What I Learned at SRU -11-

A/N: This chapter was originally going to be more Sokka heavy but somehow that changed along the way - but it's definitely got a more romantic skew to it. We'll see what happens next chapter, as I really do want to give some more attention to Sokka soon.

What I Learned at SRU
Chapter 11 - Comfort Zone

- Sunday, September 12th, 2010 -

"Why don't you do something with the other guys?"

["Oh. Because Toph and Aang had the same idea that you did. Ha."]

"Ah...Well, I'm sorry, Sis, but Suki and I haven't really spent a lot of time alone yet and she keeps trying to get me to go along with it...and...-"

["No, no! I understand. You really should, Sokka..."]

Bah. Like I'm some pity case or something. Urgh. Is my situation really that pathetic?

["When I see you with her, you seem happy."]

"I...I guess..."

["Sokka, seriously. It's no big deal. I'll be fine. I want you to have a good night, Brother."]

"Yea. I'll try. Thanks, Sis."

["Love you."]

"You, too."

[Beep.]

[From: Suki]
[hey, i'm on my way. i'll come up to your room. ]
[Sent: 6:34pm]

[Reply]
[To: Suki]
[Sounds good. I'll be here.]
[Sent: 6:41pm]

Sokka flopped back in his chair and sighed deeply, a blank stare glued to his ceiling. It wasn't like he had never spent time alone with Suki Kyoshi, or gone out on a date with her. But things had been very different back then. Much simpler, at least. Boy meets girl. Girl moves away. Boy meets other girl. Other girl dies horrible death. Boy meets first girl again. Awkward.

A sharp knock - one, two - stirred Sokka from his introspective confusion. He answered the door to find Suki, as expected. She was dressed in a more formal outfit than her usual: a thin, fuzzy sweater of pine green and black slacks. Business or pleasure, either worked here. She flashed him a coy smirk and slapped his shoulder.

"So, we ready for the evening?" she asked him with eager vigor.

"Yep." Sokka straightened the collar on his maroon dress shirt and ensured that the laces on his loafers were tight. His hands were surprisingly difficult to maintain in this endeavor but he didn't let on. He checked his pockets for his wallet, room key, and cell phone. "Off we go, then," Sokka decreed, sliding out into the hall and locking the door behind him.

"You could have a missed call from your parents."

"Don't care."

"They left you a voicemail."

"Whatevs."

"But...But Toph, what if it's, like, an emergency or something?"

"Baha! Twinkle-Toes, with my parents, everything is an emergency."

"Hm. Good point."

"But that's it?"

"That's it. No other messages."

"'Kay." Toph sniffed, accepting her phone back and setting it on the corner of her desk.

Aang lifted her arms as she squirmed herself into a more comfortable position, her head against his chest. They were resting on her bed after a chilly walk across campus. Toph's nose was still a bit runny from the cold weather, but they had been inside long enough for their hands to have warmed back up. Lying on his back, her head against his chest, her chest against his stomach, he scratched at her back slowly. Enjoying a simple moment of quiet intimacy, he ran his fingers across the ripples in her sweatshirt's fabric.

He smiled as Toph breathed out a peaceful, relaxed sigh. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one who ever heard that sound - it sure seemed like it. He had never felt this comfortable with so much physical proximity with any other person before...Well, not anyone that was female, at least. He and some of the men of Aero could get pretty physical, but that was quite different, and usually involved humor or sloppy wrestling.

Aang's mind was drawn to the stubby hand that was pressing itself against his left pectoral, Toph's head resting on his right. She seemed to like doing that - massaging his chest - and he certainly did not mind in the slightest. The weight on the bed shifted as Toph inched her way upward until her face met Aang's neck. She rubbed her nose against him twice before kissing him. That was Toph's 'signal.' Two nose rubs and a kiss: that meant she was in a cuddling mood.

Over the course of the three or four months they had spent together dating during the previous school year, Aang had come to understand that with Toph, it was important to pay attention to these little things. She kind of spoke in her own language - one of touches and sounds. Aang often wondered if Toph herself even realized many of these things.

