Author's Note: I did the thing. Actually, this started as a Korrasami oneshot, but then I thought it fit Mai, Azula and Ty Lee so much better. Also, I'm not really a writer, I've been reading fanfic for years but I never thought I would write it.
Sexual tension. And not just your average, the occasional stolen glance sexual tension that somebody could have missed easily. Enough sexual tension to burn down the entire palace, and somehow, Mai was the only one who noticed.
A more involved person would probably try to do something about it. At the point where sharing a room with them on a journey was so awkward that, yes, the tension could be cut with a knife.
Perhaps it should have been cut with a knife...
Stabbing one of them actually felt like a reasonable option at some points to Mai as she became the embodiment of the third wheel and it was somehow even worse because Azula and Ty Lee were both absolutely clueless. That would, indeed, solve the problem, but Mai decided that she would probably go to prison, and from what she heard from her Uncle, the Boiling Rock was not pleasant.
Probably better than Omashu though...
This was Ty Lee. Ty Lee who once stalked a boy working at a small, run down store in East Caldera, because she was convinced when she bought her fire flakes they shared a moment. It was one thing from Azula, who, despite her skills in deduction, was the second most socially clueless person Mai had ever met (the first being Zuko). But this was Ty Lee, who once forced Mai to pass love notes to the boy who lived across from her, because one time they looked at each other from their bedroom windows, which was clearly a sign that they were soul mates.
There were exactly seven times that Mai saw something they were both completely blind to.
(1)
A nine year old Mai was at her desk, sighing and taking sloppy notes. She gave up about halfway through, well aware she was just going to use Azula's for the test anyway. The princess somehow already had an entire sheet filled out and color coded, which baffled Mai, seeing as the lesson was only halfway over.
"Are those today's notes?" Mai whispered, jabbing Azula with the tip of her finger.
"Yes," Azula replied, not turning to look at Mai. And Mai wondered what was so interesting to her that she would not even turn around. "I read the textbook and wrote them out a week ago."
"Uh, oh..." Mai just leaned back in her chair and looked over at Ty Lee, whom was drawing a bunny instead of taking notes. It was a pretty decent bunny, at least.
And then Mai's amber eyes went up, up, up and saw what Azula was staring at. Mai's eyebrows flickered as she watched and then she smirked. Someone has a crush...
Azula bit her lip, looking confused. Mai quietly tore off a small piece of parchment as the teacher droned on and on, and passed it to the princess. She unfolded it with her quick fingers and upon finishing it just rolled her eyes.
When she scrawled down her answer, she passed it to Mai.
No, was all she wrote on top of Mai pointing out that she was completely into Ty Lee.
Mai just tucked the note in her uniform pocket.
(2)
Years later, briefly after an altercation with the Avatar and his friends, and Mai and Ty Lee being dropped in an Agni Forsaken river, Mai was sitting at a campfire, drenched and freezing. This was possibly one of the worst days of her life, even worse than when her parents told her that they were moving to the Earth Kingdom. She was watching as Azula paced in frustration and chewed on her lip viciously and crossed her arms.
"I'm cold," Ty Lee breathed and Azula looked at her for a moment with her eyebrows nearly touching her hairline.
"Sit by the fire," Azula replied sharply and Mai leaned back to enjoy this show.
"I am sitting by the fire," Ty Lee said quietly and Azula inhaled quickly.
"Would you like me to warm you?" Azula asked coldly and only a moron would notice she was not being mocking.
"Yes please," Ty Lee said and Mai and Azula were both quickly reminded she was not the brightest candle on the chandelier.
Mai expected Azula to make a scathing remark, but the princess strode confidently over to Ty Lee and unpeeled her wet clothes. The only thing that stopped this from being terrifyingly sexual was the fact that she was wearing underwear, and Azula touched searing hands to Ty Lee's skin.
Their eyes met, while most people would look away, and Mai was definitely certain that there was a spark there. More than a spark. Some form of violent explosion of sexual desire.
She wondered if they even noticed.
(3)
Crash. Ty Lee shrieked and Azula fought a cringe as a glass vase toppled to Azula's bedroom floor. Azula's hand had touched hers and she leapt back slightly from the electric charge that may or may not have been nonexistent.
It was a week before they were set to knock down Ba Sing Se, and their relationship was becoming ever more uncomfortable as they were seized by hormones and a reawakened childhood crush.
"There is glass all over my floor," Azula said slowly and Ty Lee's lips shrank and her eyes widened in hopes of escaping Azula's wrath.
"I'm sorry! I panicked!" Ty Lee looked about to burst into tears and so Azula sighed.
"Just clean it up," Azula said softly before easing herself onto her bed and lying down. No need to get any glass in her feet; it could certainly damage her firebending during the imminent invasion... or make her manicurist cry.
"Okay," Ty Lee replied, her heart starting to beat normally again. She knelt down and then felt an uncomfortable lurch within her at exactly how much of Azula was visible beneath her hastily tied on robe.
Ty Lee looked at the glass and realized she had nothing to pick it up with. Urgh. But she started to, the entire time wondering why Azula did not offer to help, or call a servant or slave to do it. But the princess simply watched, looking almost entertained by it. And just a bit engrossed by the view.
