June 1st: Craving – What's something you couldn't quit if you tried?

There's an admirable amount of candy wrappers around Azula that grows continuously. Her hands are shaking as she unwraps another piece. It's a lemon-flavored hard candy and she almost immediately chews it up and swallows the glass-like shards of candy.

"Can you chew those just a tiny bit quieter?" Ian scolds from the other side of the room, where he's curled up on the opposite couch frantically solving sudoku puzzles.

"Can you stop sighing every five seconds?" Azula shoots back, unwrapping another piece and dropping the paper wrapper in her lap.

"I'm not sighing, I'm just breathing. You're doing it too." He crumples up the puzzle he's working on and tosses it into a pile in front of the TV.

Just then the door opens and Ty Lee cautiously enters the apartment. Ian just looks up and sighs. Azula glares at him then quickly glances at the door and mumbles something like a greeting.

"Hey guys," Ty Lee says anxiously, approaching Azula in the manner of a young child apprehensively telling her mother she broke an expensive appliance. "Can I kiss you or would that annoy you too much?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Azula all but snarls, facing her quickly. Ty Lee freezes and glances at Ian for support but he simply glares at her before looking down to his puzzle.

"Uh... never mind." She backs off and heads to her bedroom.

Ian looks up as she walks off. "Can you believe her," he mutters to nobody.

"Do you have a problem with her? What has she ever done to you?" Azula snaps at him before crunching another candy in her mouth.

From the adjoining kitchen Ty Lee stands quietly, looking between Ian and Azula in surprise. "I'm... just right here guys."

Azula and Ian grumble at each other and resume their activities. Ty Lee leaves for real and they sit in relative silence, apart from the candy pulverization sounds. Azula eventually switches from lemon candy to grapes, then to almonds. Ian sits up and rubs his head.

"I hate this," he mumbles.

"I hate you."

"Look... all things considered, we've done pretty well together."

"We've done extremely well," Azula corrects.

Ian nods. "Aye. I mean... how much could one cigarette hurt? I know you- hey!"

Azula cuts him off by lobbing an almond into his eye. "It starts off with just one and before you know it we're back to where we started!" She throws almonds as she shrieks. "We're in this together Ian, and I'm not about to let you drag me back down!"

"Look we'll just have one- like, we'll split it, so a half a cigarette each! Stop throwing those, please!"

"If it weren't for you I wouldn't smoke at all, you dopehead fuck! The only way I can quit is by watching you suffer with me!" Azula stuffs four almonds into her mouth and falls back into the couch. Ian sits up for a moment more, then collapses back into his couch swearing as he goes down. The evening passes in agony.

The bed creaks as Azula climbs in next to Ty Lee. She stares at the ceiling for a second, hoping Ty Lee will initiate whatever is about to happen. That doesn't happen.

"Sorry about earlier," she says simply. Ty Lee moves around next to her.

"It's okay. I understand."

"No, I've been a bitch for most of the last three days, and the fact that it's the result of a chemical dependency doesn't excuse my behavior. I should be able to regulate my emotions more effectively."

Ty Lee rolls over and kisses Azula on the cheek. "Please lighten up. I've dealt with you at much worse." She drops her face to Azula's shoulder and pulls the rest of her body in close.

"I... Well, I- Still, I shouldn't have said some of the things I did."

"If you insist, then I accept your apology," Ty Lee sighs. "How's Ian holding up?"

"I think it's killing him," is all Azula says to that.

"Where is he? I thought I heard him leave a little while ago."

"He told me he wanted to take a walk and get some fresh air."

"Is that all he's doing?"

"I told him if he had a cigarette while he was out I'd throw him off the roof."

There's a slight pause. "Will you be able to tell?"

"At this point I could smell a cigarette from three blocks away."

Ty Lee nods curtly. "That's fair. Did I ever mention how thankful I am that I didn't get into smoking like you did?"

Azula scoffs. "You should hold on to that. It's not as cool as I make it look." Ty Lee giggles in response. "When was the last time you had a cigarette? It has to have been a while ago."

"It was when we were in the Fire Nation, for my father's funeral. On the roof." Azula nods.

"I remember now." She slides her hand under the covers onto Ty Lee's arm. "And I even warned you not to get into smoking, or you'd be like Ian." Ty Lee grins.

"You should have followed your own advice. Now look at you."

Across the apartment the front door opens and Ty Lee pokes Azula in the stomach. "Either he's home or we need to go beat up a burglar."

Azula spends a second sniffing deeply, then sighs in frustration and sits up, pushing Ty Lee off her. "Either way somebody is getting thrown off the roof."

"Make sure he lands on the mattress down there," Ty Lee instructs, settling back into her side of the bed.

"Where he lands is entirely up to him. It's none of my concern." Azula twists around to kiss Ty Lee one more time before getting off the bed.

Ty Lee pulls the blanket over herself and rests peacefully even as she hears Ian shouting as he falls past her window just thirty seconds later.