A string of slow, gentle kisses were placed across Aang's neck, and he rubbed his hands over Toph's hips as she did so, his fingers hovering atop the waistline of her sweatpants. He soaked in her affection, savoring the scent of her hair, until at last her lips found their way to his. Short, slow kisses rapidly evolved into forceful and fast ones. Aang's body tightened as Toph pressed herself down on him, but he kept his hands attached to her hips, cautious to not let them drop any further, while her own rubbed against the back of his head, her thumbs hugging his ears. The slimy surface of Toph's sharp tongue squirmed its way-

"Uhh...?"

Their mouths ripped apart and Toph flipped her abdomen off of Aang's, a thud indicating her heel ramming the wall behind her, a whispered "Fuck!" thereafter.

"H-hey, Katara," Toph sheepishly spat out. Aang knew he was likely blushing, but was too busy appreciating Toph's now bright red cheeks to consider his own. "I, uh...I didn't know-"

"It's OK, guys."

Katara giggled, closing the bedroom door behind her. She wore a toothy grin as she peeled off her denim jacket and hung it on the doorknob.

"I didn't know you were planning on coming back here," she explained. "I could've stayed out longer, ya know."

"W-well, no, it's, um..." Toph briskly wiped saliva from her lips. "It's fine, I just assumed...you'd be off doing somethin'. And stuff. We shoulda...Shoulda prolly called you, huh?"

Katara gave Aang a knowing glance and a smirk as Toph said this.

"It's fine, Hun," she said. "Do you guys...need some time alone?" she asked with a sneaky tone.

"No, it's OK," Aang insisted, easing out his palm. "We were just...-"

"I know," Katara assured, stroking sympathy across the room with every word she spoke. "We're all big kids here, guys."

This marked the first time Katara had bumped into them when they thought they were alone and were up to this particular brand of mischief. At least she was understanding. Sokka would've probably had a baby tantrum and exaggerated the matter had the same thing transpired in their own room in Aero instead.

"Baha, maybe you two are big kids," Toph joked.

"Yea, Katara," Aang chimed in, ruffling Toph's bangs. "She's pretty childish."

"You don't have to live with her," Katara pointed out, sliding into her desk chair and flipping open her laptop.

"I'm a terror," Toph agreed, sticking her head back on Aang's chest, as they had been originally.

"So how come you're back early?" Aang wondered.

"Yea, you told me you were gonna be out late," Toph recalled.

"Oh, right." Katara stared at her bootup screen, undoing the ponytail in her bushy hair. "Well, Sokka has the car, so I'm stuck on campus tonight. I was gonna hang out with Jane, but...she got called out to go do stuff for Jet." Her tone had withered into one of bitter disgust by the end of the sentence.

"Why does she still hang out with those people if she doesn't like them?" Aang inquired, remembering a rant Katara had shared to him about the situation a couple of days prior.

"Yea, I don't get that, either, Toph seconded the notion.

Katara sighed, covering her mouth with her palm as she dwelled on the thought.

"She told me that she can't just leave," was her explanation, clearly not much more informed than they were. Katara's head rapidly shook left and right a couple times and she clicked at her laptop. "Like if she did, something bad would happen."

"Sounds like a great bunch," jabbed Toph's sarcasm.

"She won't tell me a thing about it," Katara explained, "So I just dropped it. It's probably best if we all tried not to talk about it when she's around...I think it bugs her."

That much had been obvious enough to Aang based on their initial group gathering with her at lunch not too long ago.

"That's OK," he assured. "She seems like she's been through a lot. You really care about her, huh?"

Katara's eyes found their way to his, and he saw a spark of anger hiding beneath a thick layer of sympathy.

"Yea, I do."

"I like her," Toph threw in with a more casual approach.

"Then I'm sure me and Sokka will, too," decided Aang, giving Katara a promising smile. She nodded to him and went back to her computer. "Soooo, did we want to do anything tonight?" A couple of "dunno" tones bounced back at him and he shrugged. "Can we just...Listen to some music, then, or something?"

"Sure." Some slow alternative rock flowed from Katara's speakers.

