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A spontaneous-feeling Sokka was sitting on Appa’s saddle, soaking in the sun on Air Temple Island, trying desperately to tear his eyes away from the new, massive stone statue of a twelve-year-old Aang, when Katara had informed him that Toph was on her way over for one of her impromptu visits. His sister also said that the earthbender would be on the island within ten minutes. At that, he abruptly sat up, jumped off of Appa, and ran into the greenery surrounding the Avatar’s estate. Katara rolled her eyes at her twenty-nine-year-old brother while resisting the urge of cursing at him instead for the sake of her children’s young ears. This had been getting annoying to the mother of three, the desire to curse at her brother for being an idiot, and she took matters into her own hands. She smiled to herself as she walked back to the house with her children in tow knowing that her plan was about to unfold.
Sokka had been around Republic City, staying with his family, for two weeks after having run his course as chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe for a year when Hakoda died. Then, he traveled the world for another year following that. But he hadn’t worked up the nerve to see her; to see Toph. He didn’t really know why he was hiding from her, and he wouldn’t really consider it hiding, but it’s what Katara, Aang, and Zuko kept telling him it was. Especially Zuko – how he hated Zuko for the two weeks he had been in Republic City. The fire lord would constantly contact him telling him to stop being a coward.
For what felt like hours, but were merely a few minutes, Sokka ran through the trees, furthering himself from the large house with every step. He finally stopped when his head smacked a large leaf that had been hanging from a low branch. While groaning and huffing and puffing from his run, he sat against the boulder nearest to him, thinking about how out of shape he was. As he began to settle down, though, Sokka felt himself sliding off the rock increasingly with each passing second. The former chieftain scowled in annoyance and readjusted himself against the rock, but within a few seconds, he felt himself sliding off of the rock again. Sokka huffed and cursed under his breath as he stood up and walked toward the tree trunk in front of him. Suddenly, the rock he was previously sliding off of came flying toward his face, so he jumped out of the way – just in time, too, or it would have crushed him.
When he got over his initial shock, and his heart stopped beating as though it was going to break out of his chest, Sokka felt a pebble, then another, and another hit his forehead. He cursed to himself again and thought himself crazy when he heard a snort to his right until he realized what – or better yet, whom – it had been. His mouth went dry.
“Toph-“
“So you do remember me, Chieftain Snoozles,” Toph interrupted, finally materializing before his eyes, wiggling her fingers as rocks floated above her palm. “I was under the impression you’d forgotten about me. Get over here, I have two years and fifteen days' worth of rockalanches to catch you up on.”
Sokka noticed that she was wearing tighter pants than what she usually wore and a large jacket that concealed her shirt. Odd, he thought, very un-Toph. But then again, it has been two years since he last saw her. He winced at the thought and her threat, then plastered a huge smile onto his face, “I can explain.”
The earthbender sat back against the boulder she taunted him with and raised an eyebrow at his chest – he resisted the urge to chuckle at that – then, she cockily said, “Oh, well, this should be good.”
As much as he tried to speak, his mouth would just open and close, no words coming out. Sokka didn’t really know what he wanted to say, and he could never manage to lie to Toph because she saw right through him, even when she wasn’t relying on his heartbeat to tattle on him. A wave of shame hit him and he just said, “I don’t know.”
She rolled her eyes, “You don’t know what, Meathead?”
“Why I didn’t reach out,” he said, not allowing his eyes to leave the ground, “why I didn’t tell you I was back.”
“Well, when Sugar Queen told me you were here, I thought she was lying,” Toph said with a tone in her voice that Sokka couldn’t identify, “But I realized two things: we were standing on stone floors and that Mrs. Twinkle Toes has never been a good liar.”
“I’m sorry,” Sokka said pathetically. Then, he felt the slight urge to pick a fight with Katara for bamboozling him.
“It’s cool, I suppose,” she shrugged, indifference and something else on her face. “I have some secrets of my own, so I guess we’re even.”
Sokka’s eyebrows shot upward in interest, “Toph? With secrets? Secrets she’s keeping from me? I cannot begin to fathom.”
Toph smirked, full of cockiness, and unzipped her jacket to reveal a swollen belly. When she felt Sokka’s heartbeat quicken, she chuckled to herself. His jaw went slack and the first thing he said was, “Is it mine?”
The rocks Toph had been floating over her hand found themselves being flung into his face. She stepped closer to him and punched him in the chest, “We slept together right before you left. If it had been yours, I’d be carrying a two-year-old in my arms right now, you dumbass.”
Sokka made a face, and he didn’t know if it was because he had actually asked if she was pregnant with his baby knowing full well that they hadn’t been together for two years or if it was because she had been with another man, “We have a lot to catch up on.”
She snorted and started walking back toward the house, “Yeah, Snoozles, no shit.”
On the walk back to Aang and Katara’s house, Toph told him that she had shut down her metalbending academy and decided to open a bending arena in Republic City, similar to the Earth Rumble XI, but legal and open to all types of bending, not just earthbending. Pro-bending, she called it, and Sokka loved the passion with which she spoke about it. She said business was thriving and that it’s how she met the father of her child, Kanto, who ended up leaving Republic City on business after she broke the news to him. It didn’t work out, Toph said, but that he was a decent guy who would provide for their child when need be. Sokka was satisfied with that explanation, especially after having heard that she wasn’t with Kanto anymore. After the story, Toph let Sokka rub her belly and talk to her baby – she loved it.
