Feel It!

(The following contains adult content and descriptions of consenting minors engaged in sexual situations. Reader discretion is advised.)

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Feel It! Chapter 5
By Gunwild

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“Bai Shan?”

“Yeah. Someone said they saw a party of waterbenders around there.”

“That figures, though. It’s on the front lines.” Sokka was playing spit dog and rotating the stick from which their dinner hung. “It’s tactically useless, but the road to the north is always trouble. I guess it’s because the Earth Kingdom can fight well in the passes. Because owning some cliffs far from home sounds so useful.” He shifted the position of the stick so that Aang’s vegetables would be cooked, too. “I’m being *sarcastic,* in case you can’t tell.”

“No, that *totally* escaped us,” said Katara.

“I thought it might.”

Katara shook her head. “No, now *I’m* being sarcastic!”

Sokka looked up at her. “Really? Wait, now or before?”

“Am I being sarcastic?” asked Aang.

“Oh, of, *course,*” Toph told him, and Aang scratched his bald head.

“No, you weren’t, Aang. Toph was, and Sokka was, and so was I.”

Sokka pulled their food off of the spit. “Wait, so now you’re not being sarcastic?”

“No! I mean, yes!”

Aang snapped his fingers. “I get it! That was sarcasm! I can do this! No, wait, I mean, I *can’t* do this. Heh.”

“Oh, yeah, you’ve *totally* got it,” chuckled Toph.

“Hooray!”

“She was being sarcastic, too!”

“*Sure* she was,” Sokka said, waving a hand airily and smiling.

“Stop it! Agh, you two have been impossible to deal with since you started teaming up to confuse *everybody.* What is up with that?”

Both Toph and Sokka hid their grins. It had been two days since their… ‘interlude’ under the rock dome, and they hadn’t been able to steal any time together since. But a little friendly talking and the meaningful brushes of the hand they shared kept them happy. No one else knew a thing. In fact, Katara had seemed happy that they were getting along – except when they were causing trouble. Which was when they were having the most fun.

Sokka decided it would be prudent to change the subject. “Weren’t we talking about waterbenders at war?”

“See, *that’s* not what I heard about. It was just people bending water, but they ran away when the Earth Kingdom patrol got close.” Katara threw up her arms. “It doesn’t make any sense! The only waterbenders who’re supposed to be within a hundred miles of here are, you know, our tribesmen and the hermits from the swamp.”

Aang pulled a mushroom from off of Sokka’s stick and took a bite, chewing while he spoke. “Mnh, I don’ think they coun’ as hermits if they don’ live alon’.”

“Either way, these weren’t either of those groups. They were… well, you know. Different from us.”

“I don’t follow,” said Sokka.

“Me either,” added Toph.

“I don’ get it!” agreed Aang, and a few crumbles of mushroom fell out of his mouth. Momo ate them, happy to have had someone go to the trouble masticating his food for him.

“They were supposedly, you know, well… they didn’t have dark skin?” It was more of a question than a statement. It just seemed sort of odd. The Water Tribe was composed of dark people. That was just how it had always been.

“Huh,” said Sokka, thinking about this. There was a story about something like that, he was sure of it. He just couldn’t remember the details.

“Wait a second,” exclaimed Toph, “You guys are black?”

There was a lengthy pause.

Then Toph burst out with hard laughter. “I’m kidding!” Not that it mattered to her, but she had figured out this little tidbit a long time ago. “I wish I could see the looks on your faces!”

Sokka slapped his own knee and couldn’t breathe. It was too funny. Aang had rolled onto his back and was jerking his feet in the air while Momo scampered away, confused. Even Katara was in a giggling fit.

“Seriously, though,” said Sokka, who was wiping the water out of his eyes. “I think I remember hearing about something like that from Mom when I was aboutd five. It was a story, like one of those stories that wasn’t quite a legend yet. About the beginning of the war.”

“There are lots of stories like that,” Katara reminded him. “Are you sure you know all of it?”

“Hey! I have an awesome memory.”

