Title: Chronic

Summary: After seven years of separation, Aang is wholly unprepared when he meets an alluring version of Toph, and cannot resist the attraction. But is he ready to delve into such sinful waters without drowning in the guilt?

A/N: I know, I know. "Dammit, Aria. What are you doing? You have other stories to write!" Well, you try sleeping and functioning when you've got a plot scratching at your brain and demanding attention at all hours of the day! It's very difficult! Anyway, I figured this was a story that would push my envelope, so to speak. So I figured that this was as good a time as any to push myself more than I'm comfortable. Think of it as a little exercise for myself in which you all benefit immensely ^.^

Infected

Sokka was a pain to watch in any sort of dance hall and Aang was accustomed to being embarrassed by him. Once eighteen had rolled around, he had taken to immersing himself in the suffocating orgies of fellow drunken, obtuse teenagers. Aang was at least comforted by the fact that the warrior had the couth to not drink himself into a coma like some of the unconscious idiots he was currently observing. Of course, this didn't mean that Sokka wasn't sufficiently inebriated to the point where he still had to confirm with Aang whether or not the thing he had just flirted with was actually a girl, or just the stone column in the corner. That left Aang as the sole savior who dutifully and miserably brought Sokka back to their hotel every night.

The Water Tribe warrior came down here every other night after the two of them spent the entire day sitting through meetings with stuffy, stubborn adults regarding so many legalities it sometimes gave Aang intense migraines at the end of the day. Sitting in this pounding environment didn't help the condition, but Sokka wasn't going to come alone and lose his mind, and Aang was unfortunately too nice to refuse. Add into the equation that they would be attending meetings for at least another month before they could return home, and Aang realized quickly that he was absolutely dreading the rest of his stay here.

None of his friends were even willing to partake in such a daunting task. Zuko refused to step foot into those dance halls, claiming then to be a center of debauchery that would no doubt sully the credibility he had to rebuild for himself. Aang unfortunately understood that, and half wished that the teens in the crowd would pick up on the fact that he was the Avatar and that Sokka was a well-respected pillar of the Southern Water Tribe government. Maybe then they could avoid these types of situations, get recognized, and be on their very merry way. But, everyone was too high on the music, dancing, and drinking to really take much notice of who they were. If they did, they didn't seem to care. Besides, Aang found it much less troublesome to wear a hat and fingerless gloves to hide the arrows anyway.

Katara and Suki never came with them when it was time to do business in Ba Sing Se. The two women were very much content staying in the North and South Poles respectively and avoiding whatever drivel that went on in these meetings the two men were forced to attend. Aang supposed that was well enough. He wasn't sure how happy Suki would be to see Sokka allowing so many girls to lean their heads against his shoulder and whisper in his ear something raunchy and dirty. Though he was drunk, he thankfully never did anything that would ruin whatever relationship Sokka had worked so hard to build. So Aang never revealed much to his girlfriend or to Suki whenever they returned.

He ignored the looks that the bartender was giving him whenever Aang asked for another drink of water, but Aang didn't have the energy or the patience to feel judged. He was the one that needed to navigate through the streets back to the hotel and you needed to be fully alert to even attempt to understand what kind of half-wit designed the layout.

Sokka was somewhere lost in the throngs of people dancing to the heavy beat of the drums being banged on stage. Aang couldn't exactly call him a good dancer, even when he was sober. But the warrior's thin and muscled frame seemed to have been an eye catcher for the female demographic. Despite some of the leers being sent Sokka's way, he seemed to at least be doing well in avoiding any activity that would no doubt get him in trouble. Aang at least trusted his judgment in that department, so he left him to his devices.

Personally, Aang would rather be back at his hotel room reading and enjoying a nice cup of jasmine or curled up with Katara in bed at home. Most of the adults he spoke with expected him to partake in some form of incriminating, young behavior being that he was only twenty. Most were shocked to know that he preferred his Friday nights to be quiet and uneventful. But as was the case, he never really had much of a choice in the matter.

Aang wasn't sure what made him do it or why he was even possessed to pay attention to any of the couples hiding in the dimly lit corners of the dance hall in the first place, but his eyes had traveled to the left to behold the sight of the young couple pressed close up against each other, chuckling quietly to themselves and letting their hands innocently wander across curved hips and toned chests. She was barefoot—probably an Earth Bender—and was brushing her toes against the backs of the man's calves. He seemed completely taken with the position and leaned his head down to hear ear to whisper something to her.

