Routine

Aang managed to push through the haze of his early morning exhaustion and catch Toph before she left again.

It was twilight when he blinked his eyes open, his gaze first being drawn to the fractals of blue, purple, and pink light dimly filtering in through the curtains and against the plush floors. Aang tried his best to think whether his body was unconsciously waking him up in time for some official meetings or other responsibilities that he had forgotten about amidst the week's excitement, but he was drawing a blank. He was too comfortable burrowing himself further under the wool throw and shielding himself from the early morning chill coming in from the window they had forgotten to shut last night. Aang had planned to roll over in his bed and doze for another few hours until he felt a slight weight on his chest holding him down and heard a light groan in response to his shifting.

Aang didn't know what he was expecting from Toph in the morning — for her to stay and spend the morning with him, or for her to leave and erect some sort of boundary that they could both clearly understand. He supposed it was far too early in the morning for Toph to be making such decisions and he had managed to catch her in a rare moment of stillness. Her head was resting on his chest and her arm was lazily draped across his stomach. Her dark hair had completely fallen down and was spread out across her back and over the pale blankets. He brushed her long bangs behind her ears and stared at her profile, realizing that he hadn't seen her look quite so calm and unthreatening in a very long time.

For some reason, it still took him by surprise how truly gorgeous she was without even realizing it.

Aang truly hadn't been trying to do anything last night other than to try and temper the tense week both of them had as well as the horrid words they had volleyed back and forth in the middle of the street. There was so much more time for figuring things out and arriving at answers now that he and Toph were on the same page. But Aang just wanted to try and attempt to salvage whatever friendship they still had left before he started piling anything novel on top of it. He was terrified all the intimacy and fighting and insecurities had ruined things between them beyond repair, and that their attempts to move forward with some semblance of civility was merely a hopeful venture.

But the first thing Aang had done when they had entered his room was call down to the kitchens and order one of everything on the menu. The brash action had Toph chuckling in disbelief, which had shortly turned into full blown raucous laughter when the platters had finally started filtering into their room like an assembly line. They'd arranged all the expensive plates in a large circle around them on the living room floor and had spent close to two hours sampling everything they could fit into their stomachs and happily agonizing over the high quality. A concert going on in the Middle Ring was loud enough to be heard from their windows, and Toph had promptly threw open the windows, let the music fill the room, and fell to the floor in hysterics as Aang attempted to valiantly sing along to songs that he barely knew the lyrics to. He remembered the staff staring at them strangely when they had come in to bus their empty plates away, but the two of them couldn't have cared if they looked like the greatest pair of fools in the world.

With sore voices and weak stomachs, they had collapsed on Aang's bed for a couple of Pai Sho games, as well as a few made up games with convoluted rules that they kept on forgetting. They stood clear of dangerous topics and spoke about the work that Aang had been doing with the Earth King, the work that Toph had been doing with her father, they laughed over old memories of their travels when they were young and still unsure of how the world truly worked, and it felt as if nothing had changed between them at all. Everything had remained chaste that evening, and they hadn't so much as kissed before they both fell asleep on Aang's bed with nothing but a throw blanket covering the both of them.

Aang's fingers had started brushing through Toph's hair absently, light enough to keep her from rousing. There was this hopeful part of his mind that pictured the two of them being able to stay like this until the sun was completely up, as if just seeing Toph like this the next morning would be a confirmation of something important — something that was literally allowed to see the light of day.

But Aang had eventually dozed off and fell back to sleep until he was jolted awake again by the wind suddenly blowing his windows shut with a sizeable bang. Aang rubbed his hand down his face and immediately started to blink against all the light in the room. It was nearing noon and the clear sunlight was filling the room and making it look just as ordinary as it usually did in the mornings when he woke up. Aang stretched, yawned, and tried to reorient himself. He must have been exhausted if he slept that long. He looked down and saw that he was still fully dressed and still covered by the throw, but also saw that Toph was nowhere in sight.

The sinking feeling in his chest that reflected equal parts hurt and disappointment was one that Aang tried to push down and ignore. He knew this wasn't something he should take personally at this stage because he didn't have the right to be insistent and Toph didn't have the luxury of being attached. They had discussed that much last night. Despite their truce and their attempts to try and figure out the more confusing aspects of their relationship with one another, there were walls that needed to be erect and boundaries that couldn't be breached.

