Chapter Text
It was always a bummer when the drawn game was one Toph couldn't particularly participate in, like Twister, and it sucked even more because Sokka did try to adapt the game for her, but the one time she tried to play, she hated the feeling of needing someone to guide her through it and even more the feeling of being touched without seeing it. It was still very funny to hear their bodies crumble down.
“That's a new record for Sokka: 2 minutes!” She said, smirking like it meant she was the victorious one, sipping on her cup of cheap, delicious wine.
“You only say that because you--”
“Hey! No ableism, my friend. I'm here merely to judge. And I'd totally beat your ass there.” She'd wink if she could and the others shared a laugh.
“Does that mean I win again?!” Aang was unbeatable on Twister night and was very proud about it. Everybody else groaned and Toph was certain someone threw a pillow at him. Probably Suki.
That was the general vibe of the apartment, all of them met in the last three years, getting together to help Katara and Sokka pay the bills of their apartment and unintentionally creating the single most wanted republic in the University. Everybody wanted to live there because they were really good at everything: throwing parties, hanging out and taking care of each other. In the end that was the best thing about them. They were known for always being together, even if their majors were so different. For example: Katara was in Med School, Aang did Religious Studies while being part of the Martial Arts club, Suki had a scholarship for volleyball and studied Law with Toph herself, who was also on the fighting club for jiu-jitsu, and Sokka was the best of his Mechanical Engineering class.
A couple of months ago, Aang and Katara -- finally -- made their relationship public, which meant Aang moved to Katara's room and now they had a free one to rent out. They knew a lot of people wanted to live with them and never hid how picky they were with new rents. They put out the flyer on Monday morning, by Monday evening the e-mail Katara made just for this was over 30 applications. The process to choose the new tenant was simple enough, tho, everyone would gather around the kitchen corner with a bottle of cheap wine and the qualifier were: someone doesn’t like them: out; someone had beef with them for any reason: out; someone hit on Aang: out; someone hit on Katara: out and burned; someone who had made out with Sokka: out, and the list goes on. By the end, they picked up this guy called Zuko who was friends with Aang because of Martial Arts, studies Politics Science and was the son of the Governor. Katara didn’t like him at first, but Aang assured the guy was legit and absolutely nothing like his father, so eventually she agreed and Toph was happy because there were way too many girls in the house already.
“I like even numbers.” She said.
And Zuko moved in last week, on a Wednesday. Only Sokka, Toph and Suki were on, Aang and Katara enjoying every second of every day to be together somewhere else.
“Hey, man. Welcome. I'm Sokka, this is Suki and Toph.” The man greeted with his signature grin, standing a hand that Zuko took without hesitating.
“Hi, I'm Zuko. Nice to meet you, guys.” He smiled, his hand behind his head. “Uhm, thanks for letting me in.” He said, adjusting a very heavy backpack over his left shoulder. He did notice curious eyes on the scar on his face from Sokka and the girl named Suki. The other one didn't seem to care too much to even look at him properly.
“Do you need help with your luggage?” That same girl asked, named Toph, he remembered.
“Yes, actually. But if you guys are busy, I can take it all by myself. I don't want to bother.”
“Quit the humbleness, Mr. I Can Do It All By Myself, we're here to help.” She answered, giving him a tap on the shoulder that felt more like a punch. Zuko didn't like that, the way she talked to him and the way she hit him. Who the fuck does she think she is?
“Don't bother, man, that's just Toph. You'll get used to it.” Sokka said, taking his backpack from him and picking up one of the bags. He saw Suki handing one of his bags to Toph and almost stopped her, but the short girl was already walking inside.
“Am I lying, tho? Don't think I am.” Toph smirked, cockiness to her body expression and not an inch of a head down.
“You're gonna scare the new guy…” Suki was saying as their voice vanished inside. Suki had a sweet smile and she and Sokka really did behave like they were used to that. It was confusing and slightly irritating.
“So she's always like that? Loud?” He asked when the girls entered, walking beside Sokka.
“Believe me, she grows on you.”
Zuko snorted. “Is she even able to grow at all?”
Sokka laughed, but then shook his head, patting Zuko on the back almost as a warning. “Don't let her hear you.”