Normally, Aang would have allowed the privacy and turned away to mind his business, but the girl's head turned when she chuckled at what the man had said to her—

…

He felt his brain telling him to fixate his gaze on his drink and just forget about what he saw, but there was something so oddly surreal about seeing her here after so many years that Aang almost forgot to remind himself that he was staring rather oddly and would no doubt be caught if he didn't let up soon. It couldn't have been Toph, not after all this time and not here of all places.

She didn't strike him as the type of girl to enjoy the nightlife, and he half wondered if maybe it was an imposter, a very convincing look alike. But there was no mistaking it. Those eyes were practically a password leading to his memory, and that smirk she had just cracked made the entire realization a done deal. Plus, if he had nothing else to go by, that familiar laugh—the one that he could pick out from a crowd without any trouble at all—did all that it needed to when it came to convincing him.

Suddenly, he realized his slip and turned his gaze back down to the counter he was sitting at. The girl had—without any exaggeration—disappeared seven years ago. From one day to next, she had taken off without a word of warning or farewell to anyone. Strangely enough, they had all expected that it would happen sooner or later. Toph wasn't one that was easily tied down, and out of all of them, she was the one that had the most loose ends that still needed tying up. Aang felt a little pang when he realized after a few days that she had really left and probably had no intention of returning, but he respected the decision that she made. He trusted her to be able to take care of herself.

Zuko claimed that she hadn't totally disappeared. He said he got letters signed by Lord Bei Fong with brief responses to whatever inquiries the Fire Lord felt needed to be answered by the Earth Kingdom's most influential family. However, he noticed that the letters were rather curt in that subtle way that only Toph knew how to properly pull off, suggesting that she had probably taken over the affairs of her family to some degree. Aang had heard no word about her reconciliation with her parents—in fact no one had. But he supposed some progress must have been made for her to take on the role of mediator between her parents and the Fire Lord.

Yet here she was, like a little devil sweet-talking a handsome stranger in the corner of a shoddy dance hall.

He wondered if it would be rude to interrupt and get her attention. A possessive thought entered his mind that indicated he had the right, since he had known her longer. But there was something so fascinating about the exchange—something about the way she seemed to control everything that was happening right down to how long the man let his lips linger on her ear lobe. It caused Aang to stare again.

Forgetting that she was sensitive to such things, he blinked when Toph turned her head towards him as if she felt his gaze on her neck. It wouldn't surprise him if such a thing were true, and quickly caught himself a second time and fixated his gaze elsewhere. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that she had yet to turn back to her partner and was still scrunching her eyes in concentration and dutifully ignoring the touches she was still receiving. He shook his head and completely turned his body away.

In the midst of all of his considerations and weighing of options and possible outcomes, the universe and fate did that funny thing where they plotted quickly before forcing situations on the Avatar without asking first. He learned to stop taking offence to it and just accepted it as what it was. After stopping a war and traveling the world for the better part of his youth, little to nothing shocked him anymore. He liked to think that he had seen it all, which was why he almost laughed at the irony of it all when a familiar voice spoke up next to him at the bar.

"One shot of Fire Whiskey, please."

Her voice lost that childish, uncouth tone that came out whenever she wanted it to or not. It was what made her come off as brash and uncultured back when they were little, not too mention far too blunt for her own good. However, it had deepened slightly, making her sound older, and had an almost breathy sound to it. He noted with a smile that she probably would never stop sounding so direct and insistent. It was…charming. It was like being doused in warm lava that spread through his body like a comforting little hum. He was so caught up in the pleasant change that he had nearly missed her inquiry.

"Sorry?" Aang turned and regarded the girl as she received her drink. Her head tipped back as she effortlessly downed the drink and didn't bat a lash at the burn that was no doubt spreading in her throat. Her pale eyes—which glowed in an almost ghostly way in the dim lighting—stared straight ahead and focused on nothing as she thanked the bartender with a coy little smile that he wasn't sure she even realized she was making.

"Is the music too much for you?" Her nails were clicking against the counter to the beat of the drums that dictated the rhythm of the gyrating, throbbing crowd. "You're sitting here all by yourself, after all. I sort of have to wonder why."

Aang wondered if she had recognized him, but his feet weren't on the ground for her to pick up on any tell tale signs of who he was, plus her speech was too conversational to be talking to an old friend. That or she was teasing him, though he saw no reason for her to.

