A/N: This is for the Tyzula Renaissance Forum RomCom challenge, for the prompt of an extended version of the vacation to Ember Island in S3 and is slightly AU to avoid regurgitating canon. This should be about 30k words, and will be exactly fourteen chapters for fourteen days. It's kind of a mockery of Teen-Summer-Beach-RomComs, and will have Mai and Zuko as main characters too because I think those four kids are hysterical together.
WE BURN LIKE CANDLES
I
Azula: Truth
The nature of lies is to please, while the truth has never given anyone comfort.
This was what Azula said when people she lied to regularly found out about one of them. It made her seem sympathetic in her opinion, since the person she lied to most was her father and he was one of those people who would be harder to not manipulate than to manipulate.
This morning, she stood on the edge of a ferry taking her and her friends and her awful brother to Ember Island. It was a mandatory vacation and she knew she had to accept such things if she wanted to be Fire Lord one day. Still, she knew she would not have much fun.
On the other hand, she would be able to see the most attractive girl in existence other than herself in a bikini. She also would display great patience to her father, and would express deep gratitude to him in order to win more of his favor.
Someone touched her back and she almost slapped the surprise across the face. But it was Ty Lee, wrapping her arms around Azula as the sea breeze whipped through their hair. The bare skin on Ty Lee's stomach brushed against the thin fabric on Azula's back. It gave her chills.
"I'm so excited to wear my summer island fashion. It was so not an option in the stupid colonies," says Ty Lee, kissing Azula on the cheek. "Now that you conquered Ba Sing Se maybe you can convert half of it into a luxury resort."
"Half of Ba Sing Se?" purred Azula, turning around to face Ty Lee.
"Half of the Earth Kingdom," Ty Lee replied, flashing a girlish grin.
Azula did not know what to say. "I think that would be excessive."
Ty Lee smiled and blushed and Azula did not know what to make of it.
So, the princess who refused to ever retreat fled. This was an extenuating circumstance.
She found Mai sitting by the bow, examining her nails. Mai and Azula both squinted in the bright, dazzling sunlight.
"Have a fun conversation with Ty Lee?" Mai asked, looking up and giving a swift, respectful bow of her head that was rather unnecessary.
"She is not fun to talk to. I find her quite vapid and shallow," said Azula, shrugging. She paused. "Then again, even the shallowest of pools can hide surprises."
"You're into her, huh?" Mai asked, sounding far, far too casual for speaking to the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation.
Azula shrugged and glanced at the cloudless sky. It was a brilliant, intoxicating blue. "I have more important things to think about."
Mai said, slightly more respectful now, "Can I ask what you think about Ty Lee?"
"Fine," said Azula, grandiosely pretending to relent. She was honest when she explained, "If the world burned to ashes during Sozin's Comet and we were the only two people left, I would prefer it that way."
Mai laughed. Azula rolled her eyes and went to sit in the shade.
She may love the sun, but she did not want anyone else to try to talk to her.
Ty Lee: Temptation
Only those who resist temptation know how strong it is. Yet, the duration matters. Those who last five minutes know far less than those who last their entire young life.
Ty Lee never liked to do hard things, unless she had no choice. And there was no alternative to resisting this one temptation above all else.
After they disembarked the ferry, Ty Lee removed her shoes so she could feel the sand between her toes. She rubbed her feet over the warmth of the grains and smiled. She put them back on and the gang of teenagers met their supervisors.
Ty Lee unpacked in a room she hoped she would share with Azula. Then again, Lo and Li only had one bed in that guest room (hence, why Azula and Ty Lee would have it; the room with two beds had to belong to the boy and girl with surging hormones). She knew it would be… difficult to avoid.
Azula walked in and tossed her bag onto the sole bed. She looked at it for a long flicker of a second and Ty Lee wondered why. Her heart fluttered as she thought about the possibilities.
"Unpack my things. Do it well," coldly ordered Azula, and, of course, Ty Lee grinned and nodded. She did whatever the princess said, like everyone, but she did it out of love, unlike everyone.
"Yes, princess," Ty Lee said, instantly getting to work.
Azula strode out.
Ty Lee finished obeying the orders and then walked to check on Mai and Zuko. They were not inside, so Ty Lee picked up one of Mai's knives and began to twist it in her fingers.
Mai entered the room and made Ty Lee jump by saying coolly, "That is not a toy."
Ty Lee giggled and retorted, "Anything is a toy if you play with it!"
"You just can't resist temptation, can you?"
"I resist more temptation than you even know!"
"You mean not banging Azula?"
"Not even kissing her. It's so hard. I bet her lips are so soft and I bet they taste amazing."
"Ick. Just give me my knife," Mai demanded, extending her hand. Ty Lee pouted as she handed over her fun find. "We're going to the beach, if you want to come."
"I do!" Ty Lee chirped.
She hastily slid into the bikini she picked because she knew Azula would love it, and went out to watch the sunset. Ty Lee studied the boys who suddenly became more intense at their game of volleyball. One of them flexed his muscles. The other, bolder one, waved at Ty Lee.
When she smiled at them all, Azula sat down beside her.
Ty Lee turned and grinned. "You look lovely. Really lovely."
"I assume you think that about your new friends as well," Azula snapped, and Ty Lee could not help but be confused by her anger.
"But I look at you differently, if you, if you, if you know I love you because you're perfect, and never mind." Ty Lee blushed and averted her eyes.
