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As Sokka stands in front of the body-length mirror, staring at his reflection with shaking hands and sweaty palms, he thinks about how he asked his girlfriend to come to his first speech in front of a large crowd as a council representative. He knows full well that she’s the busiest person he’s ever met, and yet he expects her to drop everything and come to a ridiculous thing in order to support him.
He must be an idiot. It’s the only possible explanation.
“I’ll be there,” she’d said.
Well, where the heck is she, then? Because he sure as hell doesn’t see her.
And he’s freaking out.
Sokka isn’t the biggest fan of public speaking; he never has been and he hasn’t had the privilege of getting over it. He’s depending on Toph’s presence here today so he can get through his speech without a hitch. But he hadn’t thought about the possibility of her just… not showing up.
What if she got caught up in a case? What if she got hurt or injured? What if she’s just so busy that she forgot that this whole thing is happening today?
He can’t blame her for that, of course, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he needs her there.
The last time he tried to make a speech without her present was a shit show, to put it kindly. He was sweating and he felt like he was on the very brink of passing out, just like he is now. There’s also the fact that when it came time for him to speak, he became a stuttering mess.
It was probably one of the most embarrassing experiences he’s ever been through, and he’s had a lot of those in his twenty-five years of life.
But whenever she was there, even before they were together, he just felt this sense of security blanketing him with only the knowledge that she was in the room with him.
From the moment they became friends, coming closer during the war and closer yet afterward, Toph served as a source of comfort for him, and she still does. He can only hope that she feels the same way about him even if she refuses to say as much.
Their relationship, in general, means so much to him. He’s never felt for anyone the way he feels for Toph, and though it took him longer than he would’ve preferred to realize it, he’s happy that it’s the case. The way things happened was how they were supposed to and he’s just glad that they landed where they have.
It all happened very gradually with them not even a few months ago. One minute they were hanging out like they usually did, and another they were kissing under the light of Yue on the roof of Toph’s apartment complex to the sound of that evening’s pro-bending match. It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t forced or strange… it felt like it had to happen. It felt right for them.
They still haven’t had that conversation, where they’re meant to talk about how they feel about each other and what they are, but some part of him feels relieved that they haven’t talked about it. It’s as though anything that they may do can disturb the little cloud of bliss they’re both on, and that’s the last thing he wants.
A knock on the door of his office disturbs his thoughts. He lets whoever’s knocking know that it’s okay to come in as he rubs his sweaty hands against his ceremonial robes.
“Just wanted to let you know that we’re going to start gathering in the next fifteen minutes,” says Rae, one of his coworkers. He’s one of the chiller people Sokka works with, and he appreciates that fact. A lot of the people on the council can be assholes, and they give him a hard time for being young, for being Aang’s friend… for a lot of things, quite frankly. But Sokka knows that he’s good at his job, so he tries to think nothing of it.
“Yeah, uh, thanks, man.”
Before Rae leaves, he gives Sokka a face. “You good? You’re looking a little green there, buddy.”
“No, I’m good. Great, even. So great. Excited about—about this speech.”
“You sure look it,” Rae replies with a tone of sarcasm in his voice. On his way out, he adds, “You’ll do fine. And I’m sure you’ll do even better if that ladybird of yours ever shows up.”
Sokka remains where he stands as he watches the door shut behind Rae, his palms clamming up even more so than they had been mere minutes ago.
His colleague was right—he’d be fine if Toph shows up.
If she ends up not coming, he’s surely going to make a fool of himself in front of all the people he needs to make sure to impress. If he plans on bagging the council chairperson position come the retirement of Council Chairman Yao, he needs to do well during this speech. They put him at the head of this thing because he knows his stuff about the Water Tribes and the policy that’s being presented—that he came up with. He can’t afford to screw this up.
Walking up to the mirror again, he points at his reflection. “You’ve got this, my man. Even if you don’t think you’ve got it, not by a landslide, you’ve got it.”
He stares at himself for a few more seconds, his finger still pointing at the mirror until he limply drops it at his side in disillusionment.
Tui and La, he really doesn’t think he’ll be able to do this without her here.
