His Eyes

A very short Taang drabble.

Toph slid her foot back into a standing position, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Nose wrinkling at the sticky feeling clinging to her fingers, she smeared it on the front of her silk robes. Sugar Queen would have a fit when she tossed it in the laundry, but that didn't concern her at the moment, not that it ever did. Katara would complain and grumble all she liked about the mess, but in the end, she would sigh and go to the laundry vats to have it cleaned. The waterbender didn't trust her friend enough to properly clean her own clothes, so she took the chore upon herself. Toph tolerated the rants as long as she got out of laundry duty.

A twig snapped somewhere behind her. She turned her head to better sense the soft footsteps approaching her. I'm getting soft, she thought to herself as she realized that he'd been standing there for sometime. "Why hello there, Sparky," she drawled as she set her hands on her hips and turned to face him, eyes staring off in the slightly wrong direction.

"Do you have to call me that?" he muttered, lightly stepping through the underbrush.

"Would you prefer Zuzu? Or maybe His Royal Hotness? I kind of like that one, and you know your little admirers would love that."

He sighed. "Fine. Sparky is fine," he said through bared teeth as he stood in front of her.

She shrugged carelessly and let her arms drop to her sides. "So what do ya need?"

"Katara sent me to check on you. Dinner is almost ready, but you might want to wash up first." The tone of his voice hinted that she needed to wash up.

She raised both arms and took a whiff. "Nope, I'm fine," she replied happily.

She heard a soft smack that oddly reminded her of a palm hitting a face.

"If you say so."

Toph turned around to continue her practice still feeling the presence of Zuko at her back. "Did you want something else?" she inquired as she stretched her arms upward to bring raise a wall of earth into the air.

"I was just wondering . . ." His voice trailed off.

"Wondering what?" With a flick of her hand the wall pushed forward.

"Do you like Aang?"

Earth tumbled down around her, a rain of dirt and stone. She really was getting soft if Sparky could read her that easily. He was nearly as oblivious as Sokka sometimes.

"Why do you ask?" Her voice was no longer playful but somber. She didn't like discussing her feelings with anyone.

"It was just something I noticed. The way you act around him now. It's different." She felt the vibrations coming off of him in waves as his heartbeat escalated and his arms moved up in a gesture of frustration. "It's hard to explain."

"Uh huh. So what if I do?"

"Then I guess you do," he answered lamely, scratching the back of his head.

"Is there a point to this?" She asked roughly as she returned to her training.

"I was just curious about something."

"What?" She barked as she folded her arms across her chest and tried to calm herself. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to go find Aang and hit him if only to make herself feel better. The tension in her was rising and swelling like a living beast.

"How do you see him?"

"Pfft," she let her arms drop and rolled her eyes, "that's a stupid question. I see him with my feet." She lifted the sole of dirt encrusted foot for emphasis.

"No, I mean how do you picture him in your mind? You have to some sort of idea or description."

"Oh," she said scratching the back of her head. Her stomach tied itself into a nest of knots. She thought she was going to vomit right then and there. "Well, he's just Twinkle Toes to me. I see him like everyone else. He's the Avatar. He's funny, and nice, too nice for his own good sometimes. I don't know what else to tell you."

"So you don't see him as more?" Zuko pushed.

"You really want to know? You really want to dig that deep?" Her breath hitched in her throat. She recalled the last time she'd opened up to Zuko before the Comet had arrived. She had not hazarded it since then.

"Yeah, I do. We're friends Toph, you can talk to me. I mean I've come to you plenty of times." His voice was uncomfortable as he said the words; doubtless, remembering the same incident that she was.

"Alright," she answered, her voice becoming soft. "Everyone says the eyes are the windows to the soul, but that doesn't do me a lot of good as you know." She waved her hand in front of her face. "One time I worked up enough courage to ask Katara what color Twinkle Toes' eyes were. She told me gray. As you can probably guess that didn't help me. I asked her what else was gray. She named lots of things, but the one that really stuck with me was early dawn just before the sun comes up when there's still mist everywhere. That's how I see Aang. He's like dawn. He's that new refreshing feeling you get when you wake before everyone else, and you feel like you're the only person in the world. He's that still quiet that I feel from the earth just before everything starts going again. He's . . . ," she nearly choked on what she was about to say, "he's that new hope that always come with another day."

Zuko stood in silence for a moment as he drank in her words.

"Good enough for ya?" she blurted as she lapsed back into her old self.

"Wow, I mean I didn't know that you could talk like that. You sounded nice."

"So you don't think I'm stupid?" she asked sheepishly, her tough exterior weakening for a second.

"No, you didn't sound stupid. It was a good description."

"Thanks," Toph said as she gave him a beaming smile. Then she promptly punched him in the shoulder.

" Ow, what was that for?" he grumbled as he rubbed the top of his arm.

"If you tell anyone what I said I'll bury you so deep they'll never hear you scream," she threatened.

"Alright, alright. I won't tell anyone. You didn't have to hit me though."

"It's my way of showing affection and gratitude," she replied before getting back into her earth bending stance and listening to Zuko walk off back into the woods, nursing his injured shoulder.

A very short one-shot/drabble concerning taang. I imagine this probably takes place a few years after the finale. I'm not positive about anything besides that. This is my first time posting something related to taang, though I do adore the pairing. Feedback and reviews would be very much appreciated.

P.S. For anyone who is reading my Zutara story, The Grave of Spirits, I am going to continue it. I just don't know when I'll be able to pick it back up. The computer where the outline is stored currently doesn't have a working keyboard, and is corroded with spyware. Thankfully, though it's only a couple of chapters long right now so it's not much to catch up on. Oh, and my attempt at humor ='s FAIL.