“Sure, when you *remember* that you do.” Toph took her own hunk of dinner in one hand and bit. It was like she’d expected. There was a smell of char in the air – it was a given that an open fire would burn some of your meat. But her portion was perfectly soft, even though Sokka’s passion for eating dead stuff far outstripped her own. He’d given her the choicest piece again. *I don’t deserve to be treated this well.*

“Anyway, the story was something like this. There was a family of… whaddaya call ‘em, uh… um… moderators! A family of great moderators who lived in the Southern Water Tribe. They were different-looking than everybody else, because they’d come from parts unknown, and they were *really* good at their jobs. If ever two friends disagreed, they’d shut it down by saying something like ‘a lone hand makes no applause.’”

“Huh?” Toph didn’t get it.

“Is’ an admonishmen’ agains’ conflict ‘cause two people need each other ‘t figh’,” said Aang. It was odd to hear such sagacious words spoken through a mouth full of food.

“When the war started, this family – they were integrated enough to have some benders in them, by now, I guess – decided they had to go try and moderate a truce. Not a bad idea. So naturally they went to Bai Shan, since it was basically neutral territory, and I heard they at least managed to make the inside of the city peaceful.”

“That’s quite an achievement,” observed Katara. “Though I guess back then the war wasn’t just a fact of life everyone accepted.”

“Whatever the reason, Bai Shan was a safe zone. Could be neither side wanted it damaged because it was supposed to be so beautiful. It was called ‘Bai Shan,’ because the entire city was made of limestone, right Aang?”

Aang, whose mouth was now too full to speak at all, nodded. Momo imitated him.

“Oh, now I get it.” Toph snapped one of the bones in her food, to get at the marrow inside. “’White Mountain.’”

“Well, it didn’t last. Bai Shan started fighting again, and the whole area’s been bad ever since. Nobody ever heard from that family of waterbenders again.”

“That’s something,” observed Aang. “But what did the people in Bai Shan think about all this?”

The brother and sister looked at him, and Toph shook her head unhappily. “You wouldn’t know because you were frozen, and all,” Sokka said, “But Bai Shan was destroyed. The dormant volcano it was built on blew its top and covered the entire area with a huge amount of volcanic ash. I don’t know what that looked like, but I’d imagine it stopped Bai Shan from being so white.”

“How could that happen?”

Katara twiddled her thumbs, obviously thinking. “Well, I guess firebenders could have done something to heat up the lava…”

“Or earthbenders could’ve torn the lid off of the mountain.” Everyone was surprised to hear Toph admit this. “Hey, *I* didn’t do it. I’m not ashamed.”

Sokka conjured up the rest of the story, filling in a few gaps with educated guesses. Nothing too fanciful. “As I recall it, both sides blame each other for that one. But it was so long ago that most people don’t care anymore. So many more atrocities have been committed since then, and there’s more pressing stuff to worry about.”

Aang had stopped eating entirely. When he spoke, it was slowly and with the sort of conviction he only displayed when on what they thought of as ‘Avatar business.’ “We have to go there.”

“Eh?” Sokka nearly dropped his food. “What for?”

“We just heard there are waterbenders there. That alone is worth investigating.” The boy swung himself onto his feet with his glider staff. “And besides, I want to see what happened to Bai Shan. I heard of it from the monks. They said it was a place worth visiting, so… I will.”

“That’s only a day’s journey, right?” Toph asked. “Can you go yourself?”

This was another surprise. Katara blinked and edged closer to the younger girl. “Are you feeling alright? Are you sick or something?”

“I’ve walked on volcanic ashes before,” she grumbled. “It’s… light. Not like sand, but it has an echo effect. We got it in part of our garden at home and I couldn’t walk there any more because of it.”

“Well, it’s been settling for about a hundred years. You don’t think-”

“No. I don’t want to go.” Toph crossed her arms. Only Sokka saw where she was going with his. He wasn’t sure he approved, but there would be no stopping it. “I’ll only be useless if I’m with you,” she insisted.

