Open If You Know How To See; Toph/Aang, PG-13laurellejanaJuly 14 2008, 07:55:05 UTC
Totally not a drabble, since it´s 800+ words, but I needed them to make the thing a satisfying PG-13. Aang and Toph are about 16 here.
“I dare you.” And that put an end to all his protests, for even in the three years since the war their little tribe had never ceased to take dares as the most serious of challenges. The heat from his blush made her toes press harder into the ground, but her voice stayed steady when she continued. “And don´t give me any guff about Sweetness seeing and disapproving, you know she and Sparky are taking their own sweet time about getting back tonight, and you know just why, too.”
“Toph! You can´t think anything is happening between Katara and Zuko, after they´ve told us so many times that they´re just good friends!”
“Don´t be so blind, Twinkle Toes! And don´t try to change the subject, are you taking my dare or not?”
He thought about this an uncomfortably long time, and she tried to forget how thoughtful the war had made them all. This was a moment for her to just do, without thinking, and she wouldn´t let him take it away.
“Only if I get to give one,” was his eventual reply.
“Done deal. Now strip.”
“Toph! At least turn around.”
“It´s not like I´ll be able to see anything, genius.” But she obliged anyway.
And she did see, through her own mode of seeing, how he also turned his back; how gingerly he set down his staff; how quickly he took off the large-wide thing he wore on top; how he hesitated and then danced around pulling off his bottoms. When he turned back to her she knew that he´d left on that last layer that he wore even while waterbending or just plain swimming, but the dare hadn´t necessarily included naked so she didn´t complain. Not that she didn´t want to, but Toph Bei Fong understood as well as anyone about choosing your words carefully and expecting them to be followed to the letter.
“There, are you satisfied?” he asked almost immediately.
“I can´t see them yet, so no.” She walked directly over to him and held out her hand, demanding without a word that he finish what he´d started. He took it, sighed, and placed her palm at the top of his head. She lightly ran it up and down his brow, then used her fingertips to brush the lines that made his first arrow, trailing them down past where it ended to push in his nose.
She said, “Are you ready for me to see the rest?”
He nodded, a movement so slight it only resonated in her toes. But then he pulled her hand back up his forehead and slid the palm across his shaved head. When it reached the neck, she moved herself around until she was standing behind him, and disengaged their hands. Her toes curled involuntarily as she felt his heartbeat speed up. She trailed her fingers down his nape to his back, then lightly feathered them to the left and to the right, following the slightly raised bands across his shoulderblades and back to his spine. She smiled to herself when he shivered, a smile she knew he couldn´t see that revealed motives she was sure he hadn´t guessed. She gripped his arms and let her callused palms slide down them in a spiral, feeling the tattoos and his goosebumps at the same time. When she was holding his hands she pulled first one then the other behind his back, holding them together with her left hand while tracing his second and third arrows with her right thumbnail. And her feet wanted to dance when they felt his heartbeat beginning to pound through the ground to them.
Re: Open If You Know How To See; Toph/Aang, PG-13laurellejanaJuly 14 2008, 08:47:19 UTC
**The end because it was too long for one comment. Deleted and reposted to fix a slight error x.x;;**
Then suddenly she dropped into a crouch, letting his hands go in favor of grabbing his feet. Her knuckles skimmed arrows four and five, and she couldn´t resist saying, “No wonder I can hardly feel you walk sometimes, you´ve got tiny little feet! I should´ve called you Tiny Toes.”
“As long as they´re strong it doesn´t matter their size,” he said, and he couldn´t quite keep his voice steady. She kept her face turned down and her smile small but triumphant.
As she ran her hands up his legs she worked her way around to kneel in front of him, and pulled him slightly toward her when the bands went behind his thighs. She could hear him swallowing several times, and she wondered what he was getting ready to say that needed so much preparation. Then her attention was entirely on the heat that was radiating out of his skin and the pounding she could now feel in the bottom of her stomach as well as her feet.
When she finally stood up, and her hands finished their journey at the spot on his lower back that was raised but not smooth, that was scored and rough as though the burn had never quite healed, she pulled him all the way toward her and asked, “So what´s your dare then?”
“I dare you to be as honest about your feelings all the time as you were just now.” And he kissed the smart reply right out of her mouth.
