A/N: Well I finished it. My entry for Twilight Rose2's September Contest (for rules and how to enter, check out her profile). It was hard, I'll admit it, but it was a lot of fun at the same time. The contest rules say that you have to add a minor OC and originally Zuko wasn't in the story at all, and the bartender let her tell him everything, but then I thought that the MINOR OC played to big a role, so I put Zuko into the story. :D The rules also say that you have to put the lines: 'It hurts' 'Not as much as it should.' Which I forgot about until I almost finished the story. But I found a way to add them in.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did, Toph and Sokka would be canon and there'd be a 4th season.

It wasn’t like I tried to hurt her. Not at all! I’d never, ever try to hurt her on purpose. But apparently I did hurt her by accident.

She didn’t hear the whole thing. She didn’t stay and listen. And she sure as hell isn’t listening now.

“Toph! You aren’t listening!” I snapped. I really shouldn’t have. But I was slightly insulted that she thought I would do something like that.

“Good! Because I don’t want to hear it!” Toph was angry. Not the ‘you-stepped-on-my-toe-apologize-right-now’ kind of angry but the dreaded ‘I-think-my-boyfriend-cheated-on-me-and-it’s-time-to-make-him-pay’. I’ve honestly never seen her so furious.

Or so hurt.

Just that alone is enough to make my frustration melt away and be replaced with an endless amount of remorse.

But she still wouldn’t listen.

“Toph, come on! You know I’d never…” I stopped as she punched my arm. Hard. Unlike all those affectionate punches I had received through the years, this one, I knew, was meant to hurt.

“It hurts,” I said, as the pain stayed in it’s throbbing form.

She glared at me. “Not as much as it should!” Toph spat angrily.

I rubbed my arm furiously.

And then she was gone. Well, to be more realistic, I was.

One minute she was shouting at me and the next, I’m looking at a closed door. A door that’s still shaking from the slam she gave it. I was on the outside doorstep.

She earthbended me out of her house and then shut the door. With bending.

Usually I’d call her a show off, but in the current situation, with passing people staring at me, a few obviously guessing what had happened, I decided that the only thing to do would be to leave. Leave and let her cool down.

So that I could finally explain what had really happened.

And I was off. Walking down her street with an even pace, never looking back.

So I didn’t see the door to the house open ever so slightly and a petite, black-haired girl slip out, walking quickly in the opposite direction.

Toph Bei Fong:

Tears. Not really something you associate with me. I’m tough. I’m kick-ass. And I never cry. But obviously my tear ducts hadn’t gotten the memo.

So as soon as I felt that unfamiliar feeling of my eyes watering up, I earthbended him out. I wasn’t about to let the bastard see me cry. I wasn’t going to let him see how much he had hurt me.

And as soon as I felt him walking away from the front door, I left. Running in the opposite direction. I don’t know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away.

And eventually, God knows how long later, I stopped.

I was tired and sweat was dripping off my forehead. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, run like a wild moose-lion on the hottest day of the year, but I didn’t care.

I heard a crash to my right. Vibrations raced through the soil and contacted with my feet. A bar. How convenient. I could really use something equivalent to cactus juice right about now.

I stomped in, completely ignoring the man at the door who vaguely asked if I was old enough to enter. But he didn’t stop me when I didn’t answer. I guess I looked angry and tired.

Plus he probably saw the small indents in the ground where I had stopped running. No one messes with an earthbender in the Fire Nation.

I settled myself on one of the barstools. The bartender looked skeptical as I asked for any kind of alcoholic drink.

“Somehow, little lady, I doubt that you’re over 21.” He sounded stuffy. Like a head servant who thinks he’s so important.

I made a face at him as I reached into my pocket for my Bei Fong passport. I mean, really, I know I don’t look 21, but people shouldn’t say it so superiorly like that.

Searching around in my pocket (it’s much bigger than it looks) I felt my heart sink. I had left it at home. Great. I really wanted that drink.

I looked hopefully up at the bartender.

“Sorry. No drink without proof of age,” he said shortly, as if reciting from a manual.