Aang laid his arms on his staff and hung it on his shoulders, relaxing. “Well, I guess you don’t have to. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We can’t just leave her alone here. There’s still a reward posted for her capture.” Katara turned her gaze directly on Sokka, and he had to try his hardest to keep his face expressionless. “You’ll have to stay behind, too.”

He didn’t speak for fear of his voice cracking. There had to be no betraying their secret. Instead, he managed a nod and then looked away, thinking fast. *Oh, boy. We’re going to be alone. Well, not alone, but together. Together by ourselves. With each other. Or something.* He swallowed a bite of food and didn’t even notice that a small bone raked his throat going down. *I really don’t need for this to blow up in my face.*

Sokka wanted badly to touch Toph again. He wanted even worse for her to touch him, but he was afraid of his sister now like he was afraid of few things. If she found out, if she disapproved as severely as he figured she would, then she would despise him. And he wouldn’t lose family like that. It was too horrible to imagine.

Toph, for her part, was telling the truth. She couldn’t ‘see’ a thing on that type of terrain. But it was only the excuse she’d been looking for; she wanted to pay Sokka back for his favors from the other day. She was not going to take without giving. No way. Not with him.

“It’s settled, then! Tomorrow we set out, and you two will stay here!” Aang pointed his staff at the lemur that was hurriedly eating his discarded dinner. “Momo, you’re in charge.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

After five or so hours of decent sleep, they said their farewells, and only when Sokka was satisfied that the others were out of sight and not coming back for something they’d forgotten did he say anything. “You really can’t see on top of ash, right?”

She stamped her foot, grinding it on top of the dusty ground. “Yes. You think I would lie about something like that? If I was that kind of girl, you wouldn’t lo- like me, right?”

“Good point.” Sokka tapped his fingers against the tree on which he was leaning. Toph felt him standing there idly, and was a little upset. He wasn’t going to kiss her? Not even hold her hand?

“Well, I have half a mind not to let you near me now. You’ve upset me a lot and I bet you even realize-”

Sokka moved too fast for her to be anywhere near ready. The sun wasn’t even all the way up and Toph was groggy, but it seemed like he was ready for anything. Very ready. The bulge in his pants pressed into her behind, and he’d already reached inside her shirt by the time she’d even figured out what was happening. With him at her back, she couldn’t do anything do get away even if she’d wanted to.“Ah! You… you know, I’m not done chewing you out…”

As if to tell her *precisely* that he didn’t care, he started *chewing* the back her neck. Not hard, but not so softly that she didn’t whimper and grip his arms in elation. Sokka’s hand on her already hard nipples made her clench her jaw. What was he going to do next…?

No, no! She had planned this! Twisting her torso around, she slammed his back into the nearby tree using a stiff-armed push. Sokka was first astonished, then proud. He was more than a little aroused by the idea that he could command the desire of someone this strong. He kept that feeling as she stepped closer and took hold of the waist of his pants. “Don’t move. I’m going to do this for you and you’re not going to stop me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Sokka palmed the trunk of the tree as Toph fell to her knees and hauled his pants to his ankles in one motion. He ached to feel her face and hair but restrained himself. He still had his underwear on; she ran her hand over the front, cracking a smile. *I think I’m going to enjoy this.*

“Ja… ahh… woman, I don’t think you realize how sensitive that is…”

“Quit talking for a minute.” Toph couldn’t see or figure out the knot in the belt portion of his underpants; she decided to take the direct approach. Her steely fingers tore through the fabric like it was paper. After all, he didn’t need underwear when she was around.

“Yipe!”

“Don’t speak. Or think so much.”

Sokka had never been accused of thinking too much before. He made an effort not to blink when Toph’s hand moved from the tops of his legs to, finally, his penis. She sort of bumped into it by accident with the edge of her palm. Its heat surprised her. “Ah. There we go.” She didn’t grab him immediately, instead using both hands to find a rough outline of what she was dealing with. *I didn’t know they were this big.* She would be able to get her hand around it, sure, but it was still intimidating. She discarded her cuffs and then, approaching it like any other new technique she might want to learn, put her hands to work first.