Re: Open If You Know How To See; Toph/Aang, PG-13laurellejanaJuly 14 2008, 19:13:06 UTC
I´m SO glad you liked it! So glad that I did a little squee dance when I found this comment. See, this is the first thing I´ve written in Avatar at all, and I was super nervous about it being in response to a prompt. But you liked it! So yay!
“I dare you.” And that put an end to all his protests, for even in the three years since the war their little tribe had never ceased to take dares as the most serious of challenges. The heat from his blush made her toes press harder into the ground, but her voice stayed steady when she continued. “And don´t give me any guff about Sweetness seeing and disapproving, you know she and Sparky are taking their own sweet time about getting back tonight, and you know just why, too.”
“Toph! You can´t think anything is happening between Katara and Zuko, after they´ve told us so many times that they´re just good friends!”
“Don´t be so blind, Twinkle Toes! And don´t try to change the subject, are you taking my dare or not?”
He thought about this an uncomfortably long time, and she tried to forget how thoughtful the war had made them all. This was a moment for her to just do, without thinking, and she wouldn´t let him take it away.
“Only if I get to give one,” was his eventual reply.
“Done deal. Now strip.”
“Toph! At least turn around.”
“It´s not like I´ll be able to see anything, genius.” But she obliged anyway.
And she did see, through her own mode of seeing, how he also turned his back; how gingerly he set down his staff; how quickly he took off the large-wide thing he wore on top; how he hesitated and then danced around pulling off his bottoms. When he turned back to her she knew that he´d left on that last layer that he wore even while waterbending or just plain swimming, but the dare hadn´t necessarily included naked so she didn´t complain. Not that she didn´t want to, but Toph Bei Fong understood as well as anyone about choosing your words carefully and expecting them to be followed to the letter.
“There, are you satisfied?” he asked almost immediately.
“I can´t see them yet, so no.” She walked directly over to him and held out her hand, demanding without a word that he finish what he´d started. He took it, sighed, and placed her palm at the top of his head. She lightly ran it up and down his brow, then used her fingertips to brush the lines that made his first arrow, trailing them down past where it ended to push in his nose.
She said, “Are you ready for me to see the rest?”
He nodded, a movement so slight it only resonated in her toes. But then he pulled her hand back up his forehead and slid the palm across his shaved head. When it reached the neck, she moved herself around until she was standing behind him, and disengaged their hands. Her toes curled involuntarily as she felt his heartbeat speed up. She trailed her fingers down his nape to his back, then lightly feathered them to the left and to the right, following the slightly raised bands across his shoulderblades and back to his spine. She smiled to herself when he shivered, a smile she knew he couldn´t see that revealed motives she was sure he hadn´t guessed. She gripped his arms and let her callused palms slide down them in a spiral, feeling the tattoos and his goosebumps at the same time. When she was holding his hands she pulled first one then the other behind his back, holding them together with her left hand while tracing his second and third arrows with her right thumbnail. And her feet wanted to dance when they felt his heartbeat beginning to pound through the ground to them.
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Then suddenly she dropped into a crouch, letting his hands go in favor of grabbing his feet. Her knuckles skimmed arrows four and five, and she couldn´t resist saying, “No wonder I can hardly feel you walk sometimes, you´ve got tiny little feet! I should´ve called you Tiny Toes.”
“As long as they´re strong it doesn´t matter their size,” he said, and he couldn´t quite keep his voice steady. She kept her face turned down and her smile small but triumphant.
As she ran her hands up his legs she worked her way around to kneel in front of him, and pulled him slightly toward her when the bands went behind his thighs. She could hear him swallowing several times, and she wondered what he was getting ready to say that needed so much preparation. Then her attention was entirely on the heat that was radiating out of his skin and the pounding she could now feel in the bottom of her stomach as well as her feet.
When she finally stood up, and her hands finished their journey at the spot on his lower back that was raised but not smooth, that was scored and rough as though the burn had never quite healed, she pulled him all the way toward her and asked, “So what´s your dare then?”
“I dare you to be as honest about your feelings all the time as you were just now.” And he kissed the smart reply right out of her mouth.
Reply
“Done deal. Now strip.”
“Toph! At least turn around.”
“It´s not like I´ll be able to see anything, genius.” But she obliged anyway.
Loved this scene xD!
I think I'm going to let free some tears of happiness for this.
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