Chapter Thirteen: A Smoky Sweet Sixteen
After dance class, three teenage girls sit on the steps of the studio. It has been two days since her first real date and she barely spoke all day at school. Ty Lee filled the silence with her own blathering and Mai wanted to gouge her eyes with the bones from her ears out more than usual.
"I went on a date last weekend," Azula says, which makes Mai burst into laughter. She glares until Mai chokes, takes a deep breath, and straightens her face.
"Wait—really?" Mai asks, as Ty Lee sits still and scared.
"Yes," Azula says, displeased with the reactions of her best friends. "Her name is June and we met in Portland. Before you ask, she's not a hipster."
"That's…" Mai thinks for a moment. "That's actually very healthy for you."
Ty Lee just nods, her face pinker than her mini-dress. Azula revels in how wounded she looks, until her phone rings, she rises, and she leaves to get in the car with her father.
"She can't…" Ty Lee whispers, tears blossoming in her eyes. "But I love her, Mai, I love her. She's my biggest crush since forever and now she's with somebody else."
"A lot of things come to mind, most of them involving your stunning hypocrisy, but I'm going to just go with your stunning idiocy," replies Mai. "Why do you have a crush on the person who once drowned you?"
Ty Lee scowls. "That was… a spa thing."
Mai waves her hand and tiredly sighs. "If that's how your traumatized mind wants to remember the incident."
"And it's not like you've never wanted to have sex with a dangerous and cruel person who's smart which is why she knew so much about torture because she's smart."
"No, no, I have not. I'm usually the dangerous, cruel and smart person in a relationship," earnestly says Mai, while Ty Lee begins to cry.
All Mai knows is that Azula would love to see this.
[X]
"Why do you look so pissed?" dares to ask Mai. Azula turns and glares at her.
She has been trying to get Ty Lee to do it, because Azula has always been more forgiving of Ty Lee's intrusions, but Ty Lee has never been so broken-hearted. She still seems to have zero awareness of her hypocrisy, even when Haru makes out with her beside Azula's locker.
"What is today?" Azula demands, which makes Ty Lee's heart begin to race.
"Thursday?"
"March 1st. It is the first day of my Birthday Month."
"Happy birthday month!" Ty Lee blithely exclaims, beaming. Mai has no words. "I can't wait to help plan your party! What theme do you want?"
"I am planning on a Tiki theme, since it is my sweet sixteen and must be perfect. Late night around the pool with copious fire and tropical drinks. It is precisely my kind of party," Azula coldly replies, still annoyed that Mai and Ty Lee did not remember the importance of today.
"That sounds amazing," Ty Lee replies softly, trying to meet Azula's eyes.
But she panics and looks away before she gets the chance.
[X]
Ozai takes his daughter out to dinner to celebrate her birthday month.
Azula arrives at the restaurant and finds, to her displeasure, that he brought a date. Of course he would. Azula does not know why she is so surprised.
She walks up to her father and he meets her gaze. Azula tries not to look disapproving.
"Azula, this is…"
The girl is forced to interject, "Brooke."
"Brooke," he says, which also does not come as a shock.
What a wonderful dinner this will be, Azula sarcastically thinks to herself.
[X]
Azula has a small fortune's worth of presents by the end of her second birthday week. None of them are impressive, but the month is not over yet. She has finished planning her party and had Ty Lee and Mai give out the invitations to those deemed worthy.
Now Azula has Ty Lee greet everyone who walks through the door as she settles in her throne by the pool. The scent of smoke permeates the air and she loves it, even if it makes her throat scratchy. She has waiters and endless decorations and a huge crowd of people she does not care about. The only thing at this party she does not approve of is her brother, but she doubts there is anything she can do about that.
When Ty Lee's boyfriend arrives, Ty Lee passionately kisses him. Azula watches with jealousy clawing at her throat. She silences it with thoughts of her very sexy girlfriend she will see in one week.
Azula basks in the well-deserved attention. People treat her like a princess every day, of course, but tonight she gets to feel like an empress.
They approach her as she reclines near the water, illuminated by the light of a thousand lanterns and torches.
All hail, Azula, right?
[X]
After two hours, Ty Lee sits beside Azula, bored and watching the crowd mingle in this way and that. Right now, her gaze is fixed on Mai.
"I wish Mai and Zuko would just get together," Ty Lee complains to Azula. "They're so perfect! They would be the perfect couple!"
Azula rolls her eyes. "If I get my brother to sweep her off of her feet tonight will you shut up about this?"
"Yes," Ty Lee excitedly replies, clapping her hands.
Azula stands up. She walks to one of the Tiki stands, the one closest to the pool, and kicks it. It cracks and falls backwards, but does not fall over.
"Mai!" Azula snaps, turning to her best friend. "Help me fix this torch!"
Sighing, Mai walks through the party to Azula. Zuko follows her, of course. Azula glances over her shoulder to guarantee that Ty Lee is watching. When Mai reaches towards the torch, Azula nudges it towards her with her toe and woosh, her black cover-up ignites. Azula steps back and lets Zuko grab her and jump into the pool.
It is one of the best moments of Azula's life, she must admit.
They reach the surface, soaking and gasping for breath.
