A/N: Written for FemFeb this year. Tyzula is a ship I've gone back and forth on but I got an idea and couldn't shake it. This ended up leaving more to implication than I had expected starting out, but I didn't want to lay it on too heavy and was also wary of how young they'd probably be here. Double digits, to my thinking, but still low down there.
Warning for an unhealthy relationship, featuring possessiveness and consent issues; there is some coercion (Ty Lee is willing to be convinced but the way Azula convinces her is deliberately manipulative) and light emotional abuse. There's also a nod to societal homophobia and some internalized homophobia.
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"Kiss?" Ty Lee blinks, forehead wrinkling as the suggestion sunk in. "Us?"
"Just for practice," Azula says, rolling her eyes before looking Ty Lee full on in the face again, mindful that her gaze doesn't drop to Ty Lee's frown. "You want to know what to do with those boys you've always got toddling after you, don't you?"
She doesn't sneer when she says it, but it's a near thing. The thought of those boys laying hands or lips on Ty Lee disgusts her. Though not nearly so much as the thought of Ty Lee letting them, responding in kind– of her loyalty wandering, Azula thinks deliberately.
"I guess, but…" Ty Lee looks around the empty courtyard like a pheasant squirrel about to step into a trap. Still, her posture is as wide open as her eyes even though she's nearly whispering when she says, "Won't we get in trouble?"
Azula laughs at her, pushes a lock of hair back and tips her chin up with the motion. She can't even imagine the trouble they– she– would be in if her father found out. She leans in, smiles wider when Ty Lee copies her, and says hardly any louder, "Only if we get caught."
It's one of her favorite things to say– especially to Ty Lee. True to form, she gasps, one hand jumping to her mouth. Typically, by now, that hand would be covering a smile still visible in glittering eyes. This time, Ty Lee worries her bottom lip between her teeth.
Some of Azula's humor bleeds at the sight of that lip. She had a very clear image in her head of how this was going to go and this– that lip– is in defiance. Heat simmers in her veins and she straightens, arms crossing into the shrug she rolls her shoulders through. It does happen sometimes, that Ty Lee defies her; she knows how to work her around.
"If you don't want to, fine," she says, even though it isn't fine at all. She looks askance and waves a hand, every appearance of a dismissal. "I'm sure I can find someone else."
And she is sure that she could. But she doesn't want someone else. The thought is slimy in the back of her throat, like she's swallowed pond scum. She breathes deep and reminds herself what this is about– not about Ty Lee, not about wanting Ty Lee. Not like that. She knows better. This is about control. (This is about getting what she wants.)
"But!" Ty Lee catches Azula's hand, flinches and then relaxes when Azula folds their fingers together. Her fingers fidget between Azula's, prompting her to hold tighter. Ty Lee is looking down at their joined hands when she says, "I thought you wanted… with me…?"
"Well, of course," says Azula, a careful measure of reassurance. The heat rises, becoming something else. "You are my best friend. But if you don't want to…"
"I do," Ty Lee blurts, squeezing Azula's hand in both of hers and stepping forward. She squares her shoulders and leans in–
Azula puts a finger over her puckered lips, startling her, and grins. "Not where we'll be seen," she reminds her. She drinks in the sight of Ty Lee flustered, of Ty Lee embarrassed by her own eagerness– she's the one who wants this, if either of them, never mind her fussing– then of the shy, adoring smile Ty Lee gives her. She says, "Come on," and tugs her along through the courtyard to a more secluded section of the gardens.
They're hardly under cover when she turns on Ty Lee and presses a kiss on her. Or at least she supposes it's a kiss– just lips on lips, right? Neither of them know what they're doing, that's the point, but the possibility she might be doing it wrong is heavy in her gut.
It lightens when she pulls away and sees Ty Lee's face, brilliant red and dazed. When her hand goes to her mouth this time, there is a smile of sorts there. Azula smiles back, then smirks into the next kiss. Whatever suitors, whatever husband, Ty Lee has in the future, this will always be Azula's.