In return, he told her that he spent his time in the Southern Water Tribe trying not to tear his hair out. The chieftain title, his father had forgotten to tell him, came with a twenty-four-seven headache. But he made Hakoda a promise: that he’d do his best to keep things going the way he would have. A year passed and a man — ironically, one of the kids Sokka had attempted to train despite many potty breaks when Zuko was stalking Aang all those years ago when they met — expressed interest in running for the position officially. Ultimately, the man won the election, Sokka passed the baton onto him, and he left the tribe without looking back to travel the world.
He was feeling adventurous, he told Toph, so he decided to rerun the course he and Team Avatar took on their journey to defeat Ozai. What he failed to tell Toph, though, was that during those two years they hadn’t seen each other, all he could think about was her. And how, despite her asking him to stay for a little longer so they could talk things out, he left anyway. Even two years after, he was unable to forget how everything happened that night.
Sokka remembered how Toph’s head felt laying against his chest, and how her hair felt between his fingers. As he pressed soft kisses onto the crown of her head, he smiled at how they ended up in his bed in a tangle of limbs.
“What are you smiling at, councilman?” Toph asked, running her fingertips up and down his bicep.
“You naked here with me… also naked… on my bed.”
He felt her chuckle, “Real mature.”
“Hey,” he mockingly scolded, “I’ve been waiting for this for a couple of years.”
“Only a couple?” she asked, “Try a few years after we met.”
Sokka raised an eyebrow in surprise, “No shit.”
“All the shit,” she said, sitting up, the blanket hovering over her chest. “Was about to give up on you, actually.”
“What made you not give up?”
“I figured that since you were leaving, I should take my chance or I’d regret it,” Toph shrugged. He noticed a light blush on her cheeks, making a small smile appear on his lips. Then, he frowned, remembering that he had to leave soon — his boat was leaving in an hour.
“I do have to get going soon,” he said finally, sitting up.
“Right,” she said tightly. Then, she grabbed his hand before he could move again, “Can’t you take a later boat? I really think we should talk about this.”
“You know I can’t, Toph,” Sokka said sadly, squeezing her hand, “I really wish I could, but I told the tribesmen I’d be there before the end of the week. If I leave now, I’ll make it in time.”
Sokka, Zuko, Toph, Aang, and Katara had traveled to the Southern Water Tribe for Hakoda’s funeral a week earlier at the time. Hakoda’s wife, Malina, approached him with Hakoda’s will, which stated that Sokka would inherit the chieftain title until a suitable replacement for him was elected and he wasn’t going to turn it down. He wanted to do everything right by his father, and that started with not being late for his first day on the job.
Toph swallowed and nodded sadly, but in understanding. She slipped her hand out of his and reached for her shirt, pulling it on over her head, “Yeah, no, you’re right. I’m sorry. You really should get going, and I have to get some, um, stuff ready for class tomorrow. Those lilly livers won’t know what hit them.”
“No, Toph, don’t go,” Sokka pleaded, grabbing her hand again after she had managed to pull on her undergarments and pants.
Her eyes welled up with tears as she squeezed his hand, and he knew that she was probably annoyed at herself for the display of emotion, “I have to, Sokka.”
“No, you don’t,” he said, kneeling on the bed in front of her and grabbing her face in both of his hands, “Not yet, you don’t.”
“I’m going to miss you, Meathead,” she said, laying a long kiss onto his lips – a goodbye kiss, one that he knew meant she wouldn’t want to speak about this again. “Go kick ass, chieftain.”
With that, Sokka remembered sadly, she left. Sokka didn’t know it at the time, but she reacted the way she did because she was afraid of unrequited love. They remained out of contact partly because she couldn’t read his letters and partly because he didn’t even know what he would say in a letter to her. The situation made things complicated. And they made it worse.
“What made you want to come back?” Toph asked as they approached the house, “After all that traveling, I would have kept away myself.”
“I missed being around everyone,” he said honestly.
“Yeah,” she chuckled dryly, “Everyone except me, right? Considering the rush you were in to tell me you were here.”
Sokka grabbed her arm to make her stop walking and she scowled at him. He let his hand drop down to grab hers, “I just… I guess I didn’t know how to face you… after what happened between us. You just left so fast-”
“I’m a big girl, Sokka,” she interrupted with a sad smile on her face, “I can take rejection.”
“What are you even going on about?” he asked, “It’s not about that, Toph. I love you.”
They both froze. Sokka because of what he said and Toph because of what she’d heard. He didn’t know where it came from, but he sure as hell knew he had meant it. All of a sudden, before he could register what was happening, the hand of hers he was holding flew out of his grasp and he felt a strong punch on his chest.
“Don’t lie to me, dunderhead,” she said. “I may be pregnant, but I could still pummel you to dust.”
Sokka grabbed her hand again, but this time, he placed it on the left side of his chest, “I’m not lying.”
“Well, shit,” Toph cursed when tears fell from her eyes. She could feel his heartbeat through the ground, too, “Look at what you’ve done now.”
“‘I love you, too, Sokka,’ works too,” he teased, pulling her into him.
“Shut up,” she groaned, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“And you’re a pain in mine,” he said, “But it’d still be nice to hear it.”
“In your dreams.”
He grinned, “Every night.”
Toph punched him again. And from a distance, Katara was smiling.