Peace or Not (Avatar Roleplay)

"Yeah you do," she said, chuckling too. "And so do I. It's why your sister and Twinkle Toes made us bunk together that one time at some inn."

"Yeah, that was fun," Sokka told her with a laugh, "We spent the whole night bantering and keeping them up."

"Served them right, trying to get rid of us. It's not like we can help if we snore," she said, grinning. "Besides, annoying them is a lot of fun."

"I guess we should get the others now and head out. We should get going as soon as possible."
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Haru wanted to go back outside, but he didn't want to run into the Blue Spirit again. So he stayed inside the palace.

He spotted Jet up ahead and ran over to him.

"Hey!"

Jet just stared at Haru for a second. "What? You seem overly happy."

"No. I'm just bored really."

"I understand. Not much to do but wonder if Azula is going to come and kill us all."

"I think Toph followed Sokka into her room," Mai stated dryly.

*

"Yeah. And now that we're together, we can annoy them even more," Sokka told Toph with a mischievous grin.

"Great. Well let's see if we can tear them apart," he said, a bit annoyed. Not that he wasn't happy for his friends. But he did find their constant display of affection somewhat irritating.

"I like the sound of that!" she said, showing off a mischievous grin of her own. "Heck, why stop there. We'll prank everyone. Now that's a pretty sweet gig."

Mai followed her husband, deciding not to mention their own blatant displays of affection. She was looking forward to the show."

*

Sokka grinned at Toph, shaking his head at her genius. He murmured, "I love you, you know that, right?"

She blushed outright. She slowly turned towards him, though her eyes landed on his forehead rather than his own gaze. She did not speak for a minute, but when she did she was almost uncharacteristically meek and surprised.

"You do?"

Sokka blinked, blushing a little. He hadn't been thinking when he said that but, looking at her now, he knew without a doubt he did. She was his best friend first and now so much more. Of course he did.

"Yeah. I do," he told her, blushing a little.

"Oh. Well, I..." She smiled. "I love you too."

She had to admit that any other time, anyone else, this would have come out of nowhere. But it was different with her and Sokka. They had been best friends for almost as long as she had known him. They had been through a lot together in the past few years, and they were so close that the jokes she had mentioned before about the sexual tension were floating around amongst some crowds.

After he and Suki had broke up, they seemed to have drawn even closer. They exchanged letters, and Toph had made it a point to visit him as often as she could to make sure he was okay. She could also fondly remember the times he had visited her, and they had had the run of Gaoling. Even now, after being a few weeks apart because of the busy lives they led, they came together as if they had never been apart.

So, no. It didn't come out of nowhere. It was, instead, as if this moment was what everything had been leading up to.

"I'm glad," he told her, not able to think of anything else to say, not that he needed to. It was all there in the open. Long declarations of love weren't exactly needed. It was just right being with her.

Once again, he found himself kissing her, with more passion than ever before, his arms gripping her tightly.

Zuko knocked on the door, not wanting to walk in on anything.

"Are you too ready?"
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"So were you headed anywhere specific," Haru asked. Jet shook his head.

"Nah. I just talked to Suki. Now I'm just trying to find something to do. Probably head back to our room."

Haru nodded and together they began walking there. It was a weird kind of silence as they walked. Haru found it almost awkward being alone with Jet. He wasn't sure why though.

There was no warning or explanation, so Toph was a bit surprised when Sokka kissed her again, and rather passionately. Not that she was about to complain, though. She smiled against his lips and returned his kiss. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him even closer to her, her heart pounding.

And then she heard the knock on the door, and Zuko call for them.

She swore under her breath. "He really is a cock-blocker, isn't he?"

"Definitely," Sokka agreed, feeling rather frustrated, "And with all the understanding we gave him about his actions with Mai."

He spoke up, "Give us a minute! Got to get dressed!"

He smiled mischievously, "He deserved that."

"If I'd known he was coming, I might've thrown in some sound effects for good measure," she said, snickering. They were close enough that she was able to kiss him without searching for his lips first. "We better hop to it, I guess. We've got a world to save."

"Yeah, yeah. I just wish it would save itself for once," he told her, kissing her back with a smile.

"Maybe one day it will," she said. "At the least, one day we'll be too old to do a thing about it."

Toph clambered off the bed grabbed her knapsack. She opened the door to greet Zuko and Mai.

"That eager for a road-trip, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah. But when we're older, we'd be too senile to enjoy ourselves... Wait, that will be fun," Sokka told Toph before following her to the door. He made a big show of readjusting his clothes.

Zuko just sighed and waited. He was anxious to go. He guessed they weren't as effected by what was happening or just too involved with eachother since they seemed to be more laidbacked. But Zuko found he couldn't relax completely. Growing up with Azula he knew how dangerous she was. He was afraid for everyone.

"Jeez, Zuko. Lighten up." Toph punched him in the arm as she passed. "Things are bad enough without you imagining more crap."

Zuko was easy to read. His heartbeat and breathing were unsteady, and he shook ever so slightly. It took no genius to figure out what was bothering him.

"Yeah. I mean, she's nuts. How bad can she be?" Sokka asked, following Toph with a shrug, "You and Katara beat her easily last time."

"Don't say anything!" said Toph, shushing Sokka. "No positive thinking from you. It's weird, and the last time you did that bad stuff happened."

She was teasing him more than she was being serious.

Shouldering her pack, she said, "Let's get going. The sooner I get off a ship the better."

"Fine, I'll stick to being cynical for now on. Excuse me for trying to lighten the mood," he grumbled. He smiled a little, "Don't worry. I'll be there to hold back your hair if you get sea sick."

Mai rolled her eyes, "Great."

"It is, for me anyway," said Toph. "And there's no 'if' about it. I probably will get sick."

She was already dreading the trip, and the thought of losing her lunch because of it.