"Meh, these guys are OK," Toph scoffed, running her hand across Aang's stomach in slow, soothing motions. He moved his thumb up and down across her arm in return.

"If you want to play your music, Toph, go right ahead," Katara offered, amused at her roommate's implied criticism.

"Nah, I'm too lazy," Toph replied. "Just don't put on anything I hate and we'll be good."

"OK, then," chuckled Katara, carrying about her business on her computer.

Aang's eyes wandered across the room to the door. Attached to its surface above Katara's coat on the door handle was a drawing of a willow tree on a hill with stars hanging from its branches. Aang felt his insides beaming with pride at the fact that his gesture seemed to have been appreciated. This made his mind wander to the fact that Katara had seemed to have awful luck with her first college boyfriend. It hadn't been a 'he's a nice guy but it's not going to work,' it had just been...her giving a chance to someone far outside of what Aang assumed to be her comfort zone. At least he had lucked out somehow with this one at his side. She'd been letting them take their time, this whole 'dating' thing being a first for them both. As the music played on and Toph's body stilled itself, Aang's memory played out his first kiss.

It had been in February of that year, a couple of weeks after they had decided to start dating. The cold winter air had been particularly brisk that day, but Toph had insisted on going outside, anyway. Bundled in winter coats, they had journeyed a complete lap around The Ring, Toph's hand wedged inside his roomy pocket. He had been wearing mittens, but she wore those mittens that had the top that velcroed off, turning them into fingerless gloves. She flat-out refused to wear any other kind of winter apparel on her hands. At least she was generally wise enough to wear boots in this weather - though Aang had definitely spotted her outside in the cold with her sandalls on once or twice. Insane girl.

After rounding The Ring Toph had asked if there was any place they could sit down. On their way back to the House of Terra, Aang spotted a park bench by the sidewalk, so they took a break. At first Aang had found this confusing - sitting down in the bitter cold.

"W-why are we sitting out here in the snow?" he asked after a few moments of silence, their sides smashed together, both bodies trembling.

"J-just b-because," Toph shivered back.

"Because wh-what?"

Toph snickered through chattering teeth and squeezed Aang through his puffy, feather-down coat.

"I f-felt like k-kissing you," she bluntly explained, taking the tops off of her mittens and grasping at his face with bare fingers. They were icey to the touch as they contacted his jaw after fumbling around his hood.

"Oh." He could feel his face warming up despite a runny nose. "W-well, that's-" Her hands tugged at his cheeks, twisting him to face her. Her teeth rattled and her hands quivered against his face. Before he could think of anything to do or say, paralyzed by the combination of cold and shock, her frozen nose bumped into his upper lip, then found its way up. She nuzzled her snout against his own twice before puckering her lips. Aang was startled, almost afraid of her blunt approach. When her icicle mouth pressed into his, Aang's own lips extended, as if by instinct, and they kissed for a couple of seconds before he slowly pulled away. She was smiling a very rare smile: eyes closed, mouth curved in an embarrassed satisfaction.

"See?" She dropped her hands down, flipping her mitten tops back on. "Painless." Toph's eyes were still closed, and she bit her lower lip, teeh showing. "A-and you were all n-n-nervous 'bout it..." she sniffled, and Aang wiped her runny, red nose with his own mitten. He had always known that whenever they did kiss for the first time, it would be her that would initiate it. He'd been skittish about the matter but now he didn't know why he had been to begin with. After removing snot from her face, his mitten had somehow attached itself to her chin, and his face had inched its way toward her. They kissed again, another short and sweet touch. This seemed like something he could get used to. Toph stuffed her hands in her pockets and plopped her head on his shoulder, the furry edge of her hood tickling his cheek.

"Is she asleep?" Katara asked quietly, turning down the music on her computer. Aang blinked at her for a moment, perplexed. He glanced at the clock and realized that fifteen minutes had passed while he had been laying there, lost in thought. It was probably around eleven by now, and they had stayed up late the night prior. Aang glanced down at Toph's motionless body. He could feel her chest expanding and contracting into his right side. Based on the pattern, she seemed asleep.

