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Maybe it’s because she’s impossible to lie to, but Zuko always finds himself a lot more honest with Toph. Not that he often lies, he’s always been bad at that, but he can certainly act well when it comes down to it. He never even bothers with white lies or casual deception with her. And he trusts her to be the same way with him. For all of her teasing and joking, she knows just how to reassure him she’s being honest when she needs to. He feels safe with her, and fully believes her when she says she feels the same with him.
Azula always lies, but Toph never does.
It starts at the Air Temple, when Toph keeps coming to find him and drag him around with her to talk and spar and train. He thinks it’s pity at first, but he’s also pretty sure you don’t beat people up out of pity. She’s fun and friendly in her own way, even if he ends up a little bruised at the end of the day. He can feel Katara’s eyes boring into the back of his head, but Toph just laughs loudly and pulls him into conversations like nothing’s wrong.
The first evening they all sit together, Toph throws herself down across his lap and refuses to move, despite the shocked spluttering from everyone else, Zuko included.
“Beats a hot water bottle,” she shrugs when Katara stammers out a protest, “seriously, its like sitting in front of a furnace.”
Zuko will never admit to anyone that he slightly increases his body heat after that. Just so Toph doesn’t have to get uncomfortable and move to get a blanket. When she falls asleep against him, a memory of little Azula drifts back, and for once it’s not an unpleasant one. He doesn’t reach out and gently stroke her head, or carry her to bed and tuck her in when the time comes, but it still feels like the ghost of his little sister is right there.
Two nights later, they both fall asleep - Toph from the warmth, and Zuko with an oddly light feeling in his chest despite the weight of the little earthbender.
There’s a blanket over them when he wakes up, and Sokka firmly denies any involvement. He’s a worse liar than Zuko, and Toph delights in teasing him mercilessly from her spot in Zuko’s lap at breakfast.
They often find themselves together when not training Aang, and it’s so easy Zuko almost forgets that he’s a traitor to his nation helping their worst enemy. Toph keeps him busy, either throwing rocks at him or asking him questions about everything from history to what Aang’s tattoos look like.
He hesitantly traces the arrow pattern on her hand, then her head, then makes the delightful discovery that she’s ticklish at the back of her neck. Waking up the next morning covered in aching bruises is painful, but so very worth it.
That night, she drags him to the top of the cliff and tells him to show her the stars, letting him press dots and lines into her palm.
“It doesn’t really bother me, people joke about it sometimes, but I’ve always wanted to know.”
“My mother used to take me out to stargaze,” he tells her, and it feels strange to talk about his mother with anyone but Uncle, “they have proper names, but she came up with her own. There’s the turtleduck, and the fire ferret...”
She smiles a lot softer than her usual fierce grin as he draws the patterns on her forearm.
“Is there a badgermole?”
“I don’t think so, but there are so many stars we can just make one.”
She grabs his hand and traces the shape on his palm. “Okay, that’s it. It’s my constellation, but I guess I have to share it with you now.”
“I’ll protect it, I swear on my life,” he half jokes.
“Sparky, you’d die for pretty much anything,” she deadpans, “we’re literally only here because you threw yourself off a cliff after an assassin.”
He laughs and traces the badgermole back onto her hand. “I swear on the turtleducks, then.”
“Damn, you are serious.”
They both laugh again and he feels so light he’s almost dizzy. Aang finds them in the morning, and Zuko realises he slept an hour past sunrise. And not a single nightmare.