Sokka’s fingers scrabbled on the bark. Well, this was different. His own hands he was used to; he always knew what they were going to do next. Toph’s inexperience wasn’t stopping her from making this exciting. She was clasping him tightly and both pulling and pushing at the same time. She did not appear to think it was something she should rush into, and her grip was loose to avoid hurting him. “Tighter.” Apparently that didn’t count as talking, because Toph did what he said. After a few seconds he urged her on. “*Tighter.*” She needed to learn that there wasn’t such a thing as holding him too firmly there.

She found herself liking this. The skin was supple and delicate; it was a little bit like touching the petal of a flower. Except that, of course, this was a hot, sensitive sort of flower that was attached to someone she was hell-bent on pleasing. Toph finally put two fingers on the head to explore what it did. She was happy to find that it made Soka’s whole body jolt like he’d just been slapped. Of course, judging by the lusty sigh he made, it didn’t seem like she’d harmed him in the least. “Ah, Toph… that’s nice…”

“I like that. Keep saying my name.”

“Toph, that’s mean…”

“There you go.” She cupped her hand under his scrotum, almost feeling like laughing. The sparse hair was sticking up on end like he was scared of her. “How does this feel?”

“That’s nice, too…” Sokka breathed through his teeth, trying his damnedest not to tackle her like a hungry animal. “…Toph,” he added. “Heh.”

Figuring out the basic mechanics, she began using one hand to stroke him up and down; her fingers only made light contact at first, then shut around him. Soon she was actually jacking him off, like he’d done for himself so many times; her other hand lightly rubbed around the bottom of his groin. Though possibly nearing a heart attack, Sokka knew he wasn’t going to climax from this alone. Toph seemed to sense that, and a second later she stuck out the very tip of her tongue, bent her neck forward and licked his penis, once. He tried to let a cry out, but it died somewhere in his throat and fell into his stomach. It was *very* different than how fingers felt.

*I think I just found something he likes.* Toph grinned to herself. This idea had been building itself up in her mind ever since she’d envisioned cunnilingus for the first time. *Well, as fun as it would be to tease him right now, trying anything fancy is only going to screw this up. I’ll just imagine I have a sugar stick in my mouth. A throbbing, sexy sugar stick that makes naughty sound effects. Great.* She licked it one more time before circling her tongue around its tip. Sokka seemed to have leveled his tense moaning out to a simple rhythm of deep breathing. She liked that. It made for hard vibrations.

“Could… could you put it in your mouth?” He felt like he had a fever while he said it. He didn’t want to talk to her like this, telling her what to do, especially when it was so dirty. And yet when she did it he felt a rush of guilty pride. *It’s not wrong to get off on it. She’ll tell you if it’s a problem.* As if by way of apology, he tucked some of her hair behind her ear for her as she began honestly sucking on him. “Watch your teeth…”

She pulled her lips back over her teeth in an effort to keep him safe from them. Toph found that this wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped. It fit in her mouth, sure, but it was snug enough that she couldn’t do any of the tongue tricks they managed when they were kissing.

Of course, Sokka didn’t care. It would have been very hard to keep him from feeling overjoyed at that moment. His brain was racing through all kinds of unrelated things, his eyes felt like they had to shut, and he was stroking Toph’s hair, thinking how it reminded him of some of the silk he’d handled in a market. Uh-oh. Now he couldn’t open his eyes at all. “Um, Toph… I’m going to…” he extended his hand to move her face off of him, but one of her palms slammed into his abs. He was forced back against the tree and didn’t move. “But, uh… ahh…” His fingers squeezed the tree so hard that the surface bark chipped off. He did come, right in her mouth. At least, that was how the first shot went; she pulled back so that the second hit her face, and had dropped him by the time the third splattered on her shirt. Sokka only saw when he opened his eyes, and was immediately disgusted with himself. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t-”

Toph used her index and middle fingers to touch next to her eyebrow where contact had occurred. There wasn’t much on her, but she lapped it off her fingers eagerly. Sokka found that he wasn’t going as soft as he usually did after orgasm. *I can’t believe she just did that.* The girl then looked up at him, *looked* even though she couldn’t see, and favored him with a smile. Not her trademark smirk, either, but a real, elated smile.