"I think she is," he mumbled, unsure of what to do.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" Katara offered, getting up from her chair and traveling to her dresser.

"Wh-...?" Aang gasped out. He had slept at Toph's side before, but never in a bed, much less in a bedroom - only on a couple of camping excursions toward the end of the prior school year. "Is that...? You're OK with that?" He was a bit shocked at the idea.

"Aang," Katara laughed as she pulled out a set of pajamas speckled with penguins. "You're her boyfriend. I'm fine with it if you are. Just...make sure she doesn't do anything naughty," she added with a raised eyebrow. "I know how that girl is..." Aang nodded to her with a smirk as she went into the side bathroom to change. He retrieved his phone from beside Toph's on her desk and set his alarm so as to wake up for class the next morning. He was hitting bed early tonight, so he could always wake up early the next morning to run back to his room and change and gather his supplies for class.

[To: Sokka]
[hey, im spendin the night at tophs. ill see you tomorrow. good luck!]
[Sent: 11:12pm]

Katara came out of the bathroom with a lion's yawn, her arms stretching upward as she rose on her tip-toes. Aang's eyes were distracted by her curved copper stomach peeking out from under her shirt, but her arms fell back, setting the displaced fuzzy fabric back over it. He tore his glance away from her hips and up to her face as she shuffled her thick hair about, rubbing at her tired sapphire eyes.

"'Kay. I'm goin' to sleep now," she told him simply. He saw her eyes sparkle as she glanced at the two of them. "You guys are so cute," she complimented with a squinting smile, hands clasped before her. She shut off the light, casting the room into darkness save for the white glow of her laptop's screen. She snapped the device shut before throwing herself into bed and tossing her sheets over her. "Good night, Aang," she whispered. "Good night, Toph."

"Good night," Aang said back before kissing Toph on the head and relaxing himself into her pillow. Her light snoring was the lullaby that put him to sleep.

- Monday, September 13th, 2010 -

Sokka gave his cell phone a glance: [12:34am]. Stopping by for a bite to eat after the movie had put their arrival back on campus a bit later than he would've liked, but Suki didn't seem to mind. She seemed like as much of a night owl as he was.

"So, uh...You want me to drop you off at Terra, or...-?"

"Well, your roommate's staying some place else, right? We could probably go hang out in your room for a while, don't you think?"

Sokka held in a nervous whimper. 'Hanging out' in his bedroom, alone, after midnight? What kinds of things did she have in mind? He was pretty certain he knew.

"Oh, er, well..." He swallowed hard, hands tight on the steering wheel. "I was, er...I was thinkin' of hitting the sack, ya know? Classes tomorrow, and all that."

"Yea." Suki nodded, glancing off out the side window. "Right. I mean, it is pretty late, isn't it?"

"Yeeeeep. Sure is."

"For most people," Suki added. "You usually stay up until two, three in the morning."

"Heh, w-well, some times, sure. But I mean, it's been a loooong weekend, and-"

"What are you so nervous about?" He could feel the heat from her glare on his face. She had dropped whatever niceties she'd been playing in favor of scathing, straight-forward conversation.

"I...W-w-whuh-?"

"First you're all excited to see me again and spend time together but lately it feels like you just want me to leave you alone," she observed with some irritation.

Sokka dared to give her a glance, and used the excuse of driving to immediately tear his eyes away from her scowl.

"Sorry," he squeaked out with a shrug. "This is just...I dunno. It's kinda weird."

"Weird?" Her tone had softened. At least she was going to hear him out.

"Yea." He took a slow breath, his heart pounding as her hand rubbed against his shoulder to comfort him. "Things just ended so suddenly, and then you were gone. Now that you're back, I can't just...jump right back into it, ya know?"

"I'm not asking you to," Suki pointed out. "I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm just wanting to know what you want from...from us. From this. Do you want us to try again?"

Sokka's stomach suddenly felt empty despite the fact that a recently chewed chicken sandwich was most definitely still sitting there digesting.

"I, uh...I want..." His fingers were drumming along the steering wheel fretfully as he considered this question.