"How do you know I'm not the type to drown my sorrows in liquor?" He hadn't meant for his voice to come out as huskily as it did—he was still trying to figure out how exactly that had happened—but Toph, being the terribly acute young woman that she was, picked up on the tone immediately and smirked at his question.

"If that were so, you'd have been sulking in the cheap run down bars on the edge of town, not lively dance halls like this one. Hardly the ambiance you'd need if you were really that down in the dumps. Besides…" Toph reached across effortlessly and grabbed the water he was nursing in front of him. She smiled as she delicately took a small sip of the drink and set it back down on the table. "…water is a rather poor choice."

Aang knew the answer, but his Earth Bender friend intrigued him so much that he decided to ask anyway. "Now how did you know that?"

The girl shrugged. "You asked for about eight refills, yet you sound pretty lucid at the moment. Either you were going non-alcoholic for the night or you drink way too often to be acceptable."

Aang chuckled at that. Still as sharp as ever, he noted. "Alright, fine. I concede to defeat. Very impressive deductions."

"Thank you," she smiled sweetly—again, with an alluring undertone he wasn't sure was intentional. "Though you should feel honored. An elegant defeat by my hands is something you tell your friends about."

"Oh really now?" he questioned with amusement. "Are you some sort of devious virtuoso that I should know about?"

The girl scoffed at the label. "I would hardly call it devious. Perhaps a bit intrusive, I'll admit. But you don't seem to mind." Her smile was filed with clever wit as opposed to the sarcasm it was usually littered with. Age must have turned her away from her usually obtuse way of speaking and replaced it with a tasteful cunningness that Aang enjoyed immensely.

"Maybe not," Aang admitted, "but maybe I do mind how long you must have been staring to notice my supposed eight refills."

Toph outright laughed at this, and Aang noted the slight flush on her cheeks when she answered. "I know quality when I see it, so I stopped to observe. Besides, I was hardly occupied."

Aang wondered if maybe he shouldn't have mentioned such an observation, but it was too late to stop it when it came out of his mouth. "I don't think that's quite so. That man you were with seemed quite enraptured with you."

Her brows rose at the challenge and she easily took the bait. "Now who's the one staring?"

"Blame the boyish curiosity that I haven't quite grown out of yet. And you didn't answer my question."

"You didn't ask one," she smirked.

By this time, Aang realized that he was flirting with her just a bit, which was odd considering the history that they shared and how just yesterday, he only remembered her as a loud-mouthed thirteen year old girl. She had to have been nineteen now—it was still winter, her birthday shouldn't be for another few months. Plus, and probably the more pressing issue, there was Katara back at the North Pole patiently waiting for her boyfriend of seven years to return home to their bed so that they could celebrate his being away for a month on business.

The small part of him—the one that wasn't quite so caught up in the conversation as the rest of him was—reminded him of that little fact, and he faltered with his next response for a moment. However, he quickly dismissed the ridiculous idea. This was Toph: an old friend, despite the fact that he wasn't sure if she knew that yet. Besides, not that he was justifying his behavior by comparing himself to others, Sokka had done worse and he had refrained from telling Suki anything. This was just talking. He rather liked the mysterious stranger role he was assuming now. It lightened up the annoyance he had developed over the course of the night and he gladly welcomed the distraction.

That in mind, he didn't even try to hide the deeper, lower tone of voice he took on when he asked her, "Who was that man you were with?"

Toph smiled at the change, and leaned forward just a bit. "Jealous?"

Aang shrugged. "Intrigued."

"So now I intrigue you?" Toph chuckled darkly. For a split second, Aang almost found the laugh to be extremely attractive. Instead he stayed silent and leaned in a centimeter, not wishing to answer himself and instead wanting her to curb his curiosity.

The girl sighed dramatically and leaned her elbows on the table, answering him in fake disappointment. "What I thought to be a decent distraction. But he was rather good at boring me half to death. A girl's got to look charming, so I played it off for a bit. But you can only go on for so long when the man's got the personality of a door knob."

"Cheap or gilded?" Aang countered, playing up the metaphor.

She cringed in response. "Definitely cheap…like the type of dirty, wooden door knobs that stick and wiggle when you turn them. They try to pass off as a door knob but can't even perform the basic function of one. If I used a word with more than seven letters, it probably went up and over his head."