*I can’t believe she just made me come. I can’t believe I made her this happy. She’s never this happy.* “I didn’t mean to surprise you like that.”

“You know, the key to keeping any woman happy is surprises.” Toph licked her lips a bit more. The taste was interestingly salty, with the kind of tang she associated with cured horseradish. Which was something she loved on fish. *Hey… it tastes kind of like fish!* “Delicious surprises are best, I guess.”

Sokka paused in consideration for about nine tenths of a second. Then he *did* tackle her like a hungry animal would. His pants fell off completely in the process, but he didn’t notice. His mouth clamped over Toph’s and he kissed her, not worrying about tasting himself in the process. The instinctive grip of her legs around his waist made it more than worth it. “I think romantic surprises are hotter.”

She had apparently lost her dominant streak for the moment. The tops of her cheeks were pink and her arms flew around his neck. He was opening her shirt from the front; once that was done he unhooked her belt from the back and threw it aside. Neither of them noticed that Momo had been nearby. He wasn’t paying particular attention, but the flying leather strap nearly striking him in the head convinced him that his time would be better spent elsewhere. He scampered to the other side of camp, wondering which bag all those mushrooms from before had called home.

“Nnh.” Now he was faced with her camisole. At first he lifted it up and gave her bellybutton a kiss, which apparently tickled her enough to make her break out in hysterics. Soon, though, he found the end of the bow on the reverse; one tug turned the garment into just another conquered obstacle. He threw it away, too, and it landed on Momo’s head. The lemur, now truly offended, hopped far away to forage, though not before running into a tree because he couldn’t get the clothing off of his ears.

Sokka only rubbed on her nipples first. When she was like this, her breasts got a little bigger. It was only a miniscule change, but he noticed since he’d been watching her so closely for the past few days. It let him push the small mounds together so that their peaks were almost touching. “Now that’s cute!”

“Stop it, those are embarrassing…” Toph was somewhere between wanting to kiss him more and wanting to kick him in the shin. “Those aren’t big enough. I was hoping you’d ignore them and just get down to-”

He sat her up a bit with his hand behind her neck and tweaked her nipples, kissing her from the shoulder up to the top of her spine. “They’re just right for a girl your age. And they’re only going to get better.” Sokka’s eyes were half-lidded. He was becoming relaxed with her. “Call me a pervert, but I like a strong young girl’s body.”

“Pervert.” Proving herself his equal in that department, she felt her way down to his manhood. It was already as hard now as it had been before.

Taking it as a cue, Sokka pressed them more closely together. They were both sweating by this point; it was a fairly cool morning and they were in the shadow of reasonably thick woods, but their exertions had given them both a shine and slicked skin. It made them slide against each other in their embrace. Then, to both fight and nurture the heat they began shedding the rest of their clothes.

Sokka got Toph’s pants off with admirable speed. Because they weren’t traveling, he wasn’t wearing his greaves, and once his shirt was off he was completely naked. Toph was able to free her hair with one pull, as usual, and so it seemed they were done. Before he could lie them down side-by-side on the softest part of the grass, though, she put a hand on his chest to hold him off. “No. Wait.”

He waited. There was a biting worry in him now. What if she wanted to stop? What if she wanted to go too far, somehow? What if she said something wrong, or he didn’t say something right, and it all fell apart?

None of that happened. She merely brought her face about a hairsbreadth from his, eyes still open, and pulled the tie out of his hair. It fell down. Normally he thought he looked kind of stupid like this, but he felt much more manly when she massaged his scalp for an extended moment. “I like your hair, too. Just thought you should know.”

