I have an idea for a Modern High School AU. I know those are kind of taboo, but I really want to make this into a series. I first thought it up just for the Advent Calendar since I wanted to do something different, but now I have ideas for continuations and a side-oneshot or two.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this story.
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TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
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PROTECT
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Azula sits across from the headmaster of Agni Academy in his ornate office.
She keeps her gaze fixed on the red and gold hued decorations that fit the antique furnishings of this gilded age New England boarding school. Paintings, fixtures and statues display periods of history that solely include war, royalty and other interests that Ozai inherited. By inherited, she means he forced himself to get those degrees in order to please Azulon.
The portraits in the background are of the three former headmasters. Her grandfather, her great-grandfather, and her great-great-grandfather.
Most students would rather be in a torture chamber than Headmaster Ozai's office, because he has an impressive reputation of pure evil and terror.
Azula is in here because he is the most overbearing and overprotective parent Azula has ever met in her life.
"I appreciate you checking in with me and making sure my school experience is pleasant, but my friends are waiting for me and I am starving. I have no breaks in my schedule and extracurricular activities except for lunch," Azula stiffly says, clasping her hands on her lap and giving him that daughter's gaze.
"You can go," Ozai says. "Your friends are waiting for you outside."
"Thank you, father. I promise to tell you everything about my day this evening," Azula says, standing and slinging her backpack over his shoulder.
Ty Lee catches up to Azula first, her braid bouncing against her back as she runs. Her tiny uniform skirt briefly flashes the distracted crowd of students. Azula does love her followers—she would call them that above friends—as she thinks fondly about when Mai emerges from the flood of students and stands at Azula's left.
They stride together down the halls and Azula presses her books to her chest.
Everyone looks at them.
People call her 'princess' mockingly but she quite likes the title.
"Your dad took like forever talking to you."
"He did not approve of my add-drop forms. What can I say?" Azula coldly replies. "He is such an involved and successful headmaster."
As if he did not just bribe his way in to filling the position in the alma mater of his father and his father's father. They all became wildly wealthy and donate so copiously to the school that they have three buildings named after them.
Of course they let Ozai literally rule the school.
"But you were changing them so we could share classes." Ty Lee grabs Azula's hands and bats her eyelashes.
Azula brushes her aside. "I know. He would not approve of my reasons so I had to lie and comply to his desires. Welcome to the world of having an overprotective parent instead of your extremely hands off ones."
Ty Lee grins, even though her plans with Azula did not work out.
Azula turns to Ty Lee and feels a brief rush when she sees that smile. She does not understand the surge of adrenaline, but she ignores it. When Azula lies awake at night, she sometimes picks apart their very unusual relationship that has developed since freshman year, but she needs to protect her sanity so she tends to lock those thoughts away.
They have reached lunch hour at last, the ornate cafeteria that matches the Victorian vibes of the school. The trio sit down at their table, the one in the corner by the stained glass window that no one else dares sit at. At least not without invitation, and Azula does not offer invitation.
Azula looks around as Ty Lee babbles about her summer adventures.
At one table, the motley crew of good kids. There is the one Azula despises most: Katara. Captain of the Swim Team, genius at science because she dreams of being a doctor for reasons other than money—a madness Azula cannot comprehend—and a self-righteous and overly passionate girl who makes discussions and public speaking beyond obnoxious.
Beside her is the scrawny kid who Azula tries not to hate, but he is a vegan and a sweet pacifist in a cutthroat school. Katara's brother, the jock who does not sit with the other members of his lacrosse team. His girlfriend, someone Azula kind of might have tormented cruelly for the entirety of last year. Lastly, the blind girl with an attitude Azula quite loves. If it were not for who Toph associates with, Azula would invite her to join her clique.
Across the room, the cheerleaders sit. Ty Lee is one of them, but she is Azula's prize pet and would never betray her by sitting with the rest of the team. Azula does not bother to learn who they are.
Another trio sits nearby. They are not princess and her aristocrats, but they are attractive and Azula will give them that. Yue, Jin and Song.
The athletes sit in the center. One is Ty Lee's boyfriend she broke up with over the summer: Haru. Then there is Jet, an asshole but a heartthrob. Lastly, Hahn. Oh, and Zuko. Captains of, in order, baseball, football, lacrosse and basketball. Azula hates basketball, and so does her father. That is probably because Zuko chose to play it and for no other reason.
At another table, female athletes. The rest of the volleyball team Azula was the superstar of by the beginning of freshman year, just like her judo, acting and beauty pageants. Azula could not care less about them when they are not vital for her victory.
Theatre kids in the corner. Azula also does not care about them when they are not making her look good on stage.
Losers. More losers. Even more losers.
There is not a smart kid table since everyone here tends to have a textbook out at all hours. This school is rigorous and an ivy league gateway, no one is stupid enough to let their grades slip and get expelled.
"Are you not super excited?" Ty Lee askes, turning to Azula. Her eyes twinkle. "I'm in such a good mood."
"You say that every day," says Azula, her lips twitching. She turns to her coffee and salad.
Ty Lee breathes in the air that smells of incense above the scent of lunch.
She upholds the conversation and sits by her two best friends in every class.
And when the school day is over she goes to her new room and continues decorating her side of it. Azula arrives and sits down on her own bed, in a side of the room that has nothing but a few pictures up and a bulletin board to keep track of her copious activities and classes.
"This is going to be the best year ever." Ty Lee finishes hanging up her sparkling pink lights and jumps down from her bed. "Okay, I gotta get out of my uniform and then maybe we can go for a walk or you can stay here or I'll do whatever you want."
Ty Lee smiles.
Azula leans back and tries to pay attention to her book.
The moment she begins to fall for Ty Lee is when she looks up, bored, and sees her taking off her clothes.
Ty Lee does it quite slowly, and Azula knows she should not watch this.
It enthralls her.
Nothing else ever has, and as soon as Ty Lee steps into her lacy underwear and then into her pink sundress, Azula hastily looks back at her homework, blushing bright red.
Ty Lee does not notice, but Azula is officially confused.
"Do you want to go walk around in the garden?" Ty Lee asks, smiling.
Azula looks up, adopting an icy air to protect her thoughts, which have delved into the hormonal area she considers to be a distraction.
"I would rather die," she says, giving her roommate a scathing glance and pretending to focus on her homework.
Ty Lee chirps, "Okay," and leaves the room.
Azula lies down on her bed and lets the book fall from her fingertips.
She knew as a teenager that sexual craving would be eventual.
She just never expected it would be Ty Lee.
Maybe it was fleeting.
Yes, it probably was just a moment of arousal and meant nothing.
Yet, her thoughts are very preoccupied with reliving what she could not look away from.