A/N: Doing one of those 30-day drabble prompts based on Mai/Azula/Ty Lee and variations thereof. They'll just be short little snippets. Enjoy!
Warning: Some of the content may be sexually explicit, some may be non-con, and Ozai/Azula will be a background theme in some of these.
They weren't friends. Had they ever been friends? Maybe a long, long time ago, before Mai and Ty Lee left, before Azula came to the deadly conclusion that emotions were weakness and friendship was a luxury for those of lesser standing.
Mai still spent time in those uncomfortable memories. Even with Zuko by her side, even with the assurance that her current relationship was a healthy one, the poison wouldn't be washed free from her system.
Mai hadn't been clueless. She had suspected something of Azula's twisted obsession with her. Azula had sought her out, not vice versa. Azula had come to her more than once, demanding to know whether Mai preferred Zuko or Azula. And every time, Mai had managed to weasel her way out of answering. She liked Zuko, but making an enemy of the princess was a horrible idea.
And sooner or later, refusing to deny Azula turned into something else. Even then, even as a child, Mai had suspected that she and Ty were just dolls to Azula, just things to be played with and cast away. But Azula's games weren't always unpleasant, and there were days when Mai would have been hard-pressed to name which royal sibling was her favorite.
The years when they were apart hadn't ended the game.
Azula had grown, mind and body. And this time, her kisses weren't quite as harmless. Mai found resistance difficult and pointless, but she still found herself hating herself for enjoying it, for enjoying the look on Azula's face and Ty's limber form and the way they all came together in dim rooms lit by candles with blue flames. Hair, light brown and dark brown and black, all intertwined, woven together as if they came from one head.
Azula was vicious and petty. The taunts and barbs, physical and verbal, piled up. Mai hardened her skin, pretending they didn't hurt. She missed Zuko, whose words were only unintentionally hurtful. And yet she didn't entirely hate the feud, the verbal duels that too often progressed into something physical.
She hated loving it, and told herself she didn't love it.
Now, even with Zuko by her side, even with Azula in the asylum, Mai couldn't entirely forget the taste of the princess's lips, the heat in her fingertips, and the soft and deadly whispers in her ear.
She wouldn't ever tell Azula the truth.
You were right about me.
I liked your games.