I huffed and crossed my arms. Jerk. I needed comfort, dammit!

“You here unaccompanied?” A voice asked, settling onto the barstool next to me.

“Sparky? What are you doing here?” Zuko was supposed to be leading the Fire Nation. At least, that’s what I think Fire Lords do. You never know with the Fire Nation.

“She wants a drink,” Zuko said, looking the direction of the bartender. Well a Fire Lord has a lot more say in things than a sweaty, exhausted girl, so the bartender scowled and turned to get my drink.

Plopping it down in front of me so a bit spilled over the sides and onto my fingers, he turned away again. Double jerk.

“You look terrible,” Zuko commented, taking a sip of his own drink.

“I haven’t had the best of days,” I grunted before taking a sip of the drink. Blergh. It was terrible. I forgot how much I hated these kind of fancy alcoholic drinks.

Zuko laughed as I made a face. “It gets better after the third sip,” he promised.

“And you know this from personal experience?” I asked dryly. Zuko didn’t answer and just sat, sipping at his own, probably delicious, drink.

“So, you want to tell me what the problem is? Most people don’t hesitate to tell their whole sob stories to the Fire Lord. Usually starting from the day they were born.”

I snorted. “This isn’t a shrink session. Is there a law that says you can’t go into a bar without feeling miserable? I feel perfectly fine.” But I could practically kill myself when I felt one of those tears spill over and trail down my face. Stupid emotions.

Stupid cheating boyfriend.

“What happened?” Zuko asked in a softer tone. “It usually helps to talk to someone, and you know that you probably won’t even remember it after you finish that drink.”

This was true. I liked his reasoning. Plus I could feel my head growing ever so slightly fuzzy as I downed my second sip of the drink. Yuck.

“The usual. A few hours ago I saw him with another girl.” And you know what? Talking about it made it even more painful. What a shock. Que the sarcasm.

“You saw him with another girl?” he repeated in some sort of shock.

We were both silent, I guess while he tried to process this. It was pretty unbelievable. Hell, I wouldn’t have believed it before today. But, it wasn’t my fault. Sparky did ask.

“Are you sure he cheated? It could have been a misunderstanding.”

“Her heart was pounding, he was blushing, they were about to kiss. Plus you know she’s thought he was cute since they were like 15.”

More silence. Well as silent as it can get in a bar. Seriously, do bars ever have ‘quiet time’? I doubt it.

“Do you love him?”

I choked on my (horrible) drink. And I was pretty sure that it was because of the question instead of the taste.

What a stupid question! We’ve known each other for years! Most likely it was for the best that he cheated…it wasn’t anything serious, our relationship. Just because I heard his heart beat speed up every time I entered the room, or how I laughed harder when he told a joke, none of that meant anything in relation to love. I mean, just because I had had a crush on him since I was like 13, didn’t prove anything. Right?

“Well?”

I glared in his direction. “Why the hell do you want to know? It’s none of your business!”

He just smirked. Most people would get all defensive. Kudos, Sparky.

I scowled.

“I bet you do. So what are you doing?” He sounded amused, like the whole thing was one big joke. Not so much kudos.

“Doing, what? I’m just sitting here, drinking tar, and talking to someone who likes to pretend he’s a shrink.”

“What are doing here?” Zuko sounded strangely knowledgeable. “Go after him! I bet you never let him explain. That would be so like you. It could all turn out to be one huge misunderstanding and you drank tar for nothing. You are stubborn enough not to let the poor guy explain.”

He paused.

“Toph. Go after the guy. C’mon, you and I both know that if you don’t, you’ll regret it forever.”

I frowned. “Zuko, I’ll do whatever I freaking want.”

But I knew he was right. Which I’ll probably never repeat ever again. Zuko, right? Ha, that’s a good one. He was too oblivious to see Mai crushing on him for like, ever.

He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.

“Or don’t do anything. Let the guy you love think that you hate him. Sit here on this barstool forever wondering what exactly happened, because, Toph, get real. Because if you can’t see that he’s head over heels in love with you, than you really are blind.” Zuko stood up and slammed some gold coins down on the bar, more than enough to pay for both our drinks. “Best of luck.”