"You're not sure," Suki noticed with a laugh. She slapped his leg a couple of times, shaking her head. "It's OK. I get it."

"It's not-...I just want what's best...-"

Just as Sokka's body leaked out some tension, he felt the old but familiar sensation of her lips against his cheek.

"Just a reminder," she teased.

"Heh, right," he murmured, focused on slowing down to pull into the small parking lot by Terra. "Gimme...some time to think about it," he requested, seriously pondering whether this shimmer of romantic interaction was within his comfort zone or not.

"Fair enough," Suki agreed. "I had a good time tonight, Sokka."

"I did, too," Sokka pushed out, eager to ensure she was aware of this.

"I'll see you soon, then." She opened the passenger door and hopped out, waving him goodbye.

"Yea, see you around."

The ringing of his phone jarred Aang from his sleep. He fumbled to switch it off, the weight of groggy, half-awake girlfriend making this task more difficult than he'd prefer.

"Ulllggghmmmmrrr..."

"Whuh?"

"Mfffllrrhhggmm."

"Oh...OK...?"

Toph's arm tightened around his waist, her fingers digging into his ribs. He could hear the sound of the shower running in the bathroom nearby. Toph hummed happily and yawned, pulling her hand down and sloppily sliding it underneath his shirt. Aang sucked in a sharp breath, surprised by the sudden contact of her cold fingertips tickling his stomach, but as he exhaled slowly, the sensation became relaxing. He kissed her on the forehead and she let slip a dreary "heee." She wrapped her legs around his right leg, clinging to half of his body as tightly as a sleepy person could. Aang knew he had to get up and get ready, but it was extremely hard to force himself to do this given the circumstances, and given how determined Toph seemed to keep him there. This all became even more true after the kissing began - this time working from his neck over to his ear. At some point or another, Toph had discovered that Aang's big ears were quite the weakness. He could feel his body numb from the pleasure. He'd reciprocate something but he was too enraptured by her hand and her lips paralyzing his senses.

"Gooood morning."

Aang's eyes popped open at the sound of Katara's voice, and he could feel Toph's mouth arc into a smile against his neck.

"Rizzmmfracka..." Toph grumbled, retracting her hand from beneath Aang's shirt. She gave him a pat on the thigh before detaching herself and rolling onto her back.

"Sorry I keep ruining your fun," Katara taunted, shaking her head with that same amused smile she had worn the night previously. She had a navy blue towel wrapped around her head and was walking in barefeet, a pair of black shorts and a gray T-shirt on. She pulled out a pair of socks from her dresser and fit them on.

"You little lovebirds sleep well?" she asked.

"Y-yea, slept like a log," Aang replied, surprised at how solidly he had slept. he couldn't recall waking a single time.

"Yehyoodid," Toph moaned, elbowing him slowly in the rib. "Didnhaffenneefunn."

"Hey," Katara snapped in jest. "I told him he could stay the night as long as you two behaved yourselves."

"Rrrrrrgh..." Toph huffed, scratching her head lazily.

"Don't you have a nine o'clock?" Katara checked, raising a brow to Aang. He nodded as he stretched out his legs. "You've got forty-five minutes," she advised.

"Nooooo," Toph whined, groping at his waist as he slid his legs out. Aang chuckled and grabbed her hand, planting a gentle kiss on it before standing up.

"You gonna have time for breakfast, Aang?" Katara wondered, squeezing her towel to dry out her hair.

"Probably," he answered, wiping crust from his eyes as he searched for his sneakers. He prodded Toph's leg with the back of his wrist. "Hey, you wanna join us for breakfast, Toph?"

"Mehhhh..." She puffed out a frustrated sigh that expressed her desire to stay in bed conflicting with a desire to eat.

"I'm just gonna change after my morning class," Aang explained, turning his attention to the more awake girl as she began to brush through her damp hair.

"Haha, all right, go ahead," Katara suggested, her eyes fixated on their mirror. "I don't think you've got enough to go back, change, and catch breakfast - and getting some food in your system in the morning in important. But you will change as soon as class is over, right?"