Why did they act like they were scared of her? Was she dangerous or just annoying? Were they compliant to avoid conflicts or what? He was so confused, but he knew he'd still be very confused until he completely understood that crazy dynamic of theirs.
It took them the whole day to bring his things to his room. It already had a kingsized bed, a study table with shelves on top, a door fixed bar was installed in the bathroom door and later he found out that Aang used to work out there. He didn't complain, to be honest. The window was broad and it had an orange curtain he found hideous, will definitely change it.
It was Aang, by the way, who personally invited him to live there. They got pretty close because of the fight club. Zuko liked how kind Aang was to him from the start, completely ignoring everything that came with Zuko's presence (questions, glances, murmurs that were loud enough to be heard by him). It was safe to say most students would rather not share a class or anything with the bad Governor son, and as much as Zuko wanted to scream at everybody that he wasn't his father, it was never worth the try, he would only make a fool of himself and end up on gossip social media, which would cause his sister to remember he exists and he would very much like her not to.
And then the days went by. It was easier than he thought, living with those people. There was a lot of laughter, shared meals, movie nights, going to the club together, every friday was Game Night, everyone would lock themselves inside their rooms to study and even help each other if things got hard (and they were able to, given the different majors). He quickly understood why everybody else seemed to want to live there once there was a vacancy and he was really glad he got the privilege. He has a good relationship with everyone already, the only one he couldn't really figure out was Toph. She got under his skin, he thought she was exaggerated and a little too much. He tried to ask Aang about what was her deal and he seemed offended.
“She's like my little sister. What do you mean by that?” He asked back and Zuko decided it was better not to insist on it.
“She just jokes a lot, sometimes it makes me uncomfortable.” He explained. Aang looked at him with a sweet smile, touching his shoulder.
“You should let her know that, she'll ease down on you.” His tone almost called Zuko stupid because of course he could've just talked to her. And he wanted, planned it even, but there was something about her that was so… intimidating. It was really hard to tell, you know.
He was paying for the pizza when he heard bodies crumble on the ground. The pizza man raised one eyebrow, but relaxed when he heard laughter.
“Game Night.” Zuko said, laughing shyly. “Keep the change.” He closed the door with a nod to the pizza guy and went back inside with seven boxes of pizza. Everybody stood up, leaving the twister mat in the middle of the moved living room and rushed to the kitchen.
“Finally, I'm starving! Where are those from? They smell different.” Toph asked, approaching him and literally sniffing the boxes.
“It's from my uncle's place. I believe you guys will like it.” He answered, rushing to have some distance between him and her, putting the boxes on the counter.
“Don't you have it all?” She mocked and it took everything on him not to explode. He looked at Aang, who was helping sort the slides out for the group, and he nodded his head towards Toph. Zuko sighed.
“Hey, um… Toph? Can I talk to you for a sec?” She turned her body in his direction, tilting her head slightly up. Something happened to his heartbeat, he could swear she looked at him.
“Sure, what's up?”
“In private?” He was suddenly a little nervous. Would she yell at him, call him even worse names, mock him twice as much and force him out of the apartment and back to being the renegade son who lived with his uncle?
To his surprise, she nodded and turned to walk back to the living room while everybody else was in the kitchen. She knew her way very well inside of the house, her service dog, Melon Lord, always laying around close.
Toph turned back to him, hands in the pockets of her tree green turtle neck sleeveless romper. That biceps showed without her trying, making him look at the slight bump on her trapeze. She was ripped. He didn't know why he noticed that, nor how some strands of her long pitch black hair, tied in a high pony tail, were falling around her doll-like face.
“Are you staring? That's rude.” Her voice got him out of his daydream and he blinked, laughing nervously.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to.”
“It's okay, I know I'm all that.” There it was, that cocky little smirk of hers. He sighed, irritated already. “What did you want to talk about?”
“So, um… I don't really enjoy when you call me mockish nicknames.” He spoke every word very slowly, as if her blindness was also some kind of hard of hearing. “I was wondering if you could stop with that?”
There was silence. The hands on her pockets were now crossed under her breasts. Zuko swallowed dry, getting ready for some sort of fierce response. She tilted her head to the side, as if daring him.
“Just wondering? So you don't really want me to stop?” This fucking brat. He thought.
