Title: Nightlight
Rating: K+
Characters: Toph/Sokka
Summary: They indulge each other.
A/N:Written as part of my
Alphabet Drabbles challenge, as requested by
be_tru2388, with the prompt "rest". Set post series, no real spoilers.
rest
-verb (used without object)
1. to refresh oneself, as by sleeping, lying down, or relaxing.
She has her own room in the Fire Lord’s palace. And it’s not just a guest room either - she has a room that only she ever gets to use, that only her stuff is kept in, and that Zuko keeps clean for her - but that doesn’t change the fact that she never sleeps in that bed.
Zuko probably knows but she’s never bothered to tell him and he still keeps the room for her. Instead of sleeping she readies herself for bed and creeps out, down the hall, counting the doorways until she finds the one she’s really interested in.
At first she blamed it on the fact that they all used to sleep together, in a little circle, even if she was in her own tent. That was her excuse, as Zuko and Mai reunited and Aang and Katara wanted more privacy, for seeking him out.
And he still indulges her too; when she finds his doorway and knocks - just once, no need for anymore because she can tell from his heartbeat, even behind the door, that he knows its her - Sokka lets her in with a soft chuckle and the same question, every time. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Toph confirms, crawling into his bed and scooting into the middle and wrapping up in most of the blanket. He used to complain, but he doesn’t anymore because it just means moving closer to her in order to make his own space.
She indulges him back, when in the morning he insists that he only puts up with her because they sleep like rocks when they’re together this way and she doesn’t punch his lights out.