But when Aang swung his legs over the edge of the bed to answer the knocking that had come from his door again, Aang's hands rested on the bedside table and heard the crumpling sounds of scroll paper before he saw the small folded note that was left on the table that he hadn't remembered putting there last night. He plucked up the square of paper with a raised brow and unfolded it to find a short note written there for him.

Had to get an employee to write this for me. Don't laugh! Needed to leave and check up on the Upper Ring project this morning. Meet me there when you get the chance so we can hang out later. -T

Aang chuckled and rested his cheek in his hand as he read through the brief missive a few more times. Of the things he was expecting to find in the morning, it certainly wasn't a note. It wasn't really Toph's style, and that wasn't just because of her inability to write. Waking up along for the second time would have been upsetting, but predictable, at least according to their admittedly brief track record. Still, a note showed effort. Like Toph was trying, just like she said she would. Like Aang also needed to try just as hard to make sure he wasn't letting lost opportunities go to waste. Plus, it gave him an excuse to get some exercise this morning since he had nothing lined up for the day.

Aang and Sokka had never gotten a chance to actually visit the site of all the reconstruction that North Lotus was undertaking in the Upper Ring. There was always something else going on that they needed to do, and North Lotus gave pretty thorough progress reports directly to the king anyhow. But Aang realized that he had been severely underestimating what it meant to have Toph to be the head of such a large project where she would essentially be in charge of a large collection of people and not just a naive inexperienced Avatar who had some Earthbending to learn.

When he had finally ventured out of the hotel and across the Upper Ring after a short fifteen minute walk, he didn't even get a chance to turn the corner before he heard Toph's voice ring out over all the hammering and banging. "Come on, boys! Get those beams up, I want flooring down tomorrow and we can't do that if we've got nothing but rickety toothpicks to work with!"

A chorus of "Yes, Miss Bei Fong!" rang out and Aang couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. Coming into view were the metal frames that Aang had only ever heard Toph talk about it. Seeing them in person made Aang feel like seeing some well-seasoned machine get ripped down to its barest skeleton of beams and rods. Slabs of wood and barrows of what looked like small chunks of stone were being carted about, Earthbenders were using ramps and slabs to raise up the remaining metal beams, and Firebenders were sitting up on top of these structures, using Firebending to weld the metal together and hammer the metal in place.

Aang whistled to himself impressed. It certainly looked different than anything he had ever seen before, but Toph certainly had a system. A tall crate of tools was finally pushed away by another worker, and Aang managed to just see Toph, standing tall on an Earth pedestal and bedecked in what looked like a very expensive Earthbending outfit — like a more adorned and higher quality version of that Earthbending uniform he briefly wore when he trained at Long Feng's. It made her look like those days when she still trained him and was always ready to kick a stray rock at his head when he didn't do something correctly. Not that he was surprised. Toph didn't ask for respect, she demanded it.

He weaved in and around the business of the site before coming up behind Toph and tapping the bottom of her pedestal with his foot. Toph's arms were still crossed as she surveyed the progress around her. "Come to see my dynasty, have you?"

"This seems more like a dictatorship," Aang joked. "You look like you're about to make a speech about world domination and nationalism."

Toph held her arms out in front of her. "It's to make sure I'm seen and heard. I've got the heard part down pat but —"

"You're still terribly short and hard to find in a crowd?" Aang offered.

"Five foot three is a perfectly respectable height, and I think you should very careful about making fun of it, Twinkle Toes."

Aang lifted his hands. "Alright, you're right, my fault," he apologized. He jutted his chin up towards her. "Can I join you up there?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "I guess," she exaggerated with a smile. "But you have to make your own pedestal. This one's mine."