"I will," Aang promised, siiting himself down in Toph's chair.

"Well, OK," Katara concluded. "I don't want to be encouraging bad hygiene here by letting you stay the night."

"Izzit hash browns?" Toph managed out, her mind still on the idea of food.

"Yes, there's hash browns," Aang answered with a jokingly demeaning tone. "But you have to get up if you want any." He shook his head slowly as Toph laid on her bed, not budging an inch. "How do you get her up in the morning?" he asked of Katara.

"Ha!" she blurted, running her fingers through her brushed hair. "I don't. I gave up on that by the end of the first week. It's not my problem if she misses class."

"Class..." Toph growled. "It hazz assss innit." She rolled onto her side, now facing the wall. Katara smirked slyly and wound her towel up. She snapped it gently into Toph's behind, eliciting a fidget of the rear and a swatting of the hand.

"Speaking of which, it's time you got yours up and outta bed," Katara teased.

In that moment, Aang wished Sokka had been around to make some snide remark that he didn't have the wit to come up with. Then again, in that same moment, he also recognized what Sokka was getting at with his theory about gender ratios, but perhaps from a different angle than Sokka would've intended. He clasped his hand in Toph's and tugged, pulling her over onto her back. Katara teamed up with him and dragged Toph's legs to the edge of the bed, letting them fall over.

"Argh," was the only response they received.

"C'mon, Toph," Katara snipped with a more serious tone. "We haven't got a lot of time, Hun. Are you coming or not?"

"Coming," Toph mumbled through grit teeth, pushing herself up to a sitting position. She slogged over to her dresser as Aang checked his phone to see if he had left any notes regarding homework due that day. He couldn't recall anything...

"Toph," Katara squeaked, bounding to her side. "Aang's still in the room."

"Wh-?" Aang looked up to see Katara, arms spread out before his shirtless girlfriend's back. She shot him a tired glance and nodded her head to the door.

"Well, Goddammit, Twinkle-Toes," Toph roared dully. "Girlz tryin' ta change in here...Geeeeezzz."

Aang hurried himself out of the room with a hasty "Sorry!" and shut the door behind him.

"It's not your fault," Katara laughed through the closed door. "Your girlfriend's just a zombie when she wakes up. That's all."

Aang smiled to himself, leaning against the door with his hands crossed over his stomach. The door straight ahead of him cracked open and a pair of drab, olive eyes with dark circles set between a mess of orange hair and a batch of freckles peered out at him before the crack in the door closed.

"Oh," she grunted, wiping her nose. "Hey, dude."

"Uhhh...Hey, Jane," Aang greeted back, tilting his head up at her before she closed the door. How were these girls so comfortable with him being here at this time of day? It was foreign to him.

"We'll be ready in a couple minutes," Katara advised. "You should go meet us in the front lobby."

"Yea, OK. See ya in a bit."

After he got to the main lounge area of the dorm, he pulled out his phone and decided to send his roommate a message.

[To: Sokka]
[sooooo how did things go last night dude?]
[Sent: 8:24am]

[From: Sokka]
[They went well, but I'm super confused now about what to do.]
[Sent: 8:26am]

Aang was surprised at the speed of his reply, especially given that he knew Sokka didn't have class on Monday until ten and usually squeezed every ounce of sleep he could out of his mornings. As the two favorite girls in his life strolled side-by-side to meet him, he put any concerns at the back of his mind and

"Ready for Monday?" he asked them. Katara shrugged her shoulder, swinging Toph's arm forward and back. Toph seemed more certain of her feelings.

"I can't believe you guys are making me eat breakfast on a Monday."

"Breakfast is good for you," Katara explained.

"It's the most important meal of the day," she specified with confidence.
"It's the most important meal of the day," Toph mocked in squawking voice.

"Once you have some hash browns in that mouth of yours," Aang theorized, "you'll feel better, Tater Face."

Toph's lips curled into an unwilling smile and she detached her arm from his, punching him in the shoulder sharply before rejoining.

"That nickname stuff is finally getting into that thick skull," she observed. "You gotta go with the details like that, Twinkle-Toes."