Suddenly, breaking him out of his self-pity party, he hears a ruckus coming from outside the room. His eyes widen at the commotion and he wonders for a minute whether the building is under attack, bringing his hand to the boomerang sheath on his back. Any distress, however, melts away when he hears his girlfriend cursing out the guards who are trying to stop her racket.
A wave of relief washes over Sokka when he finally sees Toph as she bursts into his office. She’s panting and still swearing at the guards all while she pushes her way through them and toward him.
With haste, he tells the guards to let her be, that he asked her here, and they make a face at him, then at her, and leave them be.
The puff of air he lets out when she approaches him and rests her hands on his face makes Toph chuckle. “You okay, Snoozles?”
Sokka kisses each of her palms before pulling her into a tight hug. His face nuzzles in her neck as he takes in her scent and feels himself relax the tiniest bit. “I am now. Kind of.”
“What do you mean kind of ?”
“Kind of as in I’m panicking.”
She pulls away from him after pressing the softest kiss on his neck. “You have nothing to panic about. You know what you have to do and say, you’re better at your job than the fools who think they could do better, and now I’m here. You’ve got this in the bag and you’re freaked out for no reason.”
The pep talk is appreciated, and he really needed to hear those words from her, but he’s still on edge. He brings his hands up to his head and breathes out a long exhale before beginning to pace.
“Okay. You—you being here makes it better, but—spirits. What if I screw everything up or they just don’t want to hear what I have to say? Or what if I accidentally mix up my note cards and skip from talking about the ties that the city could have to both of the tribes simultaneously to talking about the benefits of trade? Or—or what if I trip over my words like I usually do when I’m nervous or under pressure and I’m not taken seriously? Shit—what if they don’t take me seriously, period, and I’m just wasting my time—”
“Hey, hey.” Toph walks up to him and settles her hands on his chest, getting him to stop walking and rambling.
“I—yes?”
“If I kiss you,” she says, clutching his shirt in her fists and brushing her nose against his, “will you shut up?”
There’s this smug grin on her face when she says it, and she’s mere inches away from his lips. It’d be incredibly stupid to say no right now. So he shrugs with mock indifference as he snakes his arms around her waist, and says, “Maybe.”
Without any kind of reluctance or pause, Toph pulls him down to close the painfully small distance between them and kisses him. His hands go around her waist and he tightens his embrace, relishing in their intimacy at that moment.
He can feel himself melt into her as their lips move against one another as she tightens her fists in his shirt and draws him closer to her. He groans softly and low in his throat when her tongue pokes into his mouth and her fingers come up to his neck.
Before long, she pulls away from him, then, she quietly asks, “Think you’ll stop whining now?”
“I—I was not— ”
“You were,” she replies with a shrug and the smallest of smiles before stepping away from him and reaching out to caress his cheek. “But that’s not the point. The point is that you can do this, okay? You have nothing to worry about, and even if I weren’t here—”
“But you are because I need you here.”
“Uh-huh.” An eye roll—a fond one that is accompanied by a click of her tongue and a twitch of her lips, but an eye roll nonetheless. “But even if I weren’t, you’d be able to pull it off because you’re good at this, even if you don’t agree.”
Sokka wants to believe her, but he shakes his head, resigned to believing that he’s destined to fail. “I don’t know—”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“T, of course I trust you.”
“Then trust me when I say that you’ve got this. I’d never lie to you. You’re my best friend, first and foremost, and that comes with me never playing you with bullshit, Sokka.” She purses her lips, then adds, “The fact that I have to tell you that is making me rethink starting our whole— thing in the first place.”
His heart drops to his chest and he clutches her hand before she steps away from him. “No—I’m just—there’s a lot weighing on this.”
“You think I don’t know that? But I’m not going to repeat myself just like I wouldn’t for anyone else,” she says sternly. “I know you can do this, but that counts for nothing if you don’t think so, too.
“Break a leg, Snoozles. Look at me if you need to while you’re in there, and you know—picture everyone naked or whatever it is that everyone says you should do in these situations.”
She presses a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth, and walks off, muttering that she’ll be in the conference room wherein he’s due to give his speech.
