"Where the wildflowers grow" [Toph x Fem Reader]

Part 1

It was late, around 7pm. (y/n) was cleaning up the rest of the mess made from dinner earlier. This was all before she went to do her nightly check on Toph, of course. As (y/n) cleaned, her mind wandered back to the day she had had. It infuriated her, the fact that Toph hadn't been recognized for her incredible skills. Instead, her father decided to restrict her more than she already had been. What a monster.

(y/n) carefully finished setting a new table cloth on the table and straightening the edges. After this was done, off to Toph's room (y/n) went. As she walked through the empty halls of the Beifong manner, she practiced her breathing. (y/n) stayed mindful of this at all times, it's how she cooled down. In, out, in, out. she told herself.

Before she knew it, she was right outside of Toph's room. On a night like this, (y/n) expected dead silence. Oddly enough however, she noticed a slight rustling coming from beyond the closed door. Cautiously, she began to creak the door open to catch a peak of what Toph was up to. When she poked her head through the crack in the door, she was met with the sight of Toph's room a muck. The drawers were opened and there seemed to be clothing on the floor. Her furniture was misplaced and her bedding was scattered. Everything was in shambles.

"Toph..?" (y/n) called out as she looked around for her friend. Toph didn't reply so she took a step into the room. Carefully, (y/n) tried her best not to step on anything that was thrown onto the ground, "Toph?" (y/n) called out again, this time she received an answer, "Down here." Toph spoke, from the otherside of her bed, "What are you doing?" (y/n) asked. She took a moment to take in the disheveled room before focusing her gaze at Toph who sat on the floor with a determined look.

"I'm leaving here." Toph said, "You're what?" (y/n) looked shocked, not quite sure of what she just heard, "I'm leaving.. I'm running away." Toph's eyes were glued to the floor as she spoke, "What do you mean you're running away?"

"I'm leaving. I'm packing my bag and getting out of this dump. No one here respects me. No one sees me for who I am!" Toph blurted out in anger. (y/n) felt hurt and betrayed. She knew Toph was feeling upset right now but to say no one respected or cared for her was over the top. (y/n) considered herself to care about Toph very much, they were friends after all, "I care about you." She blurted back

"... That doesn't mean I'm going to stay." Toph said coldly as she continued to shove one of the few things she had into her bag, "I–.. Okay. I'll miss you." (y/n) said, her fists clenching as she tried not to let her emotions overtake her. Though, her thoughts were pretty clouded at the moment, "What do you mean? You're coming with me, are you not?" Toph scoffed, stopping what she was doing again. This time, she glanced up in (y/n)'s direction, "What? No-. Toph, I can't leave." (y/n) corrected. This made Toph go silent for a moment.

"Why not? Why won't you come with me?" Toph asked, a clear look of disdain spread clean across her face. "I can't just leave.." She was being very unclear and it was clearly getting on Toph's nerves, "Why not?!" She snapped. This caught (y/n) off guard, "Where would we even go??" (y/n) asked, trying to recover from her previous shock. She just looked at Toph who seemed to be glaring at her.

"I.. Have a plan, just trust me..." Toph mumbled, her glare dissolving into nothing more than a pleading expression, "I can't." (y/n) said again. The guilt was eating her from the inside out, how could she not trust her life-long best friend? What kind of monster did that make her? ".. (y/n) please.." Toph begged one final time, "Please come with me. I don't want to go alone." She added. God this made it all the more worse... "I– can't." (y/n) said, shaking her head. Toph let out a defeated sigh and glanced back down. She shoved the last thing into her bag, "Fine." She mumbled, standing up and slinging it around her back.

Toph walked over to her best friend, her face kept out of sight. (y/n)'s brow furrowed, "I'm sorry.." She said quietly. Before she knew it, Toph had her arms around her. It took (y/n) a minute to realize what was going on. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Toph and stood there in solace, "I'll miss you." Toph said quietly. (y/n) soaked the hug up for the few moments it lasted, "I'll miss you too..."

"You should come with-" Toph began one last time, "Not happening." She interrupted before they pulled away, "But hey, maybe we'll meet again someday. For now, my duties lie at the estate." (y/n) said, trying to sound a little more positive. Though, this just seemed to bring more upset to Toph's already grim facial expression, "Yeah... Maybe one day." She muttered under her breath, "Alright.. Maybe you should go now before this becomes any harder than it has to be." (y/n) recommended as she felt her throat tightening, "Yeah. I'll uhm- be on my way now." Toph muttered as she swiped away the carpet, it was revealed that the floorboards seemed to be missing in one area. It was replaced by dusty rock which Toph easily bended out of her way, "See you." (y/n) said, sounding almost on the verge of tears, ".. Later." Toph said quietly before hopping into the small space and closing the entrance.

(y/n) couldn't hold back the tears burning in her eyes. One lonely tear fell as she swiped the carpet back into place. She then glanced at Toph's room one last time before making her way to the dresser where she stopped in front of it and picked up the broken picture frame. She looked down at the picture of Toph, gliding her thumb over the frame. Selfishly, (y/n) took the picture.

Quietly, she tiptoed out of the room and down the now rather grim halls of the manner. What was her life going to look like without her best friend? Toph's words circled around in her mind as (y/n) studied the last she had left of Toph. She missed her dearly already.. It felt as if she had just lost a limb, maybe even a chunk of her heart. She rubbed her thumb over the broken glass and sighed as she let her arm fall back to her side. She looked ahead and however many breathing exercises (y/n) seemed to try, nothing helped. She couldn't help but wonder... What if she were to run away with her?