OTP Writing Challenge

10. Watching the Other Sleep (ft. Tokka)

Toph was sound asleep, curled on her bed and looking much less intimidating than she did when she was awake. She slept curled in a ball, resembling the rocks she like to chuck at Sokka's head. Originally, Sokka had come to talk to her about the event of earlier that day; like how Sokka had accidentally kissed her. But seeing her asleep, so peaceful and almost vulnerable, he wasn't entirely sure that kiss had been an accident.

Over the past years Toph had grown quite beautiful, though Sokka wouldn't admit it to anyone out loud. Usually he ignored it, after all, he had Sukki. But after Sukki had left him in favor of leading the Kyoshi Warriors, he felt a little empty. First Yue, now Sukki, both leaving because of their God forsaken duties. It had been a year since Sukki had left, a year since he felt like a forgotten turtle duck chick, and now he felt pretty much the same as he did before. But seeing Toph curled around herself and snoring was almost like a slap in the face, reminding him of others.

But Toph wasn't the others. She was loud, she was brash, and she certainly didn't go around apologizing or expecting them from other people. She knew people screwed up, and she also knew that she made mistakes. That was just how she went about her life. And something about that, the mutual understanding she had with most other people, intrigued Sokka. It was a contradiction to her upbringing; her parents were rich and snooty, so why shouldn't she be? She had been coddled because she was blind, but that certainly didn't mean anything to her. She had grabbed what everyone else called a disability by the horns and used it to become the greatest earthbender of all time.

THAT was impressive.

There was probably no one that impressed him more. And that's why he did what he decided to do, which was go over to her, and sit on the edge of her bed.

"Hey, Meat Head," she murmured, without rolling over.

"Toph, I'm--"

"If you're going to apologize for earlier, you need to stop right there."

"But it was--"

"We both know it wasn't an accident, Sokka." She rolled over, and Sokka took her nimble fingers in his calloused ones. He brought them to his lips and kissed each finger gently. "And I'm not saying I'm complaining about it either," Toph grunted. "You wanna make it intentional this time?"

"My pleasure."