Graduation day, it was long awaited. All the seniors were immensely relieved or intensely stressed about college or job applications. Either way, it was a relief to be out of high school.

Zuko walked around in his graduation robe, back hunched, arms crossed, and hair over his eyes. He wasn't happy, not at all. He felt ridiculously foolish. Azula was nowhere to be seen, probably gossiping with her 'friends' or snubbing some poor soul. As Zuko moped and felt sorry for himself even more, he was greeted by a slap on his back. He straightened himself out and looked at the very familiar face of his girlfriend smiling at him. At her warmth, he smiled back.

"Look at you! All proper and ready to leave," she teased. Zuko noticed her robe looked loose and long on her. For his safety, he chose to say nothing about it.

"So are you excited?" He asked her in return.

"As excited as I've ever been," she responded with lack of enthusiasm.

"Where are your parents?"

"2 o'clock, eating some snacks at the snack bar." Zuko glanced over and caught her parents scrutinizing him and anything around their daughter. Zuko took this chance to hug Toph in a tight embrace and glanced to see her parent's faces tighten and frown. "Where's Azula?"

"Who knows."

"Figures."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter-."

"Zuko," A large hand patted Zuko's shoulder roughly. Toph looked up at the tall man and felt herself shrink. "I am proud to see you walk across the stage today."

"Here's a cup of tea I brought from home. It's still warm, I thought you should have it before you walk across the stage to calm your nerves," A smaller, yet still tall, rounder man offered. "Oh, whose this?" The man asked as he noticed the shrunken Toph.

"The girl Zuko has been sneaking off with, I presume," the taller man inquired.

"This is Toph. Toph, this my father Ozai and my uncle Iroh," Zuko introduced while ignoring his father's last comment.

"Toph, so nice to meet you," Iroh smiled with warmth.

"A pleasure meeting you, Toph. We ought to get our seats, Iroh," Ozai said halfheartedly and uninterested.

"You go on, I want to talk to Zuko and his nice lady friend for awhile." Ozai promptly left right after. "So, Toph, what are you planning to do after high school?"

"I'm not sure yet. The one thing I am sure about is moving out, though." Toph regained herself a bit after Ozai and his intimidation left.

"Oh, Zuko tells me he's planning to move out soon, too. I offered him to stay with me."

"Uncle..."

"Small rent," Iroh chuckled. "Well, I should be going to get my seat now. I'll be seeing you two up on the stage," and with that, Iroh left. Toph smiled up at the fidgeting Zuko.

"He seems really nice."

"He is."

"I thought he would be more muscular and taller like...," her voice trailed off.

"Like my father," Zuko finished for her.

"Well, yeah..." Toph grabbed a hold of Zuko's hand in attempt to calm him down.

"It's okay. Like Iroh said, I'm planning to move out real soon."

"Jeez, we gotta get through the ceremony first, sunshine," she laughed. Zuko smiled back at her, knowing that really, she was just as anxious to leave her parents as he was.

Neither of them had tripped, thankfully. It was every high schooler's nightmare: tripping on the stage during the ceremony in front of hundreds of people. But nobody had tripped. Sokka was close to falling face first, but he had quickly balanced himself out and shook it off. Everything went like the graduation before this one, and the one before that, and the one before that. Where the teens headed out to in life after, however, was never completely the same.

"Say we're going to be together forever," Toph whispered in Zuko's ear as they waited for the rest of the graduates to walk the stage.

"We're going to be together forever," he said as he took hold of her hand.

"Promise you won't leave me like I was before we met?" Zuko remembered the not-so memorable Toph from earlier that school year. She was quite, shy, and forgettable. Now, she was boisterous, loud, and adventurous. He was once the same as her. Now, he had the freedom of voice. At least, around her. But he didn't mind, not at all.

"I promise."

"Okay. I promise for you, too," Toph said assuredly.

"Okay. I love you." Toph smiled at him.

"I love you, too."

"I wish I could kiss you right now," Zuko confessed.

"What's holding you back?"

"Your parents."

"Parents-shmarents." Zuko chuckled at her. "...Hey."

"Yeah?" Zuko asked.

"We really will be together forever, I know it."

"I know it, too."

"Do you?"

"I do."

"I do too," Toph sat back, content.

"I know we will."

Toph smiled at the thought and waited patiently for the end of the graduation ceremony and the start of something new that she was prepared for. Whether or not they would end up together for a long time didn't matter as much to her in those seconds, just the fact that right then, that exact moment, it was him she was with. And Zuko thought the same. There was nothing they could do much about the future then, sitting in chairs with rows of people. All they could do was smile at each other and hope they would last for a long, long time. Maybe even forever.