Toph sat on the concrete edge, staring down with sightless eyes into the churning water that reflected the sunlight up into a shifting net of light over her face. She tossed her head and sweeped her loose ponytail over her shoulder onto her back. Then she looked back in the general direction of where his voice had come from.

"Are you serious?"

The tan young man pouted as he treaded water. "C'mon, Toph, it'll be fun."

"Solid ground suits me better. I can't swim." She argued.

"It's just a game, and you can use a floatie. Besides, it's not like we can play hide and seek the normal way. On land, you have the absolute advantage. I wouldn't be able to hide anywhere. On ice, you wouldn't even be able to look for me at all because you'd run into things." She scowled at that, which he didn't take notice of. "Water is the only equal ground we have, and the game is easy. Plus, you won't be able to cheat like my sister does."

Toph couldn't help but smile at that. "Fine. I'll give it a try." He grinned and pushed the small innertube over to her. She stuck her feet in it and slid into the water. Propping herself on the floating plastic tube, she asked, "So what is this game you keep talking about? It's like hide and seek?"

"Kind of. It's called 'Open Waters'. One person swims around with their eyes closed trying to find the other person. If then need a clue, they say 'open' and the other person has to say 'waters!' The point is to keep away from the person saying 'open' as long as possible. When they catch someone, that person becomes 'it.'"

Toph frowned. "But there are only the two of us, and won't I always be 'it' since I can't really ever 'open' my eyes?"

Sokka shrugged, which she didn't see, and said "We'll figure it out as we go along. For now, you can be 'it' first, to get a feel for it."

She sighed. "Fine." She waited a second, and then said, "Open."

"Waters." Sokka replied. He was a little further away and to the left of where he was before. She could hear him gently splashing as he moved farther left. She paddled her floatie closer to him. The splashing stopped and she couldn't hear him.

"Open."

"Waters." He was behind her now! How did he do that? A little frustrated, she kicked to spin herself around and then stopped, quieting so that she could hear him if he swimmed. She lost track and had to say open again.

This went on for a few minutes.

Frustrated, she ineffectively punched at the water. "This isn't fair, Sokka, I can't swim as well as you can!"

"Just keep trying." He said from suprisingly close to her. She kicked the water and jumped towards the voice, but she only found empty water.

"Sokka..." She growled. He chuckled from a ways away. Finally, she said "open" again.

"Waters." He responded.

Smug, she swum closer to him, splashing alot with her feet. She tuned up her hearing. She didn't have earthbending to help her, but she still had the best hearing in the gang. As she sum rythmically, she put the sound of her own splashing out of her mind so that she could hear his splashing as he swum past her going the other direction, trying to foil her again. Toph listened carefully until the splashing was nearly in front of her and then suddenly jumped to the side, and was gratified by the feeling of smooth shoulders beneath her fingers. He jumped and almost forgot to keep treading water, and sputtered a little bit in suprise until he regained his composure and pushed himself well above the surface again and laughed.

Toph was smiling smugly and floated in front of where he treaded water, her hands on his shoulders still. "I got you!" She said.

"Yeah, you did." He laughed. "How did you do that?"

She laughed as well. "The best earthbender in the world doesn't share her secrets, Snoozles. You should know that."

As he looked at her, something struck him that he'd never felt before. It'd been a year and a half since Suki had broken up with him, and he hadn't really been interested in a new girlfriend since then. But as he looked at Toph in front of him, nearly seventeen now, he felt an uncertain desire to try something rash. Her smile was so contagious, and her hair, still mostly dry, hung down in front of her pale eyes. Her green tankini didn't show unecessary skin, but she was beautiful anyways.

He wasn't sure what she'd do... probably throw a punch. He had an irresistable desire to try it, though, if only to see what her reaction was.

"I have a new secret you could keep, if you wanted to." Lame, he knew, but it was all he could come up with on the fly. She stared into space around where his eyes were curiously. She didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about. He put his hands on her inner tube and pulled her closer to him in the water. She could feel it swishing about her legs from his treading.

"What is it?" She breathed a bit nervously. His face was closer to hers than she could remember it ever being, and the blood rushed to her face. She hoped she was sunburnt enough to hide it.

She barely heard him breathe "This" before her entire comprehension was taken up by the feel of his lips on hers. She took a surprised intake of breath, and he started to pull away, but she pulled him back and returned the kiss. When they parted he looked at her curiously.

"You took that alot better than I thought you would." He laughed.

"What did you think I was going to do?" She asked rather loudly.

"I dunno, punch me or something." He smiled. "But you didn't." She blushed.

"That's cause I like you, I've always liked you."

"I should hope so. You're my best friend."

She did punch him then. He flinched. "Not just like as in friend, Meathead!" She exclaimed. "I loved y..." She choked it off.

"You what?" He asked, his grin bigger than ever. Who would've known?

"Don't make me say it..." She said, rather embarrassed in an out of character moment.

"But I want to hear it." He said. "Please?"

She took a breath and stared at him hard with sightless eyes. Their faces were still very close together. "I love you, you moron. I've been hiding, and you've finally stopped counting and bothered to find me."

He smiled. "I'm sorry. I've only realized it now, but I think I love you, too." He gave her one more peck before releasing her and calling over his shoulder, "You're it!"

She blushed and stayed still a moment before she jerked. "Nuh uh! I caught you, you cheater!" She paddled after him, laughing.