Taang - Be Here

I don’t own the Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.



                                                Taang - Be Here


Her pale green eyes turned towards the bright blue sky as the sun was shining down upon her. For a moment she played with the thought of truly being able to see what the others all had: a great orb of fire, offering warmth and light to the Earth, and giving strength to the stone that she could bend at her will.

After a slight groan and a shifting noise from her pupil, Avatar Aang managed to gain his master's usually avoidable attention.

A slight smirk formed on her lips before she'd changed her expressions to an indifferent one with her eyes closed.

"Twinkle Toes," Her voices almost twinkled too as she turned around and he winced hearing it again. Because every time her voice happened to be like that he knew he didn't do something the way he was told to. "Your stance is wrong again." She said walking to him.

"Sorry…" He said on a low voice, but it only made her narrow her eyes and curling her fingers into a fist.

"And don't apologize, be like a rock!" She snapped while leaning forward, closer to him. "Rocks don't apologize. They're just there." She went on crossing her arms. "Are you there?" She asked loudly in a soldier like manner, and he answered just as how he knew she'd waited.

He straightened his back glaring ahead of himself while his stance did not change. "Yes, Ma'am!"

A slight smile played on her features as she slowly circled him to get behind him. “That’s more like it.” She said with the same tone then with sure hands she’d reached to his back, making it straighten properly, then put her hands on his shoulders to arrange them in a way to help the stance.

Aang didn’t say a word and his expressions remained the same until she slowly pushed his shoulders downwards, making his stance stabile and in her opinion perfect… Somewhere just before she stopped his eyes twitched as his back let out a crunching sound.

“Auch! T-toph, this hurts…” He complained while she smirked walking around him.

“Well, then you’re finally doing it right.” She said, not even turning to face him when she returned to her original place, lying down with her gaze turned upwards.

Aang gave her a glare while he was pouting like the child he really was. “You’re cruel…” He murmured ahead of himself when Toph raised her fists then punched in the air once.

The ground just beneath his feet raised him higher, for a moment making the stance worse, and now he stood on two pillars above the ground so that his legs wouldn’t try to get a better footing below him, while her smirk returned after putting her arms below her head.

“Yeah, but that’s why you love me…”

As the last three words escaped her lips the avatar’s legs moved and he slipped off the pillars making him fell flatly on his back with a hastily started question, he never finished. “Whaaa…??”

Toph made a frown. “I meant you all Twinkl…” She started but in the meantime he jumped up almost yelling to quickly protest.

“I don’t love you!”

She blinked without making any other movements while her back, legs and both of her hands lied on the ground, giving her the best opportunity to feel the vibrations. The vibrations of… “Aang…” She said slowly, only looking towards him with tilting her head upwards without raising it from the ground. The only thing she could think about because of his uneven heartbeat at the moment was… “Are you lying?” And he did that again… making her eyes turn round.

He paced around in his place, creating the same twinkling sensations she felt when they first met, when he finally spoke with a light blush on his face. “No…”

Even if she’d made a mistake before, now she knew that she hadn’t. She got to her feet and whirled around to point at him. “You are lying!” She said loudly then when Aang opened his mouth, she put both of her hands above her ears. “When I’ve told you a million times not to answer directly!” In the meantime the avatar closed his mouth and slowly walked to her while her cheeks slowly turned pink.

He couldn’t help but realize that besides all he knew about her, he had just found out another thing… she looked cute when she was embarrassed.

“T-this way you give away secrets no one is ready to hear!”

Aang stopped before her when she was only one-step distance away from him and his grey eyes bore into her sightless green ones before speaking on a low but sure voice.

A sudden wariness filled her ever since he’d stopped while her palms were still covering her ears. She knew that all she had to do would have been to remove them so that she could hear what he said, but somehow her brain didn’t want to focus on acting that way. What did he say…? “What?” She asked loudly instead, without removing her hands or making any moves.

A smile crossed his features and he reached out towards her hands, slowly pulling them away from the sides of her face. “I asked…” He started while she bit in her lower lip. “What would you do if I said…” He swallowed once then inhaled a deep breath while she was looking at him with her nerves at their limits. “That I love you?”

She could only make a single blink with still stunned expressions. Aang…? But he... never said anything about… about… However she slowly managed to find her voice to speak. “Honestly I thought I’d start laughing, but somehow I don’t feel like it right now…”

And all he did as an answer was letting out a light chuckle while his hands let go of hers. This is so like Toph…

It was his time to be surprised though when in the next moment she leaned in placing her pale hands to his face and kissing him lightly on the lips before slowly pulling away.

Their eyes locked together for a moment when she suddenly pulled her hands away as if realizing what she had done. “S-sorry, I shouldn’t have…” She quickly averted her gaze and already was about to turn away and probably run off… There are times when you shouldn’t face things head on!

But then he got a hold of her wrist and whirled her back to him as if she hadn’t been a powerful earthbender, but a simple girl from his people who could move weightlessly like the wind itself…

He held her hand, intertwined with his while the other rested on his chest and he could not help but smile down at her before finally speaking.

“Don’t apologize…” He said and his smile became more confident when she half frowned, half pouted at him, but even that disappeared when he whispered softly. “Just be here.”

For a moment she remained silent when she slowly realized that all of her worries disappeared right there… in his arms.

He didn’t dare to say anything just held his friend and master while the tension inside him rose. Is this it…? He slowly let his thumb move upon her hand to gain an answer from her, but kept his mouth shut. Will she say that she’s sorry then leave? He asked from himself, but Toph did none of those things…

A slight smile formed on her lips when he caressed her hand, then she slowly moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, embracing him when she finally said. “I am here…” He let out a deep breath while letting his arms trail around her waist when she softly leaned her head on his shoulder.

And they were aware of the fact that this was no longer just a friendly hug. This was the beginning of something they had to figure out and explore themselves later on… But they still had their whole lifetime ahead of them for that…