Aang obliged and kicked up a second pedestal of equal height right next to hers. It gave him a better vantage point of all the construction and he also managed to see some of the rubble from the burned buildings after they had been completely knocked down. Aang tilted his head and watched as a three Firebenders began to weld together a few beams that were meant to be supporting what would soon be the roof of a building. "Metal houses, huh?" Aang commented. "That's new…"

Toph smirked. "Wait until I show you the new bricks and tiles. I mean, my head contractor said the buildings shouldn't look different aesthetically, but yeah. It's definitely weird," she agreed while wrinkling her nose. She shrugged. "But, I'm not doing anything those nobles and the Earth King aren't okay with. Nut jobs…"

"This is kind of avant garde, don't you think?" Aang asked.

"Eh, I guess," Toph commented, although she certainly didn't seem to sound very convinced of the fact. "Earth King wanted something that wouldn't burn, so I made a joke about the stone and the metal. Freakin' artsy, progressive nobles thought it would be 'bizarre, yet alluring,'" she mocked with an exaggerated, posh-sounding voice, stereotypical of a classic socialite. Aang snorted in response, and Toph shook her head. "I can't believe they actually took me seriously."

Aang turned to Toph. "Bizarre, yet alluring. What does that even mean?"

Toph reached up to rub at the bridge of her nose. "Hell if I know," she groaned. "My upbringing only gives me so much patience." She breathed in and sighed out loudly. "Still! I am genetically engineered to pass all expectations, so pass all expectations I shall."

Aang laughed and waved kindly to a worker who had looked up at the two of them with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. "Well, the workers seem to be doing a great job too. A lot's gotten done."

"They seem to work harder when I'm here watching over things," Toph informed him. "Something about a fearsome Earthbender screaming at them seems to give them some incentive."

Aang stared at her blankly. "I wonder why."

"Yeah, me too, it truly is startling. I mean, no one's that cool," Toph said, her smile curling into a teasing smirk.

Aang smirked back at her and nudged her arm with his elbow, deciding to switch topics. "So...I got your note."

Toph's smirk immediately fell and she groaned loudly. "You laughed, didn't you?"

"I chuckled," he corrected.

"Well I knew you were going to gripe in the morning if I didn't tell you where I went," Toph argued in her defense. "Not my fault."

Aang smiled. "So you got someone else to write a note for the mysterious man whose room you slept in last night? That must have been fun."

"I can't write!"

"You couldn't pass off a message?"

Toph turned to him, staring at him incredulously. "Are you complaining?"

"Not at all," Aang insisted earnestly. "I just...appreciated the gesture, that's all."

Toph crossed her arms and turned her face a few inches away from him. "It was a note. Quit getting all sentimental."

"Can't help it," Aang shrugged with a grin. "It's in my nature. I'm a sap, you say it yourself all the time."

"Yeah, but usually when I say that, it's a suggestion to tone it down a little bit, not to keep perpetuating it like it's something to be proud of," Toph explained.

Aang feigned confusion. "I thought women liked sappiness."

Toph winced. "It gets old quick."

"For everyone, or just for you?"

"Aren't we just talking about me?" Toph playfully stuck her tongue at him.

Aang shrugged his shoulders up to his ears and stuck both his hands into his pockets. "Well, it's a shame you feel that way, it really is," Aang began, trying to sound forlorn and disappointed. "Because...well I was going to invite you out with me later tonight. You know, do something fun?" Aang hummed in thought, tapped his toes on the ground, and shook his head. "Nah, you know what? It's too sappy. You wouldn't be interested…"

Toph lifted a finger and placed it right in front of his face. "Hold up, you guilt tripping monk, stop being clever. What are you talking about?"

Aang grinned. "Interested?"

Toph pursed her lips. "Annoyed. What are you talking about?"

"Exactly what I said," Aang responded simply. "I was wondering if you wanted to come and do something with me tonight. And not just ordering in food and singing off key in our room alone, although I have to admit, that had appeal."

Toph snorted. "Had appeal? That shit was hilarious, you're horrible at singing. Stick to dancing."

"Okay, my shortcomings aside," Aang continued with a groan, "I just thought I could take you somewhere for a change."

"How gentlemanly of you," Toph exclaimed. "I'm guessing the old bar-pub-dance hall cocktail is getting kind of old for you, huh?"