"I take it you haven't met many interesting men, then," Aang joked. Not that this was much of a surprising revelation. Aside from Katara—and of course this lovely version of Toph that he had accidently stumbled upon—not many of the heavily made up girls that were losing themselves in the crowd seemed to be worth his time. Considering the fact that the men they were hanging off of were probably no better, he fully believed her. He half wondered where Sokka had gone off to in all the excitement.

"Not true," she admitted. "You've caught my attention rather splendidly."

Aang raised a brow. "No other male friends you considered worth your time?"

Toph shook her head and looked up as if she were deep in thought. "Not that I can remember…"

The comment made Aang feel just a little bit affronted. He knew that she didn't know who he was, but at the very least make the effort to make some sort of indication towards him. Aang had to admit, he was thrown for a little loop that she had just so casually forgotten to mention the boy she had spent a good portion of her adolescence with.

"I guess little boys don't make very good companions, huh?" he responded bitterly.

This time, Toph couldn't hide the large smile that made Aang feel nostalgic all over again. "Well, I'd hardly call you a little boy anymore, Twinkle Toes."

It took Aang a moment to fully process what she had just said, and he found himself gaping at her with a stupid look on his face that he was almost glad she couldn't see. The silence made Toph's laugh ring out again once she realized that she had finally gotten him tied up in a corner with no way to understand just how he had gotten there without noticing it.

"Your silence only proves my point, Aang," she answered him again. This time, Aang knew that she was far more perceptive than he had given her credit for and should have known that there was no way he was going to get away with pretending like he was someone else. Oh, well. It was worth a try.

"…I'm not even going to bother to comprehend why I thought you didn't know, Toph." He laughed at himself suddenly and had to lean his elbows on the counter so he could allow the little chortles of amusement to leave his body before he regarded the Earth Bender again.

"Well how can you expect me not to realize? You're not hard to pick out from a crowd. Though I will admit, that voice of yours threw me off for a moment. Didn't think it'd get so deep. It doesn't quite match the light and airy footsteps."

Aang rolled his eyes at the familiar jab at his apparently feminine gait and instead smiled warmly in a way that was reminiscent of the good old days. "Nice to see you again too, Toph."

She had switched positions again, and was now resting her head on her folded arms as she looked up at him. Aang found himself shifting slightly to the right so that her gaze coincidently lined up with his. He was too distracted to comprehend why exactly he had bothered to do so. She seemed like she was about to say something to him—he wasn't sure if it was more clever banter in order to keep the mood light or something sappy and nostalgic to apologize for the absence. With the way her eyes softened for a moment, he almost expected the latter. But her eyes quickly reverted back to the teasing sparkle they had before. Aang found that he didn't disagree with the change. This hardly seemed the place for such intimate reunions. Besides, Toph didn't quite seem the type for such heartfelt admissions, at least not in front of so many people and not quite so easily.

"So." Toph lifted her head again and properly turned her body towards him. "I doubt you come all the way to Ba Sing Se just to sit back and watch everyone else around you have fun. I never pegged you for the type to hang out here."

Aang was tempted to retort with the same sentiment, but refrained from doing so and simply answered, "I'm not. But Sokka is."

"Oh really." Toph's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Good ol' Snoozles is here? Where is he?"

"You can't see him?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders in annoyance. "The drums are throwing me off. Plus there are so many people here I can't see as well as I'd like. I only noticed it was you when I got close."

Aang figured that made sense. Besides, looking around, he didn't think Sokka was even here anymore. That or he was extremely well disguised within the crowd that Aang couldn't pick him out. He figured that he might want to talk to Toph as well, but something told him that Sokka was a little bit preoccupied with other things to even think about coming back to the bar to see how Aang was doing. The Air Bender really didn't mind it all too much, especially not now. The thought of catching up with Toph all by himself pleased him immensely.

"And here I thought that the Great and Powerful Toph Bei Fong could do anything," Aang teased. "Shall I alert the media?"

Toph nudged his shoulder and made him topple in his seat a bit. She tried to look annoyed, but the smile threw the whole thing off. "Lay off, will you? Picking on a cripple is just cruel."

"But you're not crippled," Aang smiled in response. "Unless you'd like me to help you live out your princess fantasy and let me sweep you off to where I see fit."

"How romantic," Toph deadpanned. "Anyway, why are you here?"

Aang sighed and immediately felt a headache coming on just from the mention of the meetings he had in a couple of days. "Avatar and political stuff that is nothing short of suicide-inducing rubbish. I don't recommend it."

