training with Aang all sweaty too ever since we stopped seeing you two train together. Are you really saying Aang's that good?" Sokka grinned devilishly at the two benders as they stared at him agape, "Not to mention… aren't you always smiling real big and flushed just a bit when you come back?"

One thought wne through Toph's mind: 'Okay, that's it, Snoozles is so dead.' The enraged girl wrenched free of Aang's hold on her arm and almost lunged for Sokka.

Luckily for him, Aang was able to grab the irate earthbender around the waist and hold her kicking and screaming off of the ground.

Katara scowled, that last comment was uncalled for, and totally untrue! But as Katara thought back, fully expecting to find a number of times that it hadn't happened… she was more than a little surprised that her brother was right. Every time that she could remember Toph and Aang coming back from training recently, Toph was redoing her hair, she was flushed, she was sweaty…

Wait! What was she thinking?! This was Toph and Aang! And there was no way the two of them had a-a-a relationship! Aang was going out with her!

But Sokka wasn't done, and everyone present was surprised when the boy continued almost nonchalantly, "But don't you think it's weird that every time one of them disappears anymore the other disappears not long after?"

In the brief pause after the rhetorical question, somehow, everyone just knew that Sokka was about to say something very stupid. They didn't know how, but each member of the gaang knew, in their own fashion, that Sokka was going to go a little too far.

They were right.

"And Aang…" the water-tribe boy wagged a finger at the Avatar admonishingly, "Are you pretending to like my sister to throw us all off of your little thing with Toph? That's cheating on her just so you know. Naughty naughty."

It took half a second for this to sink in.

Toph almost exploded, kicking and growling in frustration, "That's it! Put me down Twinkletoes! Put. Me. Down. Now. Sokka is dead. You hear me?! Dead! I am sick of this! I am sick of him raggin' on me and I'm definitely sick of him ragging on you! Damnit! Put. Me. Down!"

Now Sokka was afraid. Toph only called them by their real names when she was serious. And she sounded really mad right now…

Once more though, Sokka found himself indebted to Aang as the airbender tightened his hold on the blind earthbender in his arms, continuously murmuring soft, soothing words in her ear. No one really dared move as the monk slowly calmed the girl in his arms.

Toph's struggles slowly ceased, though the snarl refused to leave her face even as she stopped cursing Sokka out. Eventually, the girl had calmed to the point she was merely growling to herself as Aang kept her off the ground.

She refused to stop snarling and growling, despite Aang's best efforts, until the airbender told her quietly, "C'mon Toph… Skka didn't really mean it… he's just acting like a big brother… he just took it too far…" the blind girl snorted and turned her head away, earning herself small squeeze from Aang.

The small show of friendly affection earned an acquiescing grumble from Toph, and Aang gingerly let her feet return to the beach.

No one moved in the several tense moments of silence once her feet touched on earth once again. But when her head snapped to Sokka and he flinched away as if struck, the girl just snorted and stomped away angrily.

The rest of the gaang stared after the greatest earthbender in the world as she stormed off, and an awkward silence fell across them once she was out of sight.

Almost a minute later, Suki spoke up softly, "Aang…?"

The airbender spared Sokka an irritated look for ruining the fun everyone had been having before giving Suki his full attention, "Yeah?"

"I think you should go after her… you're probably the only one who won't get killed…"

Aang winced just a bit, the truth of the statement more than a little unwanted, "Uh… well…" he gave Katara a pleading and unsure look. He didn't want to run off and make her think what Sokka was saying was true…

But Katara just smiled a bit and nodded, shooing Aang along, "She's right, Toph would just get angry if any of us if we tried to calm her down. Now go, before she brings down the whole island."

Her boyfriend nodded and leapt off after his teacher and friend, his mouth drawn into a thin line and his face surprisingly serious.

Once he was gone, every remaining member of the gaang turned on Sokka, who almost wilted under the combined glares. His girlfriend was the first to speak up, "Sokka! You'd better apologize when those two get back."