Aang rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't want to admit that this was very much true — aside from the decent dancing, nothing about those places held any appeal to the Avatar — so he decided to skip over it. "Not old, but I thought we could do something different. I heard about this place that sounds nice."

"Really?" Toph answered, sounding mildly impressed. She leaned in conspiratorially. "What exactly are you getting at?"

"Consider this an excuse to check out a restaurant that one of the Earth King's counselors told me about. It'd just look downright sad if I walked in alone."

"So, I'm coming as your buffer?"

"My totally cool, awesome, amazing, better-than-anyone else buffer? Of course," Aang replied nobly. "I hear their noodles are great."

"Oh please," Toph scowled. "Everyone knows that Hamada's has the best noodles in the Middle Ring."

"Well," Aang offered, clasping his hands behind his back. "We won't be able to know for sure unless we go…" He looked up at her hopefully. "I'll pay?"

Toph threw her head back in laughter. "Oh Spirits, don't say that. I'll blast through all the gold you have."

"But is that a yes?" Aang asked once more.

Toph crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "Alright. I'll bite. Why not?"

Aang beamed. "Perfect. When are you free?"

Toph chewed on her bottom lip and turned back to the construction going on in front of her. "Eh, I probably have to stay here for a few more hours just to make sure all the foundation work is done. Plus I've got a shipment coming in soon. Think we can meet later tonight?"

"How about this?" Aang offered. "You meet me at the large concert hall in the Middle Ring in tonight once it gets dark. The one that's near the museum. We'll go out for dinner."

Toph rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You're not going to tell me where we're going? Why does it have to be a surprise?"

Aang didn't answer. He knocked his heel against the Earth and lowered the pedestal he was standing on until he had his feet planted on the ground. "Don't girls like men with an air of mystery and intrigue about them?"

"No, as a matter of fact," Toph replied blankly. "It's obnoxious."

"Then consider it a childish indulgence," Aang offered instead, already turning to leave. "Don't be late!"

"I'll suppress the urge," Toph chuckled in return.

In hindsight, when Aang was returning back to his room, rifling through his closet for something else to wear and trying to keep himself busy for the next few hours, he realized that the offer really did sound like a date. Something that couples did when they wanted to get know each other, indulge in romance, find an excuse to spend extended periods of time together, and attempt to portray affection in ways that weren't necessarily about bodily desire. He supposed the latter two qualities applied to this situation, but Aang truly hadn't meant to try and create anything that would be misconstrued.

For some reason, Aang felt like he was on a careful balance. He didn't want to detach himself from Toph, but a part of him feared getting too close. Almost as if that closeness would threaten to upend everything he had worked towards for so many years, or at the very least spring Aang into situations that would end up being irrevocable and positively brutal on his persistent guilt. But his needs aside, he wasn't sure where Toph's opinions fell. She had told him very clearly she had no intentions of telling him how she really felt, and Aang had no way to argue that logic. It made sense. Protecting your heart was an important thing. But the problem was that Aang had no idea what was too much.

Was asking her out to to do something tonight something that could be seen the wrong way? Did she believe him when he said he only meant to take her out platonically? Did she care if that was the truth or not? Aang felt twelve years old all over again back when he was trying to navigate his crush with Katara. He hadn't been sure when were bad moments to confess feelings and when were the good moments. He hadn't been sure what he was saying was appropriate, too obvious, or too subtle.

Something told him that playing it by ear was his best bet. Test the waters and decide in the moment when the time came to pull back or come on stronger. There was always the worry of Aang's quest to figure out what was going on in his head becoming an exercise in falling too much out of love with a good woman and a good thing. One thing he was positive of during this entire trip was that his love hadn't transferred away from Katara, but had rather been dispersed evenly between two people. He had no interest in removing the dispersion completely away from either, not until he properly decoded his feelings and wants.

But there was also the fear of scaring Toph away. Aang was only making a guess, but Toph's penchant for bars, dance halls, and dark corners gave him the impression that she wasn't one for saccharine displays.

It made him hyper aware of the entire evening, starting when Toph had waved him over from in front of the theater he had asked her to meet him in front of. He had noticed that she had changed clothes before she had come to meet him, still looking casual but a lot more polished than she had been standing in the sun this afternoon with dirt covering her feet and her pant legs. She was blowing into her hands and her nose was red from the cold and had smiled in that large dazzling way she had been doing since he had first seen her, waving him over and telling him to hurry up so she could get out of the cold.