Toph didn't look sympathetic. "Well, that's what you get for being an accomplished, sacred heart throb. It's all your fault."

Aang couldn't help but zoom in on the last part of her statement. "Heart throb, huh?"

"Perhaps you're oblivious to these kinds of things being the obvious male that you are, but you are the topic of talk amongst social circles like these. And trust me…they're not just talking about your heroic attributes." Toph allowed a quick little smirk to spread across her face and decided to let Aang puzzle out exactly what she meant by that. He was a little bit thrown off by the teasing look she had sent him, never having the opportunity to converse with her in such a way. He wondered if maybe she spent so much time at these dance halls that she had perfected the little subtleties he kept catching on to. It was either that, or she was really just that innately talented.

Feeling a little bit more self-conscious and all the more fascinated, Aang flipped the conversation around. "Well what about you? I distinctly remember you hating this city."

"Legal stuff," she answered cryptically. "All the competent lawyers are here. Spending days conversing with tightly wound prudes causes you to want to let loose a little bit." She leaned back in her chair and held up her hands as if asking Aang to witness the beauty around her. "Hence our current location."

"For seven years?" She was being so vague that Aang had to wonder if she was doing it on purpose and intentionally hiding something from him. Or maybe she was just purposefully trying to jab at his curiosity.

"I've been about," she answered simply, as if that was all the answer that Aang needed. "Settled some family things and traveled a little. Nothing too bad, right?"

"With you, that could mean anything," Aang joked. Not exactly the answer he was hoping for, but he didn't really think this was the time or the place to be talking so heatedly about such things. After all, it was bad enough they were practically shouting over the music just to hear each other. He figured that he could wait for a proper response sometime later.

Any conversation either of them had planned on furthering was halted when the music changed drastically. Two drummers had entered the center of the stage and began leading the band with a catchy base beat that the rest of the young people on the dance floor immediately recognized. Soon, other instruments in the back began to join in on the beat and pretty soon, everyone started arranging themselves into lines.

Toph laughed at the sight. "You know this dance, don't you?"

Aang nodded. In fact, he had learned about a month ago when Sokka had barged into his room uninvited and taught him the whole thing despite his rather horrible rendition of the accompanied music. It was about four in the morning when Sokka had stumbled into his room and insisted on sharing his revelation with someone, but Aang supposed it was better than sitting and reading through scrolls written by stuffy diplomats that really could have been dealt with later. Apparently, the dance had exploded with the teenage population and nearly every dance hall in the Earth Kingdom knew the music that went along with it. You could almost count on hearing at least four times in the night.

Figuring that while the opportunity was presented to him he might as well take advantage of it, Aang sprung out of his seat and nudged his drink towards the bartender, insisting that he was done with it for the moment. He sauntered in a gentlemanly manner and stopped in front of Toph as he held out his hand to her.

"You want to dance?"

Still keeping up the almost careless way she seemed to be carrying herself tonight, she hesitated with a reluctant smirk and an eyebrow quirked. But Aang knew how to read her well, and was pleased when she slid from her seat and took his hand gently and nodding to him politely in thanks. The two of them laughed at the exchange before stumbling into the middle of the floor amidst the other bodies and stood across from each other as they waited for the band to shift into the main beat.

He vaguely remembered the time where he and Katara had danced together at the Fire Nation party they had thrown all those years ago. Though he knew for a fact that it was going to be entirely different this time around. The dance they had shared was very fluid. There were lots of jumps and a lot of skirting around each other without really touching. It mirrored the same defensive nature of the Water Bending they had practiced together. It was a beautiful dance, high in energy, but perfectly innocent.

This dance was something else entirely. The movements were sharp and quick and involved getting up close and personal with your dance partner. There was no disconnection. If you weren't touching your partner, your bodies were glued to the ground. The light jumps he remembered with Katara were replaced with daring slides across the floor with Toph. The gyrating was another touch that was rather new. It was a very flirtatious dance. One minute Aang and Toph were close to each other, their hips moving in sync and just barely brushing against the other. But the next minute they would break apart and dance apart, completing move after move in quick succession to keep up with the rhythm.

The beat changed and the dancers immediately knew what to do next. Toph smiled at Aang as the sweat started trickling down their necks and backs in their attempts to keep up with the demanding dance. Her eyebrows lifted a fraction and Aang knew exactly what she had meant by the action. At the exact moment of the new beat, Toph—along with the rest of the female dancers—jumped as she planted a hand firmly on Aang's shoulder. He remembered when he had practiced this with Sokka and thanked the Spirits that she was far lighter than he was as he effortlessly flipped her backwards. She landed on her feet exactly on the beat of the drums and smiled coyly at him as they got back up against each other again.

