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He was panting as she laughed at him for having fallen on his ass for the umpteenth time while they sparred in the pro-bending gym. Toph had already beaten Sokka more times he could count, but he wasn’t about to quit when he knew that she had to tire out at some point; they had been fighting for a few hours. He knew that depending on her fatigue to beat her was unsportsmanlike, but sportsmanship bit the dust when she repeatedly made him fall on his ass with no mercy.
“Come on,” Toph said mockingly as she stomped the ground with her heel to bend him back onto his feet, “Is that really all you’ve got, Snoozles? I expected so much more from you.”
Sokka glared at her. Though he knew she could not see him, he felt good about glaring, “If you would just let me use my sword, you would have been beaten ages ago.”
Toph snorted, taking a gulp of water and handing him the bottle when she was finished, “How fair would that be if you’re not letting me bend?”
“Bending and sword fighting are two different things, Toph!” He said exasperatedly, snatching the bottle from her hands and taking a violent series of gulps of water before dropping the bottle at his side.
Sokka took his fighting stance and he noticed that Toph rolled her eyes before doing the same. The smirk adorning her lips infuriated him. She must have noticed his irritation because she said, “You’re such a sore loser, Snoozles.”
“Less talking,” he retorted, “More sparring.”
She raised her hands in defense, then settled back into her stance, a trying eyebrow raised, “Say no more.”
Toph waited for Sokka to move toward her with the force he had been donning throughout their whole match. He tried to quietly move toward her, but it was no use because she already sensed where he was. With a swift sweep beneath his legs as he charged toward her, he fell flat on his face again with a groan.
“You’re not even trying,” she chuckled slyly as she towered above him, offering a hand for Sokka to use to pull himself up. “Punch, sweep, kick back, something. This is getting pathetic.”
“You’re really pissing me off, Toph,” he said sourly, ignoring her hand and standing up. He knew he would beat her; he was just off his A-game that day.
The earthbender shrugged, trying not to laugh at his anger. It was always entertaining to her how he would get mad at her every time she kicked his ass. He was the one who wanted to get his training in, and she wasn’t going to be one to complain about a workout, “Cool, then use it to beat me.”
“Oh, I’ll beat you, alright,” Sokka threatened in a mumble as he stomped back to the sparring area. He remembered the words Piandao had told him once about using his surroundings to his advantage. Looking around, he noticed a thick rope hanging from the ceiling — he recognized that it was used for climbing — and it was near enough for him use during their spar.
“Whenever you’re ready, Captain,” she smirked, once again taking her stance.
He grunted in response, quietly approaching the rope and climbing onto it to lose all contact with the ground. Sokka saw Toph’s face contort into one of confusion — she couldn’t feel him anymore. He smirked at this and swung on the rope, trying to get close enough to dismount and knock her down when he hit the ground, but he waited for her to move forward in her confusion.
“Taking cues from Twinkle Toes, are we?” Toph quipped, “Now that’s just sad, Sokka. Come on out here.”
Sokka chose not to respond and decided that then was the right moment to swing off the rope. When he landed right in front of her, her eyes widened in surprise before she punched forward. Sokka grabbed her fist, turned her around so she would have her back to him, and kicked her knees, making her topple onto the ground, chest first. He smiled triumphantly.
“I kicked back,” he said.
Toph rolled onto her back and squinted her sightless eyes at where she sensed he was and huffed, “You kicked back.”
“I won,” he grinned, pulling his hair out of its tightly tied wolf tail to give it a shake. “You lost.”
Annoyed, she smacked the ground with her palm, and a piece of the wall behind him ejected, pushing straight into his back and making him land on top of her with a quiet grunt. Sokka’s face reddened when he realized that their faces were inches apart, and she felt her own heartbeat begin to pick up its pace when she felt his breath on her lips. Toph hadn’t intended for them to end up in this position and she felt warm.
“Hi,” he said awkwardly, his hands planted next to both of her ears.
Toph swallowed nervously and hoped he didn’t notice, “Hey, yourself.”
Sokka cleared his throat and said, “You’re awfully close.”
“You could always stand up,” she retorted knowing full well that she didn’t want him to get up just yet. Maybe not ever because his weight upon her just then was… nice.
“And miss out on seeing your blush up close? Never,” he teased hypocritically as his own face, he imagined, was just as or redder than hers had been. Sokka’s eyes scanned her face. Toph was attractive, indeed, and it wasn’t something that went unnoticed by him. In fact, he thought, he was very attracted to her, but always chose against acting upon it because she and him had always been so close that the fact of losing the magic of their friendship startled him. But, he considered, if her physical reaction to him being on top of her at that moment meant anything, he sure as hell wasn’t going to question it.
“What would you do if I kissed you?” He whispered, “What if I just kiss you right now?”
Toph pursed her lips to hold back a nervous chuckle and swallowed thickly, and daringly replied just as quietly, “Why don’t you do it and find out?”
With the green light of consent as bright as ever, he slowly closed the small space between them, eyes fluttering shut. He pulled away after a few seconds of having tasted her lips; he wanted to test the waters. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open. Sokka felt a calloused hand come up to his neck and pull him down back onto her lips. He let himself sink into her as the hand she had on his neck slipped into his hair, deepening the kiss.
Her teeth ran against his lower lip, and it drove him crazy. Sokka wasn’t one for lip biting, but something in the way Toph did it made the action irresistible. Sokka’s tongue slipped into her mouth when he saw the chance and a moan sounded in her throat. Before the kiss became more heated, though, considering that they were in a gym, he pulled away, much to both of their dismay.
The two of them were panting when Sokka pressed his forehead against hers. There was a barely noticeable smile on her lips as she lifted her hand to trace her thumb over his lips. He couldn’t resist a smile of his own when he said, “That was certainly enjoyable.”
“You could say that,” Toph chuckled, moving her hand onto his cheek. “I’ve always wondered what that would feel like.”
Sokka knitted his eyes together as he moved off of her onto the ground at her side. He frowned when her hand dropped from his cheek, but took it again and drew circles on her palm with his thumb, “What do you mean?”
She turned onto her side to face him with a dry chuckle, “You can’t tell me you didn’t know I had a crush on you once upon a time, Meathead.”
The tribesman blushed. Of course, he had known, but he didn’t think it to be more than that: a crush. He’d assumed that she had gotten over it considering his relationships throughout the years as well as her own few flings.
“I knew,” he said sheepishly. “You blushed too much around me.”
“What?” she exclaimed defensively, “I did not blush around you.”
Sokka howled in laughter, “Just because you can’t see yourself blush doesn’t mean you don’t.”
“I hate you,” she said with no hesitation, pushing herself up to a sitting position.
“I beg to differ,” he chuckled, tightening his grip on her hand slightly to keep her from standing.
“Let’s go again,” Toph said with a smirk on her face, snatching her hand away from him as she stood.
Sokka groaned, “Can’t we just… you know… make out some more?”
She rolled her eyes, a hand on her hip, “What are you, sixteen again?”
“What can I say? You make me feel so young.”
“You’re twenty-seven, Sokka.”
“Yeah, and?” He said, standing up as well.
Toph walked away from him to take her stance and said, “Spar with me again and beat me, and maybe I’ll let you kiss me again, and then some, as a reward.”
The prospect of ‘and then some’ seemed appealing to Sokka, so he smiled and took his stance, prepared to beat her ass again.