He felt it. That strong desire to kiss her, tell her she was perfect, pull her into his arms...something. But he'd gone, chicken-turkeyed out, and just wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders, leading her in the direction of the restaurant, and quipping with her on the way there. It was like all of a sudden, he didn't know how to act around each other anymore.

Aang thought back to last night. Had they managed to backtrack in less than twenty four hours, or was this all in his head?

They had just walked out of a restaurant named Tao Lin's — some Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation fusion restaurant that a younger counselor from the Earth palace had recommended to him a while ago — and Toph was cradling a small take out bowl of noodles, still taking bites out of it with her chopsticks as they walked. "Okay," she announced. "I'll admit it. Their noodles are pretty damn good."

Aang was holding a similar bowl, but was moving the contents around with the tips of his chopsticks, still distracted by his thoughts. Toph nudged his arm before he cleared his throat and asked, "Better than Hamada's?"

"Don't get crazy," Toph warned, pointing her chopsticks at him. Aang scowled and lowered Toph's hands before someone else saw the rude gesture. "Old man Hamada gives me free noodles every time I show up. I can't just sully his food. Wouldn't be honorable."

"The fact that you're afraid to say something means these are better," Aang pointed out.

Toph rolled her eyes and waved away his comment and decided not to bother responding to it. She nudged him in the side with her elbow and told him, "I'll admit though, this was a good idea. I was just going to nap and sleep in tomorrow but this has its perks."

"You're only saying that because I paid for everything," Aang pointed out with a soft glare.

Toph didn't refute the point and shrugged happily. "I won't deny that that is half true."

She started laughing at her own comment, but Aang suddenly couldn't put in the effort to return it with her. They were currently wandering around in the Middle Ring, not really going anywhere or planning anything in particular. Aang hadn't thought that far ahead. He only meant to have some company for a meal tonight since Sokka was nowhere to be found. But now it felt like maybe he needed to do more — like their evening couldn't end here and Aang needed to put more effort in to make it seem like he was serious about everything he said last night and make it seem like he was actually planning an evening for her like she deserved. But what he was thinking and what Toph was expecting were clearly two very different things, and Aang was unsure how to arrive in the middle and cover all his bases.

He must have been daydreaming for a while because he immediately jerked out of his head when he felt Toph poke him on his shoulder. "Hey," she asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

Aang chewed slowly on his bite of food to avoid answering the question right away. He swallowed and answered guiltily, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You got quiet all of a sudden," Toph replied. "Is everything okay?"

Aang nodded quickly and tried to find a trash bin to throw away the rest of his food. "Don't worry about it," he tried to assure her. "I'm just being too thoughtful. It's nothing."

Toph handed him her empty take away bowl and leaned against a building while he threw away their trash. "Liar, liar," she teased him. "Come on. What's bugging you? You have this habit of letting your problems implode, so talk."

Aang frowned. "You'll laugh at me. Nice try."

"You don't know that," Toph countered.

"I do actually," Aang retorted. "Remember? Sentimentality gets old quick?" He stuffed his hands into his pockets and recognized the cross streets they were approaching. He was pretty sure there was a park nearby somewhere. "Like I said, it's okay."

Toph jogged to keep up. "Alright, if I promise I'm not going to freak out and pretend I'm getting a rash from all the sweetness, does that make a difference?"

Aang turned to her. "You do realize that your promises have historically been less than reliable right?"

Toph cursed under her breath in frustration, put a hand over her heart, and lifted another one straight up in preparation for an oath. "I swear I won't laugh. Out loud."

"I'm serious," Aang frowned.

Toph dropped her hands. "So am I. Your moping is completely intolerable, so spill."

Aang sighed helplessly and rested his hand on the back of his neck. He darted his eyes discreetly over to her, knowing she couldn't see him staring but afraid she'd be able to feel him turning and feel his anxiety. He collected his errant thoughts for a moment and finally asked, "What is this? I mean, what are we doing?"