The beat slowed down, and Aang put his hands on her hips as they kept on moving their hips in perfect rhythm.

"Not bad," Toph panted, slightly out of breath. "But then again, I knew you were a good dancer."

"At least you knew," Aang laughed. "I didn't know you could dance, though."

Toph shrugged and simply replied, "Well, I actually come to dance halls for the dancing." She took that moment to drop to the floor so that her nose was maybe only a hair's breath away from brushing against his pants in a very suggestive manner. The female dancers popped back up quickly enough, and Aang suddenly realized that he was seriously entertained by the devil-may-care way she was dancing with him. All thought of his girlfriend at home momentarily left his mind as he threw himself full throttle into the rest of the dance.

The music became wild after that. Instruments played all over the place and the drummers looked positively animalistic as they pounded down on their instruments for the last part of the dance. Aang noted with humor as many of the couples around them fell into giggles as they failed to keep up with the ridiculously fast tempo and instead stopped their dancing altogether. Toph must have been serious when she said she frequented these dance halls often, because she showed no signs of slowing down at all. Her feet were far too accustomed to the earth for her to even think of tripping over herself. Of course, Aang appreciated the appeal of the dance and picked up the steps quickly enough and didn't falter.

They barely noticed when the dance floor opened up so that everyone was staring only at them and cheering them on to finish the rest of the dance. Aang didn't think he had ever had this much fun in a while. This was probably the first time that he had ever come to a dance hall and actually thoroughly enjoyed himself. There was just something so carefree about Toph that made him forget why he was even here and just focus on the two of them. He forgot just how much she lifted his spirits right when he needed her to and how much his heart swelled at the prospect of doing something so uninhibited. The seven years without her around suddenly hit him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out how he had survived this whole time without her around.

Aang quickly dipped her low to the floor—so low her head was only inches off from the floor—and relished in the deafening applause that surrounded them. Even the musicians on the stage joined in on the applause since it was rare that the circle opened up on just one couple. Aang easily pulled her up to her feet and immediately felt the heat rising to his face from the exertion. Toph's bun had come out somewhere in between and was now falling past her shoulders, the headband holding her hair together nowhere to be seen. He didn't think he had ever seen her with her hair down before. It was an interesting look that he thought complimented her more than the bun did.

Toph's head jerked towards the door as she put a hand on his shoulder and led him off the dance floor. Aang mused to himself and wondered where Sokka had gone off. Though, to be fair, Sokka didn't look like he had had that much to drink tonight. He seemed fairly sober—well more sober than usual—when he had last laid eyes on him and figured that he would be fine getting home by himself.

Aang nodded and made his way with Toph in stride to the back of the dance hall where all the coats and cloaks were kept. Aang threw his on over his shoulders as Toph tied the strings to her cloak and slipped on her own pair of gloves to keep warm in the winter weather. Sparing one last glance at the noise and thrum of music, the two friends ducked out the dance hall and entered the cold streets of the city.

Toph didn't drag him far. They only walked about five minutes before she brought him to a quaint little dessert shop that she knew made late night deliveries to the insomniac university students whose lodgings weren't that far away. They entered the store and Aang heard Toph thank under her breath that no one was there. She jumped up and down on her feet and blew on her fingertips as she asked the clerk for double her usual order.

Aang chuckled at the sight of her all rosy cheeked from the cold and her trying to warm her numb feet that were completely bare save for some charms hanging on the tops of her feet that dangled from her anklets. She heard his chuckling and rather immaturely stuck her tongue out at him while he collapsed into more laughter. There was something so natural about the way that Aang could go without seeing Toph for so many years and be able to be with her so easily that he found himself smiling while she started to chastise him for making fun of her. His heart warmed at the sight and couldn't resist jabbing more fun at her while they waited for their order.

Much to his surprise, Toph sat the two of them down at a table in the corner and placed two beautifully prepared egg custard tarts in front of them. Aang's eyes sparkled at the sight, and Toph must have sensed his excitement because she began smiling at his excitement.

"I still remember they're your favorite," she replied simply as she cut into her own tart and began sampling the sugary sweet.