Katara picked it up from there, "Yeah Sokka. That was completely uncalled for and you know it. What were you thinking? The two of them aren't together, and Aang would never cheat on me!"

The water-tribe boy sat down with a sigh, his face a mixture of apologetic, guilty, and confused as he twiddled his thumbs, "I'm sorry alright? It's just… I really thought I was onto something for a second there… like I'd figured it out. I guess I didn't…"

"Dangit! How'd he figure it out?!"

"Well… he is supposed to be the idea guy…"

She rolled over in his arms, resting her forearms against his bare chest to prop herself up and poking him as best she could, "Yeah, but he was supposed to get the wrong idea!"

"Toph…" Aang sighed softly and took a hold of her hands, smiling up at her warmly but with immense exasperation, knowing she couldn't see it.

The blind earthbender though, ignored it, "I don't get it! We were so careful! I was always sure that no one was around when we went out to 'train'!" Even as Toph continued to rant, the airbender beneath her lightly kissed each of her knuckles in turn, and it was only when he gently opened her hands and kissed her palms did she pause to let out a small whine.

"Twinkles… it's your job to freak out… not mine. Why aren't you worried about this?" the airbender took her hands and settled them on his cheeks, still smiling warmly before he nuzzled each of her palms affectionately, earning another frustrated whine from her, "Twinkletoes!"

He let out a small sigh, reaching up to push her loose hair away from her face, making it easier for him to close the small gap and plant a small kiss on the tip of her nose, "Because there's no reason to worry."

Even as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, Toph frowned, "But what about Katara? We've kept this secret for over two years! The whole point was to enjoy this while waiting for Sugarqueen to realize the magic was gone between you! What if she finds out?! We were trying to avoid making her mad! If she finds out-"

She would've kept going if Aang hadn't lightly pressed a finger to her lips, quieting her long enough for the airbender to trace the curves of her face lightly with his fingertips before speaking, "Toph… she doesn't suspect anything… stop stressing out so much…" with gentle hands, Aang ran his fingers through her long hair as soothingly as he could.

It almost worked as she leaned into his hands, but the blind girl shook off the warm feeling that threatened to consume her, planting her hands on Aang's chest and propping herself up, glaring down at him angrily, "How can you be sure-?!"

Aang, tired of her persistence, shut her up in a very pleasant way. After the momentary surprise had passed, Toph's eyes slowly drifted closed, her arms slipping around his neck as a blush colored her cheeks. After a couple of half-hearted attempts to pull away, Toph melted into the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Toph was left flushed and panting, but still determined, "Aang…"

Her tone got her pulled into another fierce kiss, and when she struggled, the boy growled just the slightest bit before rolling them over so he was on top, making the blind earthbender nearly purr with appreciation. When Aang pulled away this time, he left Toph smiling stupidly beneath him and leaving her normally intense eyes glazed over.

"Now Toph… are you going to calm down, or do we have to have another de-stressing session?" Aang's voice was surprisingly soft, suggestive, and teasing as he ran his fingers through her hair, and it sent a pleased shiver down Toph's spine.

"Twinkletoess… when'd you get so naughty?" she squirmed beneath him, unable to contain her smile.

"When you stopped," Aang gave her a quick kiss, "Now, are you going to calm down?"

The Blind Bandit blushed and grinned, "Maaaybe… but I think I might need another de-stressing session or two… or three…"

Aang grinned right back, "I thought you might."

A.N.): MAN that was fun to write. It was pure crazy, but it was definitely fun to write. This idea wasn't just a plot bunny, it was a WAR PLOT BUNNY... ON STEROIDS!!

Seriously though, I had to get this out of my system. Now I'm just going to work on Soft as Sand, Strong as a Hurricane and Only Blind Eyes can Truly See. So don't worry.

And as always, reviews are highly appreciated and lurved.