“I would like you to stop.” Oh, how polite of him... She thought, sarcastically.
She raised an eyebrow. “So what, you just don't like my jokes? Am I not funny to you?”
“I… do not.” He replied. “I mean, it's not that I don't think you’re funny, you are, I just… sometimes it can be a little too much, especially if it's too personal..” He should've stopped there, but he also had a reputation for not shutting up when he should. “And you could be a little more respectful with everyone else here.”
“Excuse me?”
“I- I just mean… you can be a little mean sometimes, that's all.”
More silence. It was hard to decipher the look on her face, her eyes reminding him of sea glasses, frozen in time. None of the two noticed the four pairs of eyes in complete silence looking at them with intense curiosity from the kitchen. Toph herself didn't look in their direction.
“Brave new guy.” He could tell he crossed a line. But in all fairness, she has crossed a bunch. “Okay.” She said simply, shrugging, and started to turn to go to the kitchen. Suddenly, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Suki were very busy eating their pizzas with ‘hums’ and ‘so delicious’.
“Wait, really? You're not mad?” Zuko couldn't help but ask. Toph stopped talking and turned to the side, head tilted in his direction but not entirely facing him.
“Why would I be mad?” She asked, he couldn't say what was that tone in her voice. “Mr. Pizza Man is scared of little old me?”
Zuko rolled his eyes. “I'm not scared of you, Toph.”
“Then we're good.” She said, simply, making her way to the counter and grabbing a slice of pizza.
Zuko was satisfied, of course, but something still bothered him. He looked at Aang and he gave him a thumbs up. Why did he think this wasn't quite right? He looked at everyone, trying to pick on something that could be wrong and they were normally eating their pizzas and chitchatting happily with each other. So this wasn't a big deal, he didn't say anything wrong. It was okay. Smiling to himself, he went to eat pizza as well.
The rest of the night went as good as it started and as time passed, Zuko allowed him to relax. So much so that he didn't notice Toph went to bed earlier than people said she usually did.
--x--
The next day, morning started early. Toph really wanted to sleep in, but she had jiu-jitsu practice in the morning and a project to present to her teacher in the afternoon, so no stalling in bed.
She didn’t get up, though. She stayed there for a while, face half buried in the pillow, feeling somewhat mad. Irritated, upset. She groaned to herself because she knew she shouldn’t be. All she did was try to make the new guy feel comfortable with the house dynamics, she even vouched for him for Katara before he moved in officially! What does he mean by "you can be a little mean”?! She wasn’t mean, she was straightforward and opinionated, that was all. She was not one of those annoying people who only wanted to make others comfortable, although she was actively trying to do that for him, and therefore could be called mean by design.
But she wasn’t mean. Was she?
And why the fuck was she mourning about what a guy she met a week ago said about her? Just stop joking about his personal life and that’s the end of it. She got that part, she wasn’t even mad about that part because, honestly, the guy was the Governor’s son, he probably was very annoyed by anything anyone had to say about his personal life.
But mean???? She was not mean!
“Katara!” Before she could stop herself, she flew off her bed and walked up the stairs - her room was the only one on the first floor because she asked to change with Suki when she moved in. Melon Lord walking right before her so she wouldn’t trip.
“Whoa! Look where you’re going?” Sokka had to divert from her way when she reached the second floor.
“Literally can’t.” She replied, blatant.
“Shit, I forgot. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry your pretty little mind.” Toph said, walking past him. “Katara!” She called again.
The med student opened the door to her room before Toph could reach it, only a little, and wrapped in her bed sheets.
“Why are you yelling so early in the morning?” Katara asked, sounding hoarse.
“Were you having sex?”
“Toph!!”
“Morning, Toph!” Aang shouted from inside the room.
“Morning, Twinkle Toes!” She shouted back, then lowered her voice, attention towards Katara. “I just want to ask you a question…” Toph sounded apologetic, raising her hands in defeat.
“Another one?”
“Yeah. In private. Go put on some clothes!”
Katara grunted, rolling her eyes before closing the door again. Toph leaned against the wall, crossing her arms, muttering things to herself and making an angry frown.
Melon Lord sat beside her, quietly looking around, as if listening to all the sounds behind the closed doors.