Toph wrinkled her nose and turned to him. "What do you mean?"

Aang shrugged. "Exactly what I said," he answered evasively.

Toph nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "Alright, well, since I'm assuming you're fully familiar with all of the meanings and nuances behind walking," she emphasized, pointing down to their feet, "I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you were referring to something else. So an elaboration would be nice."

Aang lifted his hands as if he were physically wrestling for an answer that would placate her. Somehow, he knew that if he admitted his thoughts out loud Toph wouldn't like what she was hearing or would have some criticism ready for him. That wasn't really what he was in the mood for. He just wanted answers and clarity because he couldn't ensure it himself. Either way, he dropped his hand from his neck and turned to Toph, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from walking. "Is this a date?" he asked outright.

She lifted a brow, looking honestly confused. "Isn't it?"

"I don't know," Aang shrugged back. "Is it?"

"Well shouldn't you know?" Toph answered ill-humoredly. "You're the one that asked me out."

Just hearing that said out loud made Aang want to immediately clarify and deny. "I didn't ask you out, per se," he admitted in embarrassment. "I...asked you to go out with me."

The lame amendment wasn't even convincing to Aang, and he winced the minute it came out of his mouth. Toph, on the other hand, was looking at him in complete disbelief and stood there staring in his direction as if she were expecting something else to come out of his mouth for her to latch onto and throw back in his face. "Are you kidding me?"

"N-No, I — Toph, come on, wait!"

She was already turning on her heel and heading down the street without him, and Aang quickly realized that he had probably ruined the evening for opening his stupid mouth. He quickly bounded after her grabbing her arm and begging her to stop so he could explain and apologizing for even saying anything. But she immediately grabbed her arm back and talked to him over her shoulder. "You're acting juvenile, you know that, right?"

"I'm not!" Aang insisted, quickly following behind her.

Toph muttered something under her breath that Aang couldn't hear, but she began calling over to him again. "You are. You're throwing synonyms at me. You're like a fourteen year old boy who's too afraid to say the word 'sex' so you're resorting to childish euphemisms. Grow up!"

"You said you wouldn't freak out at me!" Aang argued back.

The park that they were nearby was finally coming into view, slightly deserted because of the late hour. Toph didn't stop walking until they came up to a bench just outside of the gates sitting underneath a lamp light that must have just been turned on. Toph turned, grabbed Aang's elbow again, and pushed him into the bench, making him sit down and grunt from the impact. Toph huffed in annoyance as she fell down into the bench with her arm resting on the backrest and her legs casually crossed at the knee. He saw her rub at the bridge of her nose for a moment before grumbling under her breath and tipping her head back until it was facing the sky above her. Aang reached over to rub at the shoulder that had uncomfortably slammed against the bench. "What are we at the park for?"

Toph's head flopped over to face him. "We're doing that thing where we yell at each other in public again so I took us somewhere quieter. You seriously have no sense of timing," she complained. "Obviously you're having issues again, and I do my best thinking when I'm sitting down."

Her hand came up with Aang tried to defend himself again, and she immediately spoke over him. "I'm not freaking out at you," Toph explained a lot more calmly than Aang had expected. Still, Aang knew a hard edge to her voice when he heard it. He'd upset her. "I'm annoyed and still trying to figure out what the hell you're getting at. Because playing word games and dealing with your weird penchant for pubescent banter is not my idea of fun."

"...fair enough," Aang relented. He leaned back comfortably into the bench with a withering sigh and tilted his head back over the backrest, mirroring Toph's position. "I'm trying to label this," he explained, gesturing between the two of them.

"Why?" Toph questioned in a tone that made it seem she had less than favorable opinions of that idea.

"To make it make sense in my head," he replied simply. "When you put a name to something, it becomes concrete. Easier to understand. Apparent. Solid. I...don't know what to call this."

It didn't seem like his explanation hit home because Toph smiled helplessly when she answered, "Why can't you call it a date? You were fine when you asked me this afternoon. Hell you were fine last night when you finally told me everything you've been avoiding for weeks. What else do you want?"