It was such a little detail about him to remember, and normally it wouldn't have made him feel so special. Katara remembered his favorite foods all the time and knew close to everything about him. But that was to be expected after dating for so long. Toph…well she was just so attune to him that she didn't even hesitate to read him effortlessly. There was something so oddly warming and comforting about that fact that he couldn't help but thank her warmly for the offer.

They had each taken a few bites of the treat before Aang had decided to continue their conversation where they had left off. "How long are you staying in Ba Sing Se?"

Toph chewed thoughtfully before shrugging nonchalantly. "However long I want. Of course, there are still some things I need to deal with down here. But I'm in no rush to go back home. Admittedly, the city is growing on me. Kuei's calmed down on the cutthroat rules he set up during the war, so it's not that bad anymore. Besides, the social scene here is way better than in Gaoling, I can tell you that."

"I still would have never thought you'd be the type for dance halls though." He didn't think Toph wasn't necessarily opposed to having a good time—far from it actually. But before she seemed so focused on other things besides dancing and flirting. She would rather gamble and fight, he had seen it first hand himself. He certainly didn't expect to see her there tonight.

Toph twirled her chopsticks around in the custard middle of her dessert, her eyes glazed over in thought. "Neither did I, to be honest. But underground Earth Rumble tournaments aren't allowed in Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li would skin you and serve you to the Earth King on a golden platter complete with his morning jook, so I had to find other sources of entertainment. Besides, so long as you don't get too drunk, they're pretty fun."

"I hear you. After that they become this annoying cacophony of drunken nonsense." He had been a witness to such decrepit states before. That was usually the time when Aang looked for Sokka and dragged him home before he completely lost his cool.

"Totally agree with you. It's sort of a curse with this city."

Aang raised a brow at the comment and chewed thoughtfully. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Toph began, "we Earth Kingdom folk like to think Ba Sing Se has it all. In reality, it sort of does. It's the richest capital in the world and anyone who wants to be successful in the Earth Kingdom only need to have a lucky connection here and they're set for the rest of their lives. That being said, it's easy to overindulge."

"Elaborate?"

Toph put down her chopsticks for a moment and looked as if she were struggling with her next words. She flinched a little when she spoke, as if she still wasn't fully satisfied with the explanation she was about to give.

"Caught up in the moment, I guess? But not quite. It's like a sensory overload. There's so much to take in that sometimes it becomes a little overwhelming and you're not quite sure how to handle it. So you try to let it all soak up, and you start losing track of what came from where. Before you know it, you're stuck in this in between place where you know you need to leave, but you can't." She shook her head and frowned. "That probably didn't make sense."

"Actually, it kind of did," Aang promised. He was used to her confusing trains of thought. She had a very complex mind and often created theories that were tough to follow if you didn't know her well. "Though you talk about it as if you know exactly what this little disease is."

"You might say I've only recently been cured," Toph smiled darkly, this time looking as if she knew she was being purposefully vague. "It's surreal for a little bit, and you don't mind the excitement. But after that, you feel burned out and you need to stop on the side of the road and take a breath."

Aang gestured to their table and desserts she had just purchased. "So it this you taking a breather?"

"No," she replied quickly. "This is a full on vacation. You're the first familiar face I've seen in years. It's…nice."

"What is?" he asked.

"Wanting to stay here as opposed to feeling like I have to." She didn't elaborate any further and finished her dessert with a few final bites.

Aang never knew Toph to be this cryptic. Maybe it came with the age? Or maybe Ba Sing Se really affected people as much as she claimed it did. She made it sound like she really didn't want to come here at first, but reluctantly allowed the city to grow on her, maybe a little too much. Overindulgence? Yes, he supposed he could see that. Just looking around at the people he sometimes ran into, they seemed like they were all over the place trying to live up every little moment the city threw at them without bothering to stop. He never felt like that before, never felt like he needed to see and feel everything as if it would disappear when he blinked. But then again, living a quaint little life in the North Pole would do that to you.

It didn't look as if living in such a lively and rich city seemed to have affected Toph as much as she claimed it did. But what she said caused his heart to swell. He smiled at the compliment and finished his dessert quickly so that they could move on somewhere else.

"I really missed you, Toph." He wasn't sure why he felt like saying then and there. It just seemed like the right thing to say at the moment and the best way to sum up how he was feeling. He missed this. He really did. It was sweet to experience all over again.

Toph smiled at him—not in that unintentionally teasing or flirtatious way she had been smiling all night. This was a genuine smile filled with the youth that left behind all those years ago.