After what it felt like an eternity, Aang was the one who opened the door again, grinning widely like he always did early in the morning.
“Hey, Blind Bandit! How'd you sleep?!” Aang put an arm around Toph, who chuckled at him.
“Good, thank you. Did you sleep at all?” She asked, smirking.
“I did, actually. What's for breakfast?”
“I don't know, I'm not on the cooking schedule.” She shrugged.
“Right. It's Sokka's turn, my bad. Hey, wanna hang after practice today?” She let go of the hug and started walking towards the stairs.
“Can't, have a project to present.” She pouted.
“Oh, ok. Good luck on the presentation!” Aang's voice was slowly fading since he was already going down the stairs. Katara appeared at the door.
“Hey, what's up?” Her voice was a little worried, despite her clear irritation.
“Can I come in, please?!” Toph grinned innocently and Katara rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, sure.” She moved to the side so her friend could walk in. Once inside, she closed the door and crossed her arms, turning to Toph with a mix of annoyance and care. “So, how can I help you?”
“Am I mean?” The question got out of her mouth like she was vomiting bad vodka out and she cringed at herself.
Katara stood silent for two seconds before she started giggling.
“Why are you worried about that? You got mad because Zuko called you mean? Are you for real?”
“Hey, first of all: stop laughing, this isn't funny…”
“It is, tho.”
“...--Second of all: I'm not mad. Not really.” She paused. And then, “Yes, I am mad. I mean, I've been living with you guys for a year now and no one ever told me to ease down or said I'm mean.” Toph sat on the bed.
“I called you mean multiple times.” Katara said back, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, but you never said it like he did; like it bothers you to your bones and you'd rather not talk to me.” She said, actually upset. And it was a rare view, to see Toph openly upset about something. Katara felt a little taken aback.
“Aren't you reading too much into it? He just said that because he's a private person and doesn't like snarky comments or jokes made about him, it's just a boundary, Toph.” She tried to reason. Toph, however, lifted her head like she could see through Katara.
“No, it is not just a boundary, he spoke like he was speaking on behalf of everyone. Y'all are my friends, shouldn't it have come from yourselves?”
“That's why I’m saying you're reading too much into it: we, the people who have lived with you for the past year, don't truly bother. I, myself, talked to you every time you said something that I didn't like.” Katara walked over to the bed, sitting beside her.
“Who does he think he is, then? Saying shit like you were all talking about me behind my back.”
“Is that why you're mad? You're worried we talked about you behind your back? Because we definitely did. And to your face too, so it shouldn't be a problem.” Katara was starting to see a pattern between the two and started to worry if this would become a bigger problem.
“That's not the point. I'm not mean! That's the point.” She said, defensive.
“Well, not intentionally mean...”
Toph turned her face towards Katara. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what? Yes, you're mean. But not because you're evil or something like that, it's because sometimes you make shitty comments that can hurt, that's all.” Toph went silent. “No one is mad at you.”
She took a while to respond, breathing in deep before standing up and walking to the door: “So you’re just not helpful at all, are you?”
“Hey!” Katara stood up and stormed after Toph. “See what I mean? You can be mean, you were just mean to me right now! And you were the one who wanted to talk!”
“Yeah, whatever. Thanks, I guess.” Toph shrugged, tugging on Melon Lord's leash to walk down the stairs.
Katara was about to follow her when she felt someone give her a soft poke on the shoulder. She turned to see Zuko, who looked worried.
“Is everything alright?” He whispered.
“Yeah.” Katara tsc'ed, touching her temples. “My God… don't worry about Toph, you hurt her pride and now she'll make it everybody's problem. Or mine.”
“That's… wrong.” Zuko pointed, frowning.
“At this point, I'm used to it. That's Toph, Zuko, love it or hate it. We chose to love her, because she can also be very cool and nice.”
“I don't think she's ever been nice to me.” Zuko crossed his arms.
“Yeah, I'm definitely not trying to get in between whatever is going on with you two, just… have patience, she'll come around.” With a smile, she pat his back for reassurance and turned to walk down, yelling for Toph.
Zuko was still pretty confused by why they let her behave like that. And if she came to Katara to complain about him, would that make them evict him? … Nah.
But would it?