And then, confounding him, she stood up and began to walk away. “Hey!” he called.

Her bare behind went from side to side as she went, growing farther off. He feared the worst again, but she cast a smile over her shoulder, then beckoned. She turned out to be headed in the direction of his own tent. “Come on. I don’t want to have to do this without you!”

*I think she just might confuse me enough that I can’t do without her. Isn’t that something?* Not feeling like waiting for Toph to get where she was going, he sprang into action and scooped her into his arms again, rushing them both inside the tent’s opening and intentionally falling over, so that they were lying on their sides and facing each other. They were giggling fanatically. It was like they were making up for all the bad parts of their adventures right here, together. “Anything else in mind?” he asked.

She grabbed him and they rolled over and over each other like playful puffin-otters. “I want to do that thing… that thing where you put…”

“Where I went down on you?”

“Yes.” She was amazed. Was that what they called it? It seemed vulgar. “Um, but…” she snagged him in one hand. He was entirely as hard as he’d been at the start, and Sokka rubbed her affectionately as she felt up and down his length. “… you don’t seem like you’re done.”

“I’ll be fine. Just… hold on. I’m thinking of something.” Sokka’s studies had taught him that although they could use their mouths on each other quite well with Toph on top, there was no way to manage it without him having to keep his neck bent, which could hurt. And if he was on top, he would need to scrunch down to reach her, and would have to keep himself on his knees.

But, being the ‘idea guy’ that he was, Sokka thought quickly, spun on his own hip and examined her uncovered legs. Now he was lying on his right shoulder, she was lying on her left, and they could get at each other without having to fight gravity. He felt pleased. He’d discovered, without help, a sexual position that was entirely new to him. *I guess the colloquial name is something like ‘Sideways 69.’ Yeesh. I bet those scrolls call it something appealing, like ‘Rainbow Over a Tranquil Mountain’ or ‘Sparkling Tidal Currents.* He decided to think of it as ‘Experiment 1,’ because if it was a success, there’d be plenty more to hit upon. *Judging by how wet she is, I think I’ve got a willing test subject…* Sokka planted a full lick on Toph’s slick self, and her legs clamped down on his head once again.

In middle of a puff of breath she found his manhood once more. *Upside-down?* Well, if he was willing to do this, then she should at least try. Toph went back to her plan from before, placing the head in her mouth slowly and using her lips more than her tongue. Since everything was turned over, she didn’t put her hands in the same positions as before. Instead, she had to hold him in place, though that wasn’t easy to do with him playing around between her thighs. In fact, it wasn’t long before she was too impassioned to keep her measured technique going, and accidentally took several inches of shaft at once. Toph gagged, but didn’t lose control entirely. Instead she didn’t let it all go and allowed herself to let Sokka slide off of her tongue over as long a time as possible.

He heaved a mouthful of air out and dropped her legs, nearly paralyzed by the pleasure. Then, unable to take it for a second longer, pinned her down on top of the nicest part of the fur blanket.

“Ah!” Toph found it best-feeling when she kissed his neck, but for some reason liked the kisses better on her face. Maybe because he could see her that way. Something about it was more personal. *Personal. I know he likes me. He knows me better than my own family does.*

*I wonder if he can tell that I’m in love with him?*

She’d made the decision a bit more rationally, outside of his embrace, but right now she felt like screaming it at the top of her lungs. It was like she couldn’t get enough of him – but that was also why she’d decided not to tell him how she felt. He was a young man who was prone to putting others before himself. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel like he owed her something. And besides, there was enough pressure on keeping the two of them a secret – anything more could crush the relationship before it ever managed to grow. So she’d made a decision with wisdom well beyond her years – the kind Sokka himself had.

With her cheek against his, he stuck his hardness between the crux of her legs. It didn’t go inside of her; he wasn’t going to rush that. Instead, it was pressed in the middle of her thighs, with Toph melting at its hot touch. It was a gentle and constant kind of warmth she felt from it. Like the sun.

