A/N: I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I was too excited to wait! (I really liked how it turned out)

Despite this significant development, Tom-Tom was still taking things slow. He seemed content not to move beyond kissing, although he did allow Azula to teach him how to include his tongue.

And maybe that was for the best. Even with just kissing, the dirty looks were starting in earnest when they did it in public. What was their problem? Tom-Tom was a man physically, mentally, and legally. These same people didn't seem to have had nearly as much of an issue with Ozai openly seducing girls who were clearly underage. Was it because she was a woman and they didn't like the role reversal?

So she made a point of kissing him even more. This made Zuko facepalm and mutter things about "decorum" and "restraint". Azula rolled her eyes at him and said he was one to talk.

But after a while, people got bored and moved on to the next scandal. And so things continued until her birthday six months later.

Tom-Tom and Azula had elected to eat in this time…a fairly simple meal, although there were plenty of Azula's favorite dumplings, and the cooks had managed to scrounge up some cherries to make ices for dessert. After that, she let Tom-Tom lead her onto the balcony. To be honest, she only thought he was aiming to finally get that perfect kiss under the stars. The weather was actually nice this time…clear sky, and the air was crisp from autumn coming in.

But then…oh no…he was kneeling in front of her and taking her hand, and Azula's thoughts scattered.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. She meant for it to sound scary, but it came out as kind of a squawk.

"Asking you to marry me."

Despite the situation, her mouth quirked at the corners.

"Yes, I can see that, you dum-dum. But it's not a very good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not right for you. I should have ended this months ago. Go find a nice girl closer to your own age. Like Kiyi. She's nice. I'm not."

"I don't want Kiyi. I want you."

Azula growled. Would he never understand?

He was still kneeling and gazing up at her innocently. This drew some unpleasant parallels in her head, so she abruptly snapped, "Get. Up."

He did, but he didn't take his eyes off her.

Azula sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Look, I hate to break it to you," she said slowly, "But I'm actually a horrible person. Didn't you ever hear of what happened when you were a baby? I convinced Mai not to trade you for that old king."

"Well, I don't have any memory of that, but I obviously wasn't in any danger."

Really. Tom-Tom was impossible! Okay, then, if that's how he wanted to play, she'd have to bring out the big ammo.

"I had sex with my father!" she burst out, "And I gave birth to his child!"

Tom-Tom's brows drew together.

"That was hardly your fault…" he started.

"I wanted to kill my own mother!"

"But you didn't."

"I did kill the Avatar!" A pause, then Azula clarified, "He got better. But I wasn't planning that he would!"

Tom-Tom remained unconvinced. Despite her best efforts, Azula was starting to tremble.

"And…and…I lie about everything. Just ask my brother. For all you know, all these things I just said could be lies. Everything I ever told you could be a lie!"

"I've never known you to lie about anything."

That did it. Azula snapped.

"Will you stop trying to excuse every single bad thing I did?!"

And that finally got a reaction out of him. He yelled, "How about you stop trying to convince me-and yourself-that you're not worthy of being loved?"

This was the first time he'd ever raised his voice to her. He looked rather taken aback at his own outburst.

"Did you think I didn't already know these things?" he asked. "Well, I did. Most of them, anyway. I just didn't mention them because I thought you'd talk about them when and if you were ready. I know you were hurt, I know you have flaws, but I still love you! If you want me to back off, I will, but my feelings won't change."

"Then you're the biggest fucking idiot I know. And I'm including my brother in that," Azula answered. She would have said more, but her throat closed up and tears sprang to her eyes.

She wasn't sure how she ended up in his arms, but she did, and pressed her face into his shirt in a vain attempt to muffle her sobs. He just kept rubbing her back, saying over and over again, "It's okay, it's okay, I love you, we'll make it work, I promise…"

Exactly one year later, in the spot in the gardens where they first met, Azula proposed to Tom-Tom. And he said yes.