Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. This should come as a shock to no one. Mike di Martino and Bryan Konietzko are the proud parents, and Nickelodeon's like the uncle that people only invite to parties because he gives really awesome gifts. They also have all copyrights.

Warnings: Shipping (see? because they're on a ship!). Taang, Kataang, Tokka – apparently all I've forgotten is Zutara. Takes place after Season 2 and will be AU in about two weeks.

"She's oblivious, isn't she?"

"Huh?" Aang looked up from his peaceful contemplation, interrupted by the brash, no-nonsense voice of his friend and earthbending teacher. Toph came up behind him from the bridge, walking with carefully placed steps to compensate for the rocking of the boat.

"Katara. She's oblivious."

"Oblivious about what?"

"The way you watch her." Though he'd learned in the time since he awoke that Toph had become a veritable metal-bender, she still seemed unsteady on the steel Fire Navy ship, commandeered for their purpose. Had Sokka been there, he might have offered her an arm before she dropped down casually to the deck. But Aang had long ago grown used to her uncanny ability to know everything around her. And her need for independence when she didn't.

Still, there were some things that she shouldn't know about, such as his heated blush.

"What makes you think I'm watching her?" Never mind the fact that he was. But lounging in the shadow of the bridge as he was, his eyes half-lidded, Aang had assumed anyone who spied him would think he was meditating. Not watching the beautiful waterbender work through her stances, as graceful as the arc of water she commanded.

In a complete contradiction to Katara's elegance, Toph gave a snort and pulled her eternally dirty feet into her lap. "I don't need earth to feel the pitter-patter of your little heart when you see her, twinkle-toes."

This just made him blush harder, and he actually for once was glad she was blind.

"You know, you really should just tell her," Toph continued, as if unaware how uncomfortable he was. In reality, she was totally aware. But that was the special something about Toph that made her such a great earthbender – she never backed down from anything, ever, no matter how uncomfortable it was for others. Her confidence was what made her who she was.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." And for his reluctance, she gave him a sharp, painful jab in the arm. "Hey! I'm still recovering!"

"From what? Your missing spine? Just get up and talk to her." She didn't look at him when she spoke, nor did she necessarily glare. Yet there was a hardness in her expression that certainly matched her tone.

"That's easy for you to say. What about you and Sokka?" He didn't mean to be confrontational, and he regretted saying it almost as soon as it left his mouth. But when he was near Toph, he felt braver, more capable of taking risks and challenging people. He told himself it was just because she was a good teacher, but he knew that Toph had that effect on everyone.

"What about me and Sokka?" She straightened her back visibly, but her voice was nonchalant, almost irritated. Frowning, Aang looked over the ship and caught sight of the warrior on the upper deck, continuously throwing his boomerang and catching it. If Katara was oblivious, so was he. Completely ignorant to Toph's blushes and increasingly crueler barbs. And Toph, oblivious as well, tried to force him away with her sarcasm.

But Aang knew her better than that. He knew all of her secret strategies to protect herself.

"Why don't you just tell him you like him?"

"Are you really trying to give me advice on my love-life, baldy?" Aang rolled his eyes upward as if to see his head – being blind, Toph sometimes forgot that he now had a whole scalp full of black, itchy hair.

"No, I'm just pointing out that sometimes…" He hesitated, his eyes on Katara as she lost control of her water during one complicated move, and Sokka got drenched. "Sometimes it's easier just to watch."

She didn't argue, and in silence, they both (or at least he) watched as Sokka stormed up to Katara and berated her for soaking him, causing her to laugh apologetically. Both of them were the perfect matches to Aang and Toph – Katara's gentle love and tenderness, Sokka's often-abrasive sarcasm and clumsiness. Counterparts that could complete them. And yet they sat there in the shadow of the bridge, keeping their distance.

"Don't you wonder sometimes why we go for the unapproachable ones?" Toph finally said. He looked to her in surprise. "Wouldn't it be easier to go for the one you can talk to about anything?"

"I can talk to Katara about anything," he protested, and she shook her head as she licked a finger and cleaned out the crud between her toes.

"Anything except her." Casually, she fished out whatever was bothering her and flicked it away with her middle finger. "Me and you are in the same boat, twinkle-toes. We've set our sights too high, instead of being grounded. I come to expect that out of you, but honestly? It's a little surprising for me."

"You think I should find something that grounds me?" he said with a wry grin, and she shrugged as if she couldn't care less. "I think you already do a good job of that, Toph."

"Yeah, well, I suppose if I was, you'd be watching me like that instead of her." It was a wholly innocent comment, made off-hand as she pushed herself to her feet. But it jarred Aang in a way he never expected, almost like someone had shook the metal deck under him.

"Good luck with your girl-watching. I'm gonna go find something I can stand on for a while." A moment later, she was walking lopsidedly back into the bridge, probably to annoy the captain before going below deck.

He watched her leave, his mind whirring over possibilities that seemed too ridiculous to consider. After all, Toph was just a friend. Someone he could talk to about his problems, which she could easily put into perspective with a sarcastic quip and a practical tone. Someone who understood the world much more clearly than he thought he could, but who never let it get in the way of having fun.

She was also the exact opposite of Katara. Short and brazen, immature and mannerless. Willing to say everything on her mind and unwilling to compromise in a fight. But she was also confident and practical. And easy to talk to, because she would talk about anything.

She was completely honest with him, fathomable in a way that Katara never had been. Someone who was down to earth – grounded.

Sighing, Aang pushed the idle thoughts out of his head and returned to watching Katara practice. Trying to hold back a laugh, he smiled as she once more soaked Sokka, possibly this time on purpose. She then caught sight of him and waved, happily returning the smile.

Which made him sigh once more. Honestly, how oblivious did one have to be never to see what is right in front of them?

A/N: So I'm not much of a shipper. And if I was a shipper, I'd totally ship Tokka because of my deep, undying love for both Toph and Sokka. But someone in a livejournal community, whose ffnet name I do not know, wanted to see a Taang fic that actually had Toph overcoming Aang's infatuation for Katara. As this is a one-shot, I've completely failed to do that, but I did assume the challenge of writing what could be the beginning of a Taang romance. Because even if I don't ship it, I can see it working. Here's hoping that my total inability to write romance didn't get in the way of that.

Also hopefully, as I don't ship this pairing at all and I wrote it in…uh…an hour and a half, none of the characters are too OOC. Plus I obviously don't go into detail describing how they got onto a Fire Nation ship, which is really important because Katara's water-bending, so...let's assume they found another deserter. With a ship. I take all responsibility for crappy writing.

Oh, and the original title was going to be "Oblivious," but there's already a Taang fic with that title by the super-awesome jellyjay, so there you go.