Fan 'n' Flame; Earth 'n' Sword

Three's Company: Chapter 3

Sokka was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open and close behind him. The strong, steady footsteps of an earthbender on the metal grating made their way to him.

Toph turned around when she reached him and leaned against the railing. "You okay?" Toph asked, turning her head to him.

"I'm fine, just needed to get some air," Sokka told her, looking out over the world beneath them.

"How's the view?" Toph said as she stood up straighter and turned more towards him.

"It's nice," Sokka mumbled before tilting his head and pursing his lips slightly. "Peaceful really. Last time I was on one of these I didn't really get the chance to just relax, probably something to do with you and I saving the world and all." He fell silent for a few more seconds. "It's calmer than on Appa, and I guess flying on him all the time kind of makes you forget to really take in the world as you go."

"Since when did you turn into some boring old philosopher?" Toph joked as she rolled her eyes at the way Sokka seemed to get lost in his thoughts. Sokka laughed and looked over to her. He focused on her milky eyes, remembering how unnerved they used to make him feel when she would look straight ahead rather than in his eyes, as if she was staring right through him; he wasn't even there. However, these days he was oddly happy with it. It was like she was solely focused on him. He glanced behind her, and far in the distance spotted the tips of the huge stone pillars of the Wulong Forest, with the scarred land just beyond.

"I had been meaning to ask you..." Sokka began, focusing back on Toph. "I've been thinking about heading back to the Wulong Forest to see if I could find Boomerang and Space Sword." He patted the replacement blade at his hip. "These are fine, but Space Sword was special. I know they were probably swept out to sea when Aang put out the fire, but I was thinking that if you-"

"Yeah, sure, whenever you want to go," Toph cut him off, giving a shrug. Sokka's eyes widened before a wide grin came to his face. It slowly fell as his face turned to confusion.

"Don't you need to be on this trip? It's still another few weeks," Sokka asked. "If I'm remembering the timetable that was sent to the South correctly."

"I don't have to be here." Toph stated, receiving an even more bemused look from Sokka.

"Why are you even here then?" Sokka said, straightening up but keeping his hands on the railing.

"I want to be," Toph told him, annoyance creeping into the edge of her words. "I like to get a break from my lily-livers at the academy, and I can easily repair stuff with metalbending." She stopped for a moment before a small smile came to her face. "Plus, I get to spend some time with Satoru. I still think you two would get on if you just talked a bit and got to know each other." Sokka hadn't paid much attention to the last sentence she said.

"Oh...okay" He muttered with a slight nod and went back to leaning on the railing. 'Spend some time with Satoru'. That phrase kept running through his head. He let out a sigh. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Toph's hand reach out to grip the railing near him and he pushed lightly off of it. He turned his head slightly more in her direction and saw her frown. She took a step near him and casually went to put her hand on his shoulder. He leaned away and took a step back, turning and facing her, seeing the frown turn into a glare. She leapt at him and Sokka easily sidestepped her and allowed her to continue past him.

"I thought the great Toph Beifong would be able to catch a simple Water Triber," Sokka teased, and she could almost sense the grin on his face. "Without bending," Sokka added quickly as he saw her hands begin to rise. She dropped her hands and grinned back at him. Rolling her shoulders back a few times and cracking her neck on both sides, she leaped at him again. Sokka simply jumped back to avoid her. She followed after him, cursing him each time he narrowly escaped her grasp.

"Nowhere to go," Toph told him victoriously as he stood at the end of the platform, his back against the railings. He shifted into a stance, staying on the balls of his feet. He saw a small smirk on Toph's face and suddenly she launched forwards, arms out wide to grab him. He rushed forward and dropped low, his arms spread out, keeping his balance. As he ducked under Toph's arm, he shifted his back leg to the front, allowing his back arm to follow. He powered upwards and held the finish form, as if he was airbending, for half a second before turning around to Toph, who had her eyebrow cocked.

"What did you say? Sokka called to her, ready to jump back if she went for him.

"Twinkle Toes has been showing you some new moves," Toph noted. Before Sokka could respond she came at him again, and he quickly started to retreat.

"Sokka, To-" Satoru stopped as he walked onto the platform and saw the two of them, taking in somewhat deep breaths and grinning like fools at each other. He chuckled a bit before he continued. "I just wanted to leave both of you know that we should be arriving at Mount Makapu soon."

"Thanks, I'm actually going to go in, pretty cold this high up, should have brought my South Pole clothing," Sokka said as he began walking towards the door Satoru was standing by. He felt a pain shoot through his arm as Toph's fist connected with it and pushed him aside.

"Gotcha," Toph announced triumphantly as she stepped inside the airship first. However, she was annoyed that she didn't actually get to check his heart rate; it had been beating fast from the little game they had played. She would have been able to tell if something was up with him if she had just managed to land a hand on him. Toph frowned. He was acting weird and she didn't like it. She gave a small shrug of the shoulders to herself. He might just be tired from travelling to the refinery.

He's got a lot lighter on his feet since the war. Toph thought to herself as she sat down. She watched him sit cross-legged across from her.

"I think I'm going to have a bruise from that one," Sokka stated as he rubbed his arm.

"Am I still doing this right?" Toph asked, pointing to her eyes as she rolled them. She heard Sokka let out a laugh and gave another roll of her eyes before smiling.

OoOoO

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote and tell me what you thought if you'd like! And follow me so you can keep up with the story!

If I was writing this chapter now, I would have just added it onto the end of the last chapter, but it's a cute little moment between them! Due to the shortness of this chapter, the next will be uploaded very quickly!

Feel free to message me privately if you have any questions about the story, or would just like to chat. Always love getting to know my readers/fellow writers!

Thanks for reading!