And he left.

I was stunned. I mean come on. When did Zuko become my little guardian angel? The very thought of him dressed in a frilly dress, flying around helping people with the power of a magic wand and kind words makes me roll around in laughter. Or gag. One of those.

“Are you going to leave soon? Because I do have more customers waiting to be served,” the bartender asked snidely.

“Oh shut up or I’ll sick the Fire Lord on you,” I snapped.

I was intentionally rude, yes, but I didn’t have time to deal with snobby bartenders. Because I just realized something.

Never had he given any indication of cheating. He was always waiting at home when I came back from somewhere, he never went out with girls behind my back (really, my lie detecting abilities are so awesome) and, as much as I hated to admit it, I usually did jump to conclusions.

So instead of staying on my barstool, drinking away all my miseries like previously planned, I stood up and started out the door. I never looked back, even when the bartender let loose with an extremely loud and extremely rude, ‘finally!’.

I had to find Snoozles.

Sokka of the Water Tribe:

I have to admit, I was feeling extremely sorry for myself. Sitting on the steps of some famous Fire Nation landmark that I didn’t recognize, my head was resting in my hands and emitting loud sighs every few seconds. It was probably for this reason that Fire Nation tourists were looking at me warily, and avoiding my spot.

I hadn’t cheated. I would never cheat! Never in a million years. Even if I was dating someone that I didn’t love. And I wasn’t in that situation. I was serious about Toph. If she ever forgave me, I’d probably ask her to marry me someday.

A dreamy expression fell on my face as I imagined little earthbenders running around a house, pulverizing walls and knocking down precious artwork. Yeah.

And suddenly I was jerked out my fantasy by a certain earthbender. I was sure was my imagination playing tricks on me. I mean, she couldn’t have forgiven me already. It just wasn’t natural. Once I stepped on her toe (accident!) and she didn’t speak to me for 6 hours.

And then Toph was sitting next to me. My eyes were sad as I looked at her. She looked uneasy and small. She always seemed so big to me. Maybe it was her ability to knock me through the roof with a flick of the wrist.

“You’re not easy to find,” she said quietly.

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if she was still furious at me or not.

“Look, Snoozles, I know that I went over the top, but you really hurt me.” She didn’t look at me. She has never been very good at the whole apologizing thing. “But Zuko helped me realize that I should let you explain. And here I am. For you to explain exactly what happened.” She paused and as if to add a little bit of Tough Toph to the sentence, she added, “And I’ll know if you lie, so you better tell the truth.”

I gave a small smile. “You should have stayed for a few more seconds, Toph. Ty Lee kissed me. And if you had stuck around, you’d have known that I backed away within seconds. More like milliseconds.”

Toph finally looked up at me. “Why were you even with her in the Palace?”

“I had to go to the Palace to talk to Zuko about something. And she ran into me,” I said honestly.

I really hoped her feet didn’t think I was lying.

She looked at me for a few seconds before smiling ever so slightly and punching me (this time affectionately) in the arm.

“Well that’s a relief. I don’t think Katara would like me very much if I had to pulverize you into a million pieces.”

I grinned widely. Toph was back. And I was forgiven.

Knowing that she’d never accept such an obvious PDA as even hugging me, I took it upon myself to do it.

I wrapped my arms around her, grinning as her cheeks turned a bright red.

“If it makes you feel any better, you kiss a million times better than Ty Lee.”

She smirked. “You do realize I’ll have to go see Ty Lee tomorrow,” she said.

I looked at her suspiciously. “Why?”

“To tell her what good taste she has in guys,” Toph said innocently, the very picture of honesty.

But there was something in her eyes that really made me pity Ty Lee.

The End

A/N: Well. I honestly did try to write the story with a different couple. Originally it wasn't going to have any couples at all...but then I thought that this was the best way to do it. And I tried writing stories with Kataang, Maiko and even Zutara, but they really sucked. Badly. :D

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