"Oh, Ty Lee," Azula said abruptly and Ty Lee looked up, hoping she was about to say something to end Ty Lee attempting to pick up shards of glass with her bare hands. "You're wearing shoes, right?"
Ty Lee breathed in slowly to stop from groaning. "Yes, princess."
"Good." And the room fell silent.
After it was finished, Ty Lee picked up the bag of glass and walked into the hall to find someplace to dispose of it. Azula remained in her bed, having no real desire to move.
Ty Lee stood in the hall and found Mai, whom had left to go to the bathroom, simply abandoning Ty Lee and Azula in an awkward situation.
"What's that?" Mai asked dryly, although she did not honestly care.
"I dropped a vase, okay!? And so I cleaned it up!" Ty Lee shouted with a rage that Mai was certain was misplaced.
Ty Lee stormed away, Mai walked in to find Azula lounging, and she, yet again, realized they had more than enough sexual tension to burn down the palace.
(4)
Mai looked at the shower and cocked an eyebrow. "We're definitely not in Caldera anymore," she sighed in frustration.
Azula pursed her lips but Ty Lee did not seem to care. Communal showers for soldiers after training. They just had their asses kicked at the walls of Ba Sing Se, and were still coated with sludge and their hair was matted. There were guards at the door and they handed the princess their nicest soap (which was not very nice).
"It's not like we haven't seen each other super naked," Ty Lee said in a tone that was far too bright for the dirt floor of the showers.
"Mm," was the sound Azula made and Mai was unsure why she had such discomfort.
Mai slipped over to the corner of the room, cursing to herself that she could have stayed completely dry if Ty Lee did not drop it over her hair to make them all match in her words. There was a reason she would rather get struck by lightning than swim through sludge.
She washed herself as Azula slowly stripped out of her clothes, looking much more uncomfortable than the happily, shamelessly naked Ty Lee. Azula was under the water, cold water that she wound up heating with her bending.
"Azula!" Ty Lee said and the princess jumped and nearly slipped. Her fingers shot out to the princess's back and brushed against it. Mai squinted at Azula's expression.
This exceeded any level of sexual tension ever experienced in the entirety of the history of all four elements.
"You have scars," Ty Lee said softly, touching them slowly.
Azula was in utter terror before she responded.
Her dreams tonight were bound to be uncomfortable.
(5)
"Let me take your make-up off," Ty Lee breathed, sidling up to Azula with her hair half untied and her lips and eyes stained despite her scrubbing of her face.
Thanks for offering, Mai wanted to sigh, but she did not have the energy. This was possibly the worst military assignment she has ever gotten, and she just needs Azula to get her overthrowing the Earth Kingdom over with as fast as possible.
"Did I not take it off?" Azula asked, looking genuinely confused. She had maps of the palace laid out and was positioning the Dai Li with a brush and half dried inkwell.
"You were too busy doing more important things," Ty Lee said gently, her tone with a certain breathiness that Mai could not help but notice. "I would be completely honored."
Mai just lay there, realizing they probably thought she was asleep. That simply made their situation even more heated. Enough to melt the walls of Ba Sing Se, certainly.
"I'll give you the privilege," Azula purred and Mai fought the urge to roll her eyes.
Ty Lee picked up her washcloth and touched it to the princess's face. The warm water sent a surge through Azula that she could not quite describe. Ty Lee gradually wiped the white away and stared into Azula's bright golden eyes.
"You have incredible eyes, you know," Ty Lee breathed without thinking. She then blushed and felt ridiculous.
"I do know," Azula replied earnestly and Mai nearly gagged.
Ty Lee looked at her and their gaze locked for the first time in a long time.
And the acrobat touched her lips to those of the princess's.
Mai watched, examining it closely. It was hesitant, and Azula leaned forward and missed, her lips grazing Ty Lee's nose. Ty Lee corrected and the third kiss was passionately on the lips.
"No," Azula whispered and Mai wanted to throw something at her.
Ty Lee hid her tears.
(6)
Late at night, on the ship returning from Ba Sing Se after their victory, Mai left Zuko cautiously and crept down the hallway. She saw the door to Azula's room was slightly ajar, and the sounds coming from it were quite unmistakable.
And yet, in the morning, Azula was training as Ty Lee was laughing and flirting with soldiers. Mai chewed on her lip and contemplating locking them both in a small closet.
(7)
Ember Island. Azula was envious beyond anything Mai had seen before. Ty Lee came into Mai's room and sat at the foot of her bed. They still smelled like ash from the fire they built, and their hearts still pumped adrenaline from trashing an entire house.
"I want to talk to you," Ty Lee whispered, touching her knees to her chin. "It's kinda hard to say."
"Mm?" Mai figured it was pointless.
"I really like Azula. I like her a lot. And I... I..." Ty Lee just swallowed.
Mai had never felt so relieved in her life, but she did not show it. "She likes you too. Now go tell her before she hunts down all of the boys who flirted with you tonight and rips out their throats."
Ty Lee clapped excitedly, her frown disappearing instantly, and she walked across the hall.
At last, at long last, the tension broke.