Day 1: Nicknames

Toph was a master of nicknames - they came naturally to her. Sokka, on the other hand, wasn't as adept as his best friend when it came to nicknaming. Yeah, he had his moments and his nicknames were exceptionally better than those Aang and Katara attempted giving, but they weren't like Toph's. The warrior felt the blind earthbender deserved a nickname. After all, she was the only onein their group without one and he was the only other person in their group qualified to nickname her.

It was only fair.

Sokka gave much thought to Toph's future nickname – it had to be special and fitting, something that would stick. While they traveled through the Fire Nation, he found himself watching her carefully, observant of the earthbender's every move, watching for inspiration to hit.

He was beginning to grow hopeless. Why did Toph have to be so difficult? If anyone in their group was to be a master at the art of giving nicknames, it should have been him; after all, he was the Idea Guy! "How do you do it, Toph?" he finally asked her one night as they sat by a fire while Aang and Katara made camp.

"Do what?" Toph asked, her eyebrows drawn together.

Sokka gestured wildly with his hands. "Do the whole nickname-thing!"

Slowly, realization hit the young bender. "It sorta comes…naturally to me," she explained, shrugging.

"That's a lot of help," Sokka grumbled, turning back to eating his seal jerky.

"Well, Snoozles, you gotta be creative," Toph responded, smirking.

"Are you saying I'm not creative?" Sokka demanded, rounding on the girl.

His best friend shrugged. "I'm not saying you are creative, that's for sure." Sokka huffed indignantly, causing Toph's smirk to widen. "Who're you trying to nickname, anyway?"

"No one."

"Oooh, you're lying, Snoozles." She waved a foot in the air. "I'm a human lie detector, remember?"

Although it was lost on her, Sokka glared at Toph. She was the most unhelpful, stubborn, and annoying person he knew; he should have known not to ask her for help. "How could I forget?" he snapped.

Toph ignored his comment. "Sooo, who are you trying to nickname?" As if he needed another reminder, she waved a foot in front of him once again. "Don't lie."

Grumbling, he pushed her foot away. "What does it matter? You're obviously no help at all!"

"Well, maybe I would help you if you asked nicely."

"Yeahh, not gonna happen."

If Toph was affected by his rejection, she didn't show it; she merely shrugged and turned toward the fire. "Your loss."

…

Five years later, when Toph was eighteen and Sokka twenty, Sokka had long forgotten his search of a nickname for his best friend. Maybe Toph wasn't "nickname material", he had reasoned and that was the end of it. Toph continued calling him "Snoozles", despite the fact that they were older now. She was still the same Toph - sarcastic, blunt, brash Toph. And he was still Sokka – meat and sarcasm lover Sokka.

As one would expect, they were as immature as they had been five years ago.

Both sat cross-legged in front of the pond at Zuko's palace, feeding the turtleducks with bread they stole from the palace kitchen earlier. Stuffed in the pair's pockets, however, were miniature bottles of alcohol. Both were bored and needed something entertaining to do – why not give Zuko's turtleducks some alcohol? Sokka had suggested and Toph, ever the willing accomplice, had immediately jumped on board, but only if they saved some for themselves.

Glancing around them cautiously, Sokka leaned closer to his best friend and whispered, "Is the coast clear?"

Flattening her feet against the group, Toph waited a second before answer: "Yep. Let's do this."

Both began emptying their pockets, placing the bottles protectively around them. Toph opened one and quickly downed it before opening another. Sokka grabbed her arm when she was going for a third. "Er, you might wanna wait. We have a prank to pull, remember?"

She sat the bottle down. "Right. The prank. Gotcha." Leaning forward, she outstretched her hands. "Here, duckie-duckie, come to Toph," she demanded and the turtleducks recoiled.

"Toph, you're doing it wrong," Sokka chastised. "You gotta be patient and motherly."

"Right. Because patient and motherly are two words you'd use to describe me," she deadpanned.

"Can you at least try?" Sokka bargained.

They both leaned forward this time, their arms outstretched as they called for the turtleducks to come to them. After failed attempts at catching one, Toph said finally, "Why don't we just pour the damn alcohol in the water? They'll drink it then."

"Y'know, Toph, that's not a bad idea."

Four bottles later, they smirked to themselves at their handiwork: the turtleducks were chirping expressively and splashing in the water, a few of them going in circles. As a present to themselves, they began drinking the rest of the alcohol, relaxing them both. Sokka was a bit drunk after his fifth bottle, but he wasn't about to admit that to Toph, who was on her sixth and her occasional giggle was the only proof that she was well on her way to becoming drunk.

They leaned on their elbows, with Toph staring ahead sightlessly and Sokka watching the turtleducks, a look of complete glee on his face. "Turtleduck," Sokka blurted suddenly, turning a goofy smile in the direction of his friend.

Toph looked in the direction of Sokka, her eyebrows pulled together. "Huh?"

"That's your nickname: Turtleduck," Sokka explained impatiently.

"That doesn't make sense."

Was she blushing? "Are you blushing, Turtleduck? You're red."

Sokka leaned forward, peering closely into the face of his best friend. Yep, she was blushing. She turned away from him. "I'm not. And don't call me that. It's stupid."

"Hey! It's not stupid!" He glared at the girl. "It's creative."

"Creative my ass," she snorted.

"Language!"

Toph moved away from him, rolling her eyes. "Shove it, Snoozles."

"Turtleduck."

"Ponytail."

"Little Badgermole."

"You're a terrible nickname-giver." She giggled. "Woe is you."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It does to me."

Sokka huffed and crossed his arms, turning away from Toph. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the turtleducks walking clumsily towards his best friend. She flinched when it first jumped onto her lap, but her hand slowly came down to caress the drunken animal. It made a squeaking noise in reply.

Sokka snorted. "Turtleduck."

"Shut up."