Frustrated with himself, Sokka groans and runs a stressed hand down his face. Not only is he on the brink of making a fool of himself in front of people he wants and needs to impress, but he’s also close to fucking his thing with Toph up.
Their friendship, in general, too, probably.
A gong sounds around his office, signaling that it’s time for his meeting, and he lets out a shaky sigh before very reluctantly walking up to the door and down the corridor to the conference room.
The greetings he gives are like a blur. He doesn’t know what he says or who he says it to; all he knows is that, before he realizes, he’s being introduced by Council Chairman Yao and ushered to the podium.
Knowing that he can’t eat shit and that there are other people slated to speak today, Sokka clears his throat into the microphone and seeks to get right into it, despite his nerves. The squeaking sound of the feedback makes him and the room wince, and he wants to take off running more than anything.
But right before he says the first word written out in chicken scrawl on his notecards, his eyes land on her. Toph is leaning against one of the walls beside her at the back of the room and she’s biting her lip in what he can identify as anticipation and nerves—he can tell as much after so many years of them knowing each other. She’s nervous right along with him.
But he can tell that she’s got all the confidence in the world in him.
And he loves her for it.
Suddenly feeling stronger and more self-assured, Sokka takes a deep breath, stands up taller, and begins his speech.
The words fly out of his mouth and there comes a point where he doesn’t need to refer to his notes. And in the blink of an eye, he’s taking questions like a champ and listening to the courteous applause his colleagues and higher-ups offer him.
He doesn’t pay much attention to the accolades, though, because he’s too busy trying to find Toph as the next council person takes the podium to present more policy. She’s nowhere to be found, though, and his heart sinks.
His leg is bouncing beneath the large table he’s sitting at throughout the entire meeting, and once it’s adjourned, he speeds out of the conference room and into his office. He’s relieved when he finds her sitting at his desk, her legs laying on the surface, and an apple in her mouth.
“What did I tell you?” she asks him smugly the moment he enters his office. She tosses the apple core into the trash bin beside his desk and approaches him. She’s got her hands on her hips and an arched brow. “I told you that you’d be fine and that—”
“I love you.”
Toph blinks, astonishment written all over her face at the sudden interruption. He’s surprised to note that he’s rendered her speechless with his confession as when she attempts to say something, the only thing that comes out is a stunned puff of air.
Afraid he’s screwed the pooch, Sokka swallows audibly. “You—I mean, you don’t have to say it back or anything, I just think you—I wanted you to know. This is a big thing, and I—it just felt like the right time to tell you, especially after today and—”
“Do I need to kiss you again so you can shut up?”
This time, he’s the one who blinks in response. “I—that would be preferable, I think.”
She takes one step toward him and gives his lips a few pecks before stepping away again. Sokka isn’t having this, though, so before she can get too far, he grabs her arm and pulls her flush into him, kissing her again, this time more intensely. He can feel her smiling against his lips as she guides his hands around her waist and then throws her arms around his neck.
This kiss is short and sweet, but just as full of passion and affection as their others. His knees feel just as weak as they do whenever they kiss and his heart is beating just as fast in his chest.
When she finally pulls away from him, her lips brush his as she says, “I love you, too.”
To say the least, Sokka is stunned. He wasn’t expecting her to reciprocate his emotions, let alone not send him to the very center of the earth for admitting as much when she probably figured that their relationship, or whatever it is is non-committal.
He stutters, “You don’t—you’re not saying it because I said it, right? Because—”
“When have you known me to do something I don’t want to do?”
“You—Never.”
“Exactly,” she tells him, her nails soothingly scratching at the skin on his nape, just the way he likes. “And it’d be a damn shame if I went into this relationship lying to the man I love, wouldn’t it?”
The stupid grin that appears on his face spreads before he can stop it. “It would, you’re right.”
“Mhm, always am.” Toph cocks her head to the side, the smirk that he loves playing on her lips. “Now, how about we celebrate your triumph today… What are the odds of getting out of here early? Precinct’s held down and the rest of my day is clear...”
The only reason Sokka steps away from her is so that he can gather his things. He immediately takes her hand the moment he shoulders his bag and clears his desk of any important documents, then pulls her out of his office, not looking back.