He began moving back and forth; it was awkward at first, but soon he found a sweet spot. Toph’s wet crotch had a faint smell to it; it was easy to brush against, and only moistening as he went. Sokka hadn’t planned on it, but he really wanted to thrust inside. He felt like it would all be much better if he could manage that.

“You can go in,” Toph whimpered. “Please. Just do it.” She sounded so desperate that he almost couldn’t hold himself back. He spoke into her ear, caressing her chin and hearing her breathe, poised to enter her.

“We don’t have to. It’ll hurt. And you have to be ready for…”

“I’m not getting any more ready!” she cried. She was clawing red marks into his back. “I know it’ll hurt, and I know I’ll cry, but it has to be someone and I want it to be you!”

Sokka kissed her one more time. “Hold still.” Then he began working himself inside, half an inch at a time, finding it easy to start because of all the wetness.

“Gah!” She wanted so badly to smash them together and take him all at once. It did feel awful, like a fissure opening in granite, but that was only part of it. It was also incredibly sensual, and was satisfying that strange itch she’d been feeling for so long. “Ah, ah, ahhhh…”

Sokka halted. Toph looked like she was about to pass out. “Do you want me to-”

“Faster, damn it!”

He went in nearly all the way. This push was enough to throw her over the edge, and it showed. It started with her toes, which curled so hard that they cramped, and then burst up through her legs, which shut down entirely; despite being stretched to her limits, she found herself involuntarily clamping onto his penis and holding his damp shoulders so hard that she broke the skin. Sokka was beyond pain, however. He was too busy holding onto her sides as she arched her back and listened to her try – and fail – to say anything. All she got out was one last “Yes,” before her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.

Sokka managed to pull out before he came, spurting less than before, and thankfully all outside of Toph. Sure, she’d never had her period, but that was no reason to take unnecessary risks. Supposedly this was the safest way to go about that. When he was sure that she was asleep, he slumped onto one of the rolled-up sleeping blankets. Who knew sex was going to be so exhausting?

With one hand he shut the tent’s flap, not bothering to tie it up properly. His muscles were already aching. He rolled over once, put an arm around Toph and fell asleep.

By the time both of them were awake, the moon had come up. Toph had turned herself around and had her nose tucked between them. She was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

She punched him in the arm. It hurt. “Haven’t you ever cried because you’re happy?”

“Hell no.” He gave her a protective squeeze, cuddling as best he knew how. She was so warm. How could he have ever stood to sleep alone? “I…” he hesitated to keep speaking. His nerve was failing, and he had to hurry. There was something he’d learned in the time they were talking to each other, and now, in this moment, he was sure of it like never before. “Toph, have you ever been in love?”

He felt her go rigid. Despite not being able to see him, she felt out the bridge of his nose so they could lock eyes with each other. Sokka had seen old eyes, with cataracts or diseased corneas. Her eyes weren’t like that, though they were similarly milky. They caught the one ray of starlight coming through the tent’s door brilliantly. At first her face was blank and he wondered if he’d scared her. Then she took on that snide, clever smile that said she’d just worked out all the angles. “Just once.” She kissed him on the cheek.

He almost said ‘with who?’ before he got it. “Oh. Oh. Cool.”

She tittered, flattening their foreheads together again. “I was hoping you’d figure it out. And hoping you wouldn’t, at the same time. You don’t have to say anything about it, I just-”

“Toph, I’m in love with you.”

She couldn’t speak. Then she jumped up and started hopping around, laughing maniacally. “Hah! I knew it! I totally knew it!” Her movements were shaking the tent, and the only reason it didn’t fall over was because it was staked down. Around the time she started dancing, however, the earth belched the stakes out. “I did it! I did it! I’m so awesome! Oh, yeah, nobody noticed, but I got the guy to fall for me even though I’m blind and twelve! Who’s the queen?! Who’s the best?! Nobody else has skills like this! Nobody else is charming like this!”