"You look at other people with love, the exact same way," snarls Azula.
"I—I love everything," stammers Ty Lee, trying to smile. "I love animals and trees and beautiful buildings and sandy beaches. I don't have sex with them."
Azula tried to look serious but ended up bursting into laughter. Ty Lee felt too embarrassed to join in, and just played with the sand she clutched between her fingers.
"It isn't like I care," Azula purred, smirking. She revealed the only played with Ty Lee's emotions and that killed the acrobat.
But Ty Lee just smiled blithely and started building a sandcastle under the cold moonlight.
Zuko: Touch
One touch from her felt like more than an entire orgy would for most people. It created thatm any sensations in Prince Zuko's body. Mai had him wrapped up in an unbreakable spell.
It was nighttime and he was on the beach with Mai, Azula and Ty Lee. They were going to play a game in the dark water and Ty Lee already had her wet arm wrapped around Azula. He had no clue what was going on there, but he thought he might be able to smell the stench of hormones.
Maybe they were just for him and Mai, though, since he was trying to drag her to the ocean and she was resisting. The feeling of her hand in his was magnificent.
"We have to have a waterbending fight," Ty Lee chimed, bouncing from foot to foot. Azula kept her grounded.
"You are ref, ZuZu," Azula demanded, and he glanced at Mai and Ty Lee. Of course they would support her instead of him in this situation.
"I'm ref?" snapped Zuko.
"Be ref," stated Mai and he suddenly nodded. Azula scowled at the absurdity.
"I—well," he said, trying to wink at the lady but only succeeding at awkwardly blinking, "I'm well-suited to be a ref. My father has trained me for that for my entire life. I'm very used to people who are loud and wrong yelling at me."
Azula chimed mockingly, "I should have you executed."
"I'd like to see you try," Zuko growled, narrowing his eyes into a glare.
Azula sighed. "I don't have the energy for that."
They played late into the night, until their chaperones ordered they come home. Zuko sat on the deck with Mai, gazing out at the expanse of private beach.
"I hate sand," Mai murmured, scraping pounds of it off of her skin. Zuko rubbed her smooth arm where she had removed the sharp grains.
"I do too," Zuko said, laughing faintly. She rolled her amber eyes for reasons unknown to him. "And you make me happy. I'm honestly only happy when I'm with you at this point. If we ever… y'know, broke up, I think I'd never be happy again."
Mai glowered at him and removed her touch. He had no clue why; he thought he was being incredibly romantic.
"Let me tell you something," said Mai. "You are responsible for your own happiness."
Zuko exclaimed, "I'm responsible for my own happiness? I can't even be responsible for my own breakfast!"
Mai scoffed and slowly shook her head.
Zuko fumed from humiliation.
Mai: Tired
In Mai's opinion and experience, vacations were nothing more than overpriced disappointment where no one ever had any fun. She knew that to be true as, in the dead of the night, she walked away from the deck and entered Lo and Li's horrible house. It smelled awful, like old ladies, and she was getting sick of Zuko clinging to her.
He was hot. She liked him and she hardly liked anything in the world. But he was already getting on her nerves and they had only been here for all of five minutes.
"Are we, uh, sharing or, I can sleep in here in this bed, or I can sleep on the couch, or the floor, or a mat or whatever you want," said Zuko, again somehow crumbling at the sight of a girl who was interested in him.
"You can sleep in here. I really don't care. It's not that important to me," Mai said in earnest. She fished her nightclothes out of her bag and glanced at Zuko. "Turn around."
"Why isn't it that important to you?" Zuko demanded, now angry, of course, which Mai could have predicted.
"Turn around, and we can talk about this all you want. I'm so uncomfortable in this horrible outfit Ty Lee bought me," Mai stated and Zuko sharply nodded. He respected her wishes and turned his back to the girl.
Mai blushed against her will when she saw him take a quick peek over his shoulder. Admittedly, he made her stomach twist into knots. He made her feel good, and that made being tired of him incredibly difficult.
"I'm sleepy. Let's talk in the morning," Mai said, which meant we'll talk about this never, but he probably would not translate properly. She flopped down on her bed.
"If you want to sleep, you can. I want you to be happy. I'd do anything to make you happy and everything," Zuko said, sounding even more hoarse than usual.
"Beautiful," sarcastically says Mai. "If I knew how, I'd cry. Now let's go to sleep. You can share my bed if that shuts you up."
"I'm not just interested in you for physical stuff," Zuko nervously said, but he did shimmy into the bed beside her. She slipped under the blankets and felt the warmth of his skin from inches away.
"What are you interested in me for?" Mai asked, sounding more seductive than she expected.
"Everything you have to offer," Zuko said, gently stroking her soft arm. "Which is a lot. Because we're both broken."
"I'm not broken. Tired and jaded is not broken. I'm very much whole and I have exactly zero neurotic complexes," Mai said. "And I'm not Ty Lee or some dumb girl who wants to put broken people back together."
"Is she into Azula?" Zuko asked, sounding truly quizzical.
"Is the sky blue?" Mai retorted and that shut him up. "Now let's go to sleep, and not discuss being broken or anything else angsty and adolescent."
"I think we both see that we're attracted to each other because of that. Give us a chance to be broken together," pleaded Zuko.
Mai just shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Then she kissed him and curled up against him to sleep.
He had ever been more confused.