Once upon a time Azula considered that they were playing with fire, testing the boundaries of just how far they could take things before they became completely unacceptable. At first it was an agreement between the three, they were adults now, they could compromise like adults. Zuko would have Mai on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays—they days he had the most free time. And Azula could have her on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Sundays were Mai alone time days. The fact of the matter was that Zuko wasn't the only one who had a thing for the woman—and to be fair, Azula did spot her first. Evidentially Mai was split between the both of them. This arrangement seemed to make it all easier for all three of them; no lies, no secrets, everyone's cards on the table exposed.
It should have been simple. But they subtracted simple when Mai decided to get adventurous. She missed a day with Azula so she figured that they could make up for it by spending some time with Zuko. Azula knew that they were pushing it as it was—two siblings dating the same woman wasn't up there on the list of things society found wholesome. Less so was the thought of two siblings taking that woman on a dinner date at the same time. Even less so was knowing that right after the dinner date they had a rather steamy threesome that night. With Ozai in prison and Ursa away with Noren, who was there to stop them? Who was there to catch them? It had been a night to remember Mai had an impressive way with the body as Azula had a smooth manner of bedroom talk. But Zuko. Zuko offered his own charm.
Now she knew for certain that they were playing with fire. And that they had stopped playing with it and started dancing in it. Sundays stopped being simply Mai's relaxation day and started becoming Zuko and Azula's alone time. She shuddered at her own guilty pleasure—their guilty pleasure. There it was, just like that, the secrets they were trying to prevent in the first place. If Mai knew, she certainly showed no sign.
Azula balled her fists. Things were so much easier when she hated the both of them and they hated her. She considered approaching him just to start a fight and rid them both of whatever they had gotten themselves into. But she couldn't bring herself to do so…not after how hard they worked to patch things up. Not after how…close they'd gotten.
She buried her face in her palms growing irritated with her own inability to control her emotions and to come up with a solution. The worst part was, Zuko didn't seem to care. Maybe that came with years of society beating him down, he learned not to care, to ignore everyone else. But she didn't. That was one area—and she loathed to admit it—that he was stronger than her. She didn't let it show of course, but she did care. It mattered how others perceived her. Just like picking up their shambled relationship, Azula had fought far too hard to convince everyone that she wasn't completely insane. That she was still Azula. Composed, fierce, and calculating Azula. She didn't need another round of humiliation over another thing about her mind that she couldn't control.
Zuko saw this on her. Saw and noted the way her demeanor changed. How she had gone from sensually embracing him to avoiding him at worst and making only cautious small talk at best. He missed her snarky remarks and spicy attitude. Seeing her becoming so sullen once again was difficult and it sparked a rise of questions in Mai.
He finally had the courage to ask he why she was being distant. Running a frustrated and exhausted hand down her face, she replied, "this is wrong." The rest didn't take much explaining. There was only one thing that she could possibly be referring to.
"Is it?" He asked. "Is love wrong."
"This kind is." Azula replied.
"At least you can love." Zuko pointed out, "some people can't even manage that, right?"
"Funny how that works. Even when I'm doing something good, it's not right." Azula drummed her fingers on the table. "I love Mai. I love…" she hesitated. "I love you. But I shouldn't, not the way I do." She stated it so nonchalantly that most people would think that it didn't bother her. But he knew better.
"If you want things to go back to how they were then that's what we'll do. I guess getting casual sibling affection is enough for me."
Azula nodded. With that nod, they agreed to stop spending time completely alone. And from there agreed to end their threesome altogether. Zuko could have Mai and Azula could find someone else. With any luck the fire would smolder down into nothing more than a pile of glowing ash.
She hoped, oh she really hoped.