“Um, Toph…”

“Wait, I wonder if there’s some kind of championship belt for love? Because I’ve earned it. I’m a regular romantic prodigy! And I acted *fast*! I knew things were going to be better once I left home, but I didn’t know it was going to be this excellent.”

“That’s great, but…” He enjoyed watching her boogie down naked, true, but he was concerned about the structural integrity of their shelter.

“Woohoo! Sokka, we are going to have so much fun together…!” She actually jumped for joy, raising a fist out of sheer glee. This meant that she punched the tent’s roof and knocked everything over, tangling them inside the pelt walls. Sokka pulled her close, laughing. She wanted to apologize, but was giggling too hard. When she finally calmed down, he posed his question.

“So, do you, uh, feel the same way…?”

She punched him in the shoulder again.

“Hey!”

“If it’s not obvious, then you’re not paying attention! Of course I’m in love with you. I’m going to be in love with you for a long time, whether you like it or not. So get used to it!”

“I’m used to it! I’m used to it!” He punched her in the arm back. For a moment he wondered if that was going too far, but then she cackled.

“You punch like a girl!”

“Yeah? Well you’re not too tough to withstand *this*!” Sokka began tickling her ferociously, which only made them get more rolled up in the collapsed tent as she thrashed around, trying to tickle him back. The pair of them talked and played until the moon was at its highest, when they started a fire and shared a meal, and a blanket. The only people for miles around, their company was just each other, the stars, and the gently shining moon. It was nearly smiling.

***
(Written by Gunwild)

(Based on characters created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko)

(Created and distributed without the consent or permission of Viacom, and for no profit. Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related trademarks and indicia are the property of Nickelodeon. Special thanks to all those who took the time to mail and review.)

***

THE LETTERS SECTION:

(Welcome to the letters page, where we take the time to respond to some of the reviews posted. Read along, won’t you?)

sexypancake: this is sooooo gerat! so hot! ever since watching the secret of the fire nation, i've been totally wanting to see this pairing! great job! can't wait for chapter four.

(I adored Secret of the Fire Nation, though of course I had high expectations going in. I mean, I was pulling for the pairing already because it’s so darn cute, but hearing about it in advance made me want to go for the gusto with some fanfiction. Still, I think I realized that they could be cute together around the moment Sokka said ‘Avenge the Boulder!’)

PikaBot: Very much in character, and sort of sweet. I will admit, though, that I found the first chapter creepy on a never-before-seen level. I mean, let's face it; Boy masturbating in front of a (at least he thinks) unsuspecting blind twelve year old? CREEPY. But the dialogue is extremely in character, and it's sprinkled with all sorts of nice touches, like Toph talking at the moon at the end of the first chapter. I would definately put this above most of the stuff on AFF.net.

(Yeah, I found that chapter creepy too. Mostly because it wasn’t what I was intending to write! I was planning on a simple smutty one-shot, but I just couldn’t finagle that much OOC-ness into the story, so I ultimately went the long route. And now it’s taken me all these pages. Odd, eh? I hope it was the right choice.)

Aloof_and_Androgynous: You write Tokka so beautifully that I am going to go in the corner and cry.

(Umm… sorry? Seriously, though, I appreciate the compliment and support. I hope to see your reviews on my future work.)

Ivana C.: Oh, wow. This is amazing! I honestly wasn't expecting much from a Toph/Sokka story, but, thankfully, you proved me wrong! I can't wait to read more! It's just incredible~!!!

(I can tell you mean it because of the tilde in front of your exclamation points. Heh. Thank you very much; your review put me in a good mood while finishing this story, and I got through it quicker for that. It also gave me the idea of closing like an episode of Avatar – fading out directly to credits. Still, as Aang would say, ‘It’s not over!’ Katara and he are headed to Bai Shan, and what’s next for Sokka and Toph? Don’t worry, kids… I’ll let you know sooner than later. If you’ve taken the time to read this far, I’d appreciate a review explaining what you thought was good and bad, or at least a rating. See you in the sequel! [Gunwild@mail2world.com])