"It's not just the whole date thing," Aang explained. "The feelings are easy. I look at you and I know what I feel because they're mine. They're messy and complicated and all over the place but they're mine and I know that they're good."

"But?" Toph prompted.

"Everything else is...confusing," Aang tried to explain. "I feel like there's this code of conduct I'm not getting. Am I allowed to take you out? Does that make me seem like a jerk? Are we supposed to be sneaking around? Is being out in public like this okay, or is it going to seem like we're being too romantic? Is being romantic even okay? Am I overstepping with you or am I not being serious enough?" He paused, caught his breath, and released it, watching it furl above him in the cold wind. "I've never...I don't know how to…"

Toph sunk further into her jacket, the turned up lapels of her coat hiding her mouth and nose from view. "You don't know how to juggle two women."

That hurt. Aang could literally feel his lungs contract like he had just taken a blow to the chest. That sounded wrong. It felt wrong. He tried to smile bitterly through it and picked his feet up off the ground to cross underneath him on the bench. It would give Toph a harder time of reading him. He wasn't sure he wanted that right now. "Wow," he finally breathed out sarcastically. "Thanks."

He immediately felt Toph's hand reach out and grab his arm that was still leaning on the back rest. She squeezed firmly. "Sorry, sorry, okay," she rambled quickly. "That was insensitive."

Aang shook his head, but didn't bother shrugging her hand off. "Maybe, but it's half true," he admitted quietly. "I want to keep both of you, but I don't know how. I don't know the rules, and the last thing I want to do is something that would push you away again. I don't want that to happen again."

Toph rolled her eyes, her voice muffled slightly behind the collar of her coat. "You're not going to push me away," she told him as if it were the most obvious truth in the world. "At least not by treating me to dinner. I mean, what am I going to say to that? How dare you?"

It was a weak attempt at a joke and of lightening up the mood, but Aang appreciated the effort and laughed weakly. Toph smiled, drew her fingers into a weak fist, and gently nudged Aang's chin, something she used to do a lot when they were younger whenever she wanted to be affectionate without actually hurting him too much. She turned completely sideways in her chair, tucking one foot underneath her and keeping one comfortably on the ground.

"Look," Toph started. "Is it really that bad to just...forget about the pageantry, and the names, and the semantics, and just focus on the feelings? Just because you can't put a name to something doesn't mean that it's not real or concrete. Just...complicated." She shrugged. "But we knew that."

The suggestion wasn't satisfying enough. "But you deserve a name," Aang insisted. "You deserve something stable. I'm not trying to use you, and you're not a phase. You're not something that feels dirty or wrong. Those are the kind of things you leave nameless. Not things that feel real and right and wonderful. I don't want you to think that my intentions are anything but pure."

Toph leaned in and smirked. "I feel like you forget that when you tell me things, I can tell if you're being sincere." She tapped her foot playfully on the ground in order to prove her point. "And based on everything you just said, I don't think I have to worry about you treating me like I'm dirty or wrong. Besides, you're not capable of something like that. You couldn't do it even if you tried, let alone unconsciously."

It was easy to take Toph's assurances and go through the effort of believing them, but placating his own insecurities had never been quite that easy. "So why does it feel like I am?"

"Because you've never had to choose between two good things," Toph replied. "You've always seen something you've wanted, and the alternative was always the unfavorable option. The hard part was just figuring out which choice was right for everyone else. But this is different."

Immediately, Aang was able to pick up on exactly what Toph was trying to say. This wasn't an issue of black and white anymore, and this certainly wasn't a war where Aang's actions were always being leveled up against this larger consideration of the war and the lives of thousands of innocent people that were looking up to him for some hope and guidance. This was a decision that needed to be right for himself. It was all a matter of what he wanted, and it wasn't as simple as picking the easier option anymore. There were two good alternatives, and then the obvious bad one: being stuck with nothing.

He thought all that through for a few seconds and admitted that someone was going to walk away from this hurt, and there was nothing he could do about it. It would either be him, Toph, or Katara. There was no way to save anyone. Accepting all of that, he responded weakly. "That makes sense."

