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Toph was lying in the garden of the Fire Nation Palace, legs crossed and face relaxed. Between her fingers, the meteorite bracelet was breaking down into small fragments that she then gathered back together, rolling them carelessly. A slight smile played on her lips. It was a habit: when she was bored, she would play with the space rock as if nothing in the world could matter less to her.
Zuko watched her as he approached slowly, trying not to let his discomfort show. It wasn't jealousy... or at least that's what he kept telling himself. But the way she kept that gift bothered him more than he wanted to admit. The years had passed, her clothes and accessories had changed, the whole world had changed... but that bracelet was still there. Always.
And it was Sokka's.
It's not like he hadn't noticed that Toph liked Sokka. That he was important in her life.
He clenched his jaw just for a moment.
He also wanted to give her something she would choose to wear always. But Toph wasn't one for jewelry or useless ornaments.
So he thought of the only thing that made sense: rocks. Not just any rocks.
At first, he hadn't thought about it too much. He had just picked up one, then another. And when he realized it, he already had several volcanic rocks, formed under extreme heat, born of fire. Some smooth, others porous, some almost black like obsidian. They didn't fall from the sky... but they had survived high temperatures. To him, that had to mean something.
He sat down next to her and that's when she spoke.
"Have you become a rock collector, Zuko?" Toph asked.
Lately he had been leaving rocks all over the place.
Zuko exhaled through his nose, crossing his arms with a false calm.
"I just... found some interesting ones," he paused. "Didn't you see any you liked?"
"I didn't see anything," Toph replied, shrugging naturally.
Zuko blinked briefly, but didn't insist. His attention was already on something else, on that bracelet on her arm, when he realized, he had already said it.
"I guess nothing beats a rock that fell from the sky," he muttered.
Toph smiled, amused by what she had heard.
"Sparky..." she said, still smiling. "As if you needed all this to impress me."
She gave him a punch on the shoulder.
"...ouch," he exclaimed, feeling the heat rise to his face.
Toph went back to playing with the fragments of the bracelet... but this time she attracted one of the volcanic rocks with earthbending, broke it into pebbles and mixed them among them.
"There's room for more than one interesting rock."
The fragments continued to spin, together, in her hands.
Zuko didn't look away.
The punch on his shoulder had never hurt so much... until now.