Story [Avatar: The Last Airbender] Pretense (Toph x The Duke one-shot)

A/N: This one-shot came out of nowhere a few months ago. It was posted on another fanfiction site, but as I'm moving some of my one-shots over here, I figured I'd include this one.

A HUGE THANK YOU to my friend Emma for beta-reading this one for me.

Disclaimer: Avatar: TLA does not belong to me. Nor do the quotes at the beginning and end of this one-shot.

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"Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open." ~ John Barrymore

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Toph had never expected The Duke to be in her life beyond the few times their paths crossed during the war. He was a nice kid and all. Throughout their time undercover on a Fire Nation ship, he had engaged her in conversations and had always treated her normally. She didn't know if she would have called him a friend--not the way she did Aang, Sokka, and Katara, but she had enjoyed talking to him. He was a friendly, unassuming kid, and her appreciation for him shot upward when he cheerfully lent her his helmet during the invasion so she could throw up in it. (Really, how many people would do that for their best friend, let alone someone they weren't especially close to?) But she figured she wouldn't be seeing much of him after the war was over.

It was kind of funny how sometimes the smallest, least expected things could alter a person's life. Like a light-footed boy knocking her out of the earthbending ring one night and forever changing the course of her life.

Shortly after Zuko's coronation, she and the others went to Ba Sing Se to relax, enjoy each other's company, and drink gallons of Iroh's tea. They weren't the only ones to make the journey to Ba Sing Se. The Duke and Pipsqueak came to visit the city, too, and Toph wasn't sure what would have happened with her future if The Duke hadn't been in Iroh's tea shop on the day she got the letter from the Earth King.

Most of her friends were busy--with each other, and with love and romance and things that she wanted nothing to do with. She knew she was kind of the odd one out, but she was fine with that. In fact, if they were going to be all mushy and flirty, she preferred they do it somewhere that she didn't have to listen to it.

Since none of her friends was readily available, Toph got Iroh to read her the Earth King's letter, and once she heard what it said, she laughed. "The king wants me to train his earthbenders?" She propped her feet on the table. "He apparently doesn't know how much I hate Ba Sing Se."

"Ba Sing Se has much potential," Iroh said. She could hear him pouring a cup of tea, and he pressed it into her hands. "There will be rebuilding to be done. Peace will not come easily to a war-stricken world."

"Doesn't mean I want to be here," she grumbled.

"It is pretty crowded." Toph felt the vibrations of The Duke's light footsteps moving over to her table before she heard his voice, and she turned her head in his direction as he sat down across from her. "Kinda makes me want to get out of here soon," he admitted.

"And where will you go?" Iroh asked.

Toph wasn't sure if he was talking to her, or The Duke, or both of them, but the truth was, she didn't know. She had been trying not to think too much about it. She knew that this was the end of something. There would be no more frenzied battles with the Fire Nation, no more fleeing from town to town and training Aang so that he would be strong enough to defeat the Firelord. Her companions would be going different ways. Zuko would be at the Fire Nation palace. There would be diplomatic trips, of course, but he had his duties now. Sokka and Katara had their home in the South Pole to return to, even though both of them would probably find their own paths and travels, too. And Aang would have a duty--not just a duty; she knew it would be Aang's desire--to travel the world and continue to work for peace.

It would probably be the kind of peace work that involved lots of parties, social interactions, and politics. Some of Toph's least favorite things.

"Pipsqueak's thinking about taking up work as a farmer," Th

 

That was really sweet!! I love how you show their relationship slowly changing over time

 

So sweet! The characterisations are spot-on!

 

YAY!!! I love this vig!

Great job!