Toph must have decided to take pity on him because she scooted closer on the bench and put a tentative arm around his shoulders. "Look, I get it, I do. We're both in really, really shitty positions right now," she started, laughing weakly and humorlessly. "It sucks even worse when you think about it for too long and start trying to put a name to it. But I'll make you a deal."

Toph held out a hand in front of the two of them. "Stop making yourself feel guilty over this, stop thinking that you're doing anything cruel or wrong. Don't think of anyone else, and just focus on us. And in return, I'll be nothing but honest with you. If I feel like I'm being used and I want to bolt, you'll be the first to know. Let's save each other as much heart ache as we can."

Her fingers started wiggling, waiting for him to return her hand shake and seal the deal. Toph may have been bad with petty promises, but when she made a mutual deal with you, she meant it, and Aang appreciated the gesture. But he couldn't stop himself from asking one more question. "Do you want to?" he asked self consciously. "Bolt I mean. Right now?"

Toph reached over and smacked him lightly on the top of the head. "No you idiot," she answered sternly. "I wouldn't have bothered coming out with you if I did. I'm not a masochist."

"I know you're not," Aang replied. "I just feel so unstable. I want to be sure of everything and I guess I can't."

"Nope," Toph frowned. "Unfortunately, life sucks like that. Trust me. Everyone wishes they knew everything. Imagine all the wretchedness people could save themselves from. It's not much, but this is the best I can offer you. Deal?" She lifted her hand again.

Aang lifted his hand with a smile and enclosed her own with his. They shook firmly like true partners. "Deal." He sighed in relief, feeling that he got at least some of his worries off of his chest. "Thanks, by the way. You always make things make sense."

"What can I say?" Toph replied lightly. "I'm wise."

"No, you're shrewd," Aang corrected with a smirk. "But that's still a good thing." She grinned back at him and dipped her head, letting her hair fall from behind her ears and in front of her face again. He couldn't help but find the sight charming. "Sorry for the down attitude," he apologized. "I didn't mean to cut our night short."

Toph didn't seem too bothered. "Eh, don't worry about it. I expect you to make it up to me," she grinned. "And anyway, it can't be that late. I'm up for something up else if it's on the itinerary."

"What? Romantic walks in the park aren't your thing?"

"Ew," Toph winced, causing Aang to laugh at the expression. "Come on. You gotta speak my language with this. No walks."

"Well, unless you know about any illegal gambling bars or underground bending tournaments, you're gonna have to think of something a little bit more wholesome." Aang stood up on his feet, and bounced on his toes, trying to shake off the last bits of negativity so as to end the evening on a good note. "I'm sure you're capable."

Toph pouted angrily and stood on her feet as well. "You're no fun. Wholesome dates. What is this?" She made a show of tapping her foot on the ground impatiently and finally smirked up at Aang. "Alright, give me a few minutes. I'll think of something."

Aang nodded, placated. Toph turned to walk back in the direction they came in before Aang caught her arm again and stopped her before she went too far. "Oh, wait. One more thing."

"Yeah?" She turned around expectantly. Aang pulled her towards him and immediately pressed a kiss to her lips. Her lips were frozen for a couple of seconds, but Aang felt her smile against his own lips and place a hand on the back of his neck, leaning up on her toes to get a better angle. In the back of his head, he realized it had only been a couple of days since they had last done this, but it felt strange to go through the whole night without it. Sometimes, Toph didn't have to do much at all to get Aang to want to collect her in his arms, hold her, kiss her, and tell her how much he truly did care for her, despite the less than ideal circumstances. Besides, sometimes it was truly startling how easily they could fit against each other and how quickly the both of them could absolutely melt into such a simple kiss.

Fingers started curling into the lapel of his jacket and Aang gently pulled back, placing one quick tap kiss against her lips before sighing out. "Sorry, had to do that," he breathed out.

Toph chuckled, all of her teeth showing and her cheeks reddening from a mixture of the cold and of their proximity. "I told you you were a sap."

His hands crept along her hips and around her waist. "True, but you like it. Admit it."

"I'll do no such thing," Toph asked in fake abashment. "You still owe me a grand conclusion to the evening. If you impress me, I'll think about admitting it."

Aang laughed and knocked his forehead against hers. "That shouldn't be too hard."