Work Text:
Working at a coffee shop wasn’t all it cracked up to be. Prior to applying to be a barista at the local coffee shop, which was owned by a nice and wise old man, Sokka had no idea how to make coffee. It was beyond him how he even got the job – he just thought Iroh took pity on him for being a clumsy engineering student at the college nearby. Despite this fact, though, he learned how to use the coffee maker and how to brew a decent cup of coffee within his first two or three weeks of working at the shop.
Sokka had been working for about a month when he first saw her – the short, radiant stranger. It had been a rainy morning that prompted her to take refuge inside the coffee shop that she had never before stepped foot in. She had been soaked from head to toe and she was wearing a black and green hoodie, jeans, and boots. As he thought about how stunning he found her to be, she had made her way up to the counter and slammed a couple of yuans onto the counter and asked for a drink with three ingredients in it and he just froze and asked her to repeat the order. She sighed and ended up asking for a black coffee with three sugars. She also told him to keep the change. And as he was getting ready to serve the coffee into the cup, he spilled it all over himself, earning a chuckle from her. He was convinced he was in love.
From that day on, she had been visiting the shop quite often – about three or four times a week – and he had finally learned her name was Toph from her orders. Sokka tried hard to make small talk with her, his voice cracking due to nerves every once in a while, and she replied to him with short remarks and teases and he couldn’t get enough of it – or her. Zuko, his co-worker, and Iroh’s nephew, noticed this and he constantly teased him about it. But one day, although Sokka would never admit it to him, his firebending co-worker gave him the best idea.
“You should write love notes on her coffee cup,” Zuko teased as he wiped down the coffee machine. “Or even your phone number. Girls love cliché.”
Sokka’s head snapped toward his usually-brooding co-worker, “That’s ridiculous.”
Ridiculously smart, he thought to himself immediately after responding to Zuko.
“Suit yourself, buddy,” said Zuko, “It just seems like a real Sokka thing to do.”
“A real Sokka thing to do? What other things seem like a Sokka thing to do?” He asked defensively.
Zuko rolled his eyes, “You know, like how you see a puddle of water on one side of the shop causing you to fall on your ass on the other side, or like you burning your hand because you were grabbing the hot coffee cup underneath the insulation sleeve, or-“
“Okay!” Sokka exclaimed, “That’s enough, I’ve heard enough. Shut up.”
Zuko burst out with laughter and suddenly nudged Sokka in the ribs with his elbow, whispering, “Heads up, Lover Boy.”
Sokka’s eyebrows knitted together before noticing Toph approaching the counter. His hands started sweating and he heard Zuko chuckle behind him. Sokka sent a glare his way and walked up to the cash register, “Hey, Toph. Your usual?”
Her long bangs were in her face, as usual, making a mystery out of her eyes, and she was in her usual black and green get-up. She shrugged, “Yup, but can you add creamer? And a scone? I’m feeling adventurous today, Butter Fingers.”
“I can, uh, absolutely do that,” he smiled at the nickname.
“Can you handle it? I don’t want you to burn yourself or anything.”
Sokka blushed, trying to hide it from her as he contemplated whether or not he should write his number on her coffee cup. He chose to do so, just for the heck of it. He finally said, “Not this time, I won’t burn myself this time. I promise.”
Toph chuckled, sliding the money onto the counter. She stood to the side of the counter waiting for Sokka to hand her the order. Here goes nothing, the barista thought as he scribbled down his phone number onto the cup. He bagged her scone, capped her coffee, and handed it over to her, their hands brushing slightly making his fingers tingle. Toph mumbled a thank you and left the shop without looking back.
After his shift, Sokka would not stop staring at his phone screen, waiting for a message to arrive on his phone, but none came. His mind raced, wondering if she had seen the number and freaked out, or if she just drank her coffee and threw it away, never even noticing the ten digits that made up his phone number. Why would he ever listen to a brooding barista handing out love advice? Zuko had a girlfriend and she was just as miserable as him – a match made in heaven, really. Sokka groaned.
The next morning, Sokka dragged himself into work, anxious to see Toph and find out if she was creeped out by him or if she just failed to see the detail on the cup. His hands were sweaty from the moment he started his shift because of the nervousness coursing through his body. When he heard the bell that signaled the entry of a customer, he looked up abruptly to find her walking in. His heart was thumping strongly against his chest.