"Missed you too, Twinkles."

After they had finished up and left the shop, Aang walked her back to her own hotel, which was only a stone's throw away from his own. He figured it was the least that he could do after she had paid for a last minute little snack and spent the entire night with him. Besides, he didn't quite want to say goodbye to her just yet.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Toph asked suddenly.

Aang turned to her and saw her shivering rather violently underneath the thin looking cloak she had brought with her. He didn't really think when he opened his coat and draped one side of it over her shoulders so that she would at least be a little more covered from the wind blowing through the streets. He found it akin to the times when she used to hang onto his arms whenever they were in a place where she couldn't see: nothing short of a friendly gesture.

He shook his head. "Not tomorrow, thank goodness. I could use a break anyway while Sokka's in bed complaining of a headache again."

Toph nodded and smirked. "Good. Then I call dibs on you. We're hanging out."

"I see, and do I get a say in all this?" he asked.

"Of course," she smiled. She leaned her head on his shoulder, looked up at him pleadingly and spoke in a soft little whisper. "You could say yes."

Aang rolled his eyes at the actions and turned his head away from her before he even got to thinking that the face she had made was downright adorable. "That does not work on me, Toph Bei Fong, and you know it."

The girl grimaced and pulled his coat tighter around her. "Can't blame a blind girl for trying, though. But seriously…interested?"

"I dunno," he replied lazily. "Are we going to schmooze around in another dance hall?"

"Hey now, you were enjoying yourself the minute I showed up. Don't hide what's inside!"

"You were the only good part about that entire evening." The sentence made Aang visibly halt for a moment. That was a strange way to phrase it. He wasn't sure how deeply he had meant that. For a second, he looked at Toph and worried over how she had taken what he had said, but she must have skimmed over the innuendos that he didn't realize he had made and continued on right after him.

"Whatever you say," Toph chuckled. "I know what I saw. So how about it?"

By now they had been standing in front of her hotel and he realized that now was probably a good time to part ways and let her run upstairs so that she could rest. Her feet looked cold and he didn't want to keep her longer than he should have, but there was something so odd about having her wrapped up in his coat the way that she was. Not a bad sort of odd, but…definitely something that he wasn't accustomed to for some reason. He wasn't sure what aspect of it felt strange to him. It wasn't like he hadn't done similar things for her before in a friendly sort of gesture, and neither of them questioned the action when they were twelve and had nothing going for them except for a very raw and honest sort of friendship. But surely that was the same now. So what was different? Why did it feel different?

He looked down at her again and he knew that she was expecting a response from him, one that he wasn't really mentally equipped to answer at the moment. He wasn't sure what had come over him, but something inside of his brain flickered on at that moment, something that hadn't been touched literally in years.

He was sure, because all of a sudden a rushing feeling came over him that he couldn't put a name to. It was a heady feeling, and maybe it was because he was tired or maybe it was because he was having so much fun with her that he was confusing his feelings. Maybe it was because he looked down at her and her eyes had taken on that lovely ghostly glow that they often did when it was the lighting was poor. Maybe he really, really missed her, so much so that it was too much to deal with and he overreacted.

But thankfully, he caught himself and immediately backed away from her.

Toph was hit with the cold again as Aang tentatively stepped away from her and left her in front of the hotel. "Aang?"

His hands were on his forehead as if he were trying to force sense into his jumbled thoughts and he backed away further into the street, scared with himself. "I've gotta go."

Aang didn't wait for an answer before he did that old, childish thing that he did when he was a child and ran away from his problems the moment they started scaring him. Except this time, he all but darted like a bat out of hell and didn't look back. He was light and fast and was already around the corner before he heard Toph calling after him. He didn't stop, not even when he passed his own hotel.

He had wandered into a part of the city that he didn't recognize, and in the very back of his mind he groaned at the prospect of having to navigate all the way back. But that feeling that had so suddenly washed over him wasn't fading like he had thought it would, and he found himself leaning up against the wall of a building, wondering when it would go away. He shut his eyes and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and slid down to the floor, ignoring the chill that ran through him. He couldn't quite explain how such an idea had come into his head, and he wasn't sure how he was meant to deal with the discovery now, nor how he should even approach it after this. But, frighteningly enough, he knew exactly what that destructive thought was.

At that moment, he had wanted to kiss her.

A/N: A three-shot, ladies and gentlemen. Two more chapters to go. And, of course, review!