“Hey, Butter Fingers,” Toph smiled, “Usual?”
Sokka cocked his head, much like a polar bear dog when it was curious, “Uh, just your, uh, usual?”
Toph nodded slowly. He couldn’t see her eyes because of her bangs again and it bothered him that he couldn’t use them to read her, “Just the usual.”
Sokka nodded, taking the money that she had already slid onto the counter. He bit his lip in thought. So he didn’t absolutely embarrass himself because it seemed like she had no clue that there was anything written on the cup. Feeling daring all of a sudden, he scribbled his phone number down on her coffee cup again before he poured the hot liquid in and heated up a corn muffin for her. He called her name and she appeared within a moment to collect her order.
“Added a corn muffin,” he said sheepishly, “On the house.”
“Sweet, thanks!” She said, taking the items and turning her back. Sokka watched her as she took a seat in one of the shop’s booths, which was very out of character of her. Sokka noticed that she usually left the shop as soon as she received her order; that day, though, she chose to eat in. Her back was to him, so he couldn’t see her face, but she seemed to have been listening to music considering the way her head was bopping.
An hour passed and she was still seated in the booth. The shop was uncharacteristically slow for an hour in the morning when they normally had a steady flow of customers. Zuko crept up behind him, startling him out of his thoughts.
“I’ll cover for you if you want to talk to her,” he said.
Sokka considered his offer. He could go speak with her and see if she was willing to hang out, rather than wait for her to notice the phone number. Or he could embarrass the hell out of himself in the process. The young barista shrugged. What’s life without its risks?
Ultimately, Sokka nodded nervously to Zuko, who chuckled at his anxiety. Sokka huffed at him as he removed his apron and set it beneath the counter while spoke with her.
He approached her booth and she noticed his presence right away, pulling her earbuds out of her ears and directing her attention to the table before her rather than him.
“Hey, Butter Fingers,” Toph said, “What are you doing here?”
Sokka swallowed thickly, “Uh, I guess I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Cool, so then talk,” she said with a smirk on her face. Sokka swore he felt his heart stop at the view.
“Uh, how are you?” he said lamely. He mentally facepalmed.
Toph snorted, “I’m good, and yourself?”
“Good, yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. Then, before he could stop himself, he blurted, “So did you notice what I wrote on your coffee cup yesterday and today?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Toph asked, a laugh threatening to rush out of her mouth at any moment.
Sokka blushed, “Well, I was wondering if you saw it. I wrote my phone number down on your cups.”
Toph put her hand over her mouth and giggled. If he could, Sokka would have launched himself out of the coffee shop out of pure embarrassment, but before he could, she said, “Butter Fingers, I’m blind.”
Wow, he thought, that makes so much sense.
Externally, Sokka was pursing his lips, and his face was probably as red as a tomato – he thanked the Spirits that she could never see the blushing she caused him. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m an idiot.”
“I wouldn’t say an idiot,” she said teasingly, “Oblivious, maybe, but not an idiot. Not entirely. I don’t know yet.”
“So you, like, actually can’t see,” he stated, almost convincing himself.
“That’s what blindness is, Butter Fingers.”
He made an abrupt observation and said, “You don’t have a walking stick?”
“I use my bending,” she said simply. “Soleless boots work wonders.”
“You’re an earthbender, then,” he said. Sokka had heard about how earthbenders could feel the earth as though it was an extension of them. Zuko was a bender, but all he could do was serve as a furnace when it got cold or as a heater for the tea when the power went out. Firebending wasn’t much fun, especially when Zuko used it often to burn him in the ass during work.
Toph hummed, blowing her bangs out of her face. Sokka saw her eyes for the first time – a milky film blurring the deep green of her iris. She pushed her phone over to him, “So... your number?”
“You want it?” He asked, taking her phone and adding his number to her contacts. Sokka was surprised at the gesture, to say the least.
She shrugged, a teasing edge to her voice laced with a tone of seriousness, “Sure, unless dating a blind girl isn’t on your bucket list.”
Sokka grinned at the implication of them dating, and said, “No, but dating you is.”
A light blush crept its way onto her face this time as she said, “Smooth, now go make me some more coffee.”