Azula makes sure they are alive before walking away and sitting back down beside Ty Lee.
"There; he swept her off of her feet," she says, picking up her drink and taking a sip.
Ty Lee remains agape until Mai claws her way out of the pool and walks through the crowd to stand in front of her alleged best friends. She drips, soaked to the bone, and Azula smirks at her. Ty Lee bites her lower lip.
Azula casually sets down her drink and says, "Ty Lee wanted me to get Zuko to sweep you off of your feet."
Mai can only snarl through her teeth, "You guys—you guys are so—so ugh," before she storms inside of the mansion.
Azula cackles. Ty Lee cannot help but laugh, as guilty as she feels.
[X]
"This party bores me," says Azula to Ty Lee after making her rounds greeting guests like the politician she is at heart.
Mai went home, which would have triggered Azula's wrath on any other occasion. It is her sixteenth birthday and she refuses to let a wet blanket ruin it for her.
She guides Ty Lee into the house and up to her bedroom. They still hear the music, but the walls muffle it enough that this part of the house is at peace. Azula sits down on her bed and sits down her virgin daquiri.
Ty Lee says, "Thank you for setting Mai on fire. Zuko saving her was so cute."
"Don't mention it," says Azula with a smirk. "You still are sleeping over, right?"
"I promised that I was," Ty Lee says, pointing at her bag resting in the corner of Azula's bedroom. "It'll be fun."
"Do you want to play Mortal Kombat?" inquires Azula, graciously standing to open her closet doors.
"Anything you want to do," Ty Lee says to her princess charming.
She and Azula walk into the closet and sit in front of the elaborate entertainment system.
[X]
Azula wins the eighth fight in a row. Ty Lee sets down her controller.
"I don't think I've ever been so defeated," Ty Lee says through laughter.
Azula stares at her, unsure what to say. With the game paused, she remembers the party that rages below them. Azula has been alone together with Ty Lee a thousand times before, but this time is different. Azula does not know why. Ty Lee feels the same way and she is just as clueless.
Ty Lee swallows, irritating her throat which is sore from the smoke downstairs. She leans forward with her heart racing uncontrollably and kisses Azula on the lips.
While Ty Lee half expects to be spin kicked into the wall, she hopes for Azula to return it. Her dreams come true when her girl-next-door kisses her back, reaching for her neck and setting her hand there for a sparse few seconds.
Azula pulls away, leaving them both breathless.
They stare at each other, until Azula shakes her head.
Ty Lee hastily says, "That was awkward, wasn't it? I don't really know why I did that. I mean, I'm so in love with my boyfriend and you have June. I guess I just was wondering what it would be like because of you and June maybe. Or something like that. That really didn't mean anything…"
She prays those words excuse her overstepping her bounds.
Instead, they prove Azula's suspicions right.
"It was nothing," Azula replies, because Ty Lee evidently feels that way.
"Yeah, I didn't mean it either," Ty Lee says.
They both meant it, but neither girl will accept that.
Maybe it is fear of unreciprocated feelings.
More likely, it is fear of reciprocated feelings.
"Sometimes best friends kiss. It happens."
"And you're a girl and I don't like girls so there's that," Ty Lee adds. She means that, even though she has such passionate romantic love for Azula.
Azula sees the honesty in Ty Lee's eyes.
She gets up and says, "I should get back to my party."
Ty Lee nods.
Chapter Thirteen: Trouble in Paradise
Azula sits at her desk, the door shut, on the phone. Her official story is that she is talking to an important business contact but no, no, no she is not. She is talking to her stepmother.
"All I did was do the right thing for her child," repeats Azula.
"Why are you marrying her?"
"Mai!" Azula snarls, barely keeping herself from throwing her phone at the wall.
"If this is how bad it is before you're married, I don't even know what it will be like down the road. Even your parents—who had the worst marriage in the history of time—were fine until after they went through with it. And I don't have a tenth of your dysfunction after six—"
"You don't have a child! Children fuck everything up in relationships!"
"Well, that… that is a good point." Pause. "I mean, if anyone can fuck up a good relationship, it's Zuko."
"I wish he could've fucked up his stupid relationship with stupid Katara."
"You harbor an excessive amount of hatred for Zuko's girlfriends and I'm just going to reiterate the fact that Sigmund Freud himself wouldn't even touch your family."
"He picks girlfriends deliberately, choosing whoever I will hate most."
"I want to call that egomania, but it's probably true, just on a subconscious level."
"Stop distracting me from the real problem. I just fired Ty Lee and I honestly don't know how I can go home and…"
"You could probably tell her that you didn't actually fire her and she just misunderstood you. I don't think she'd notice."
Mai has a point.
[X]
After work, Azula picks Bunny up from school. Her grandfather has left for the day to meet with an old friend, and so she collects her daughter from the prestigious prep school. Bunny tugs at her uniform as she follows Azula into the car.
"We are going to Toys R Us," announces Azula, and Bunny's eyes light up. Her smile could not be wider. There, this ought to make up for changing her name. "You can pick out whatever you want."
When they arrive, Bunny grabs Azula's hand and runs right for the Barbie Mansion. She wildly runs through the sections while Azula shoots glares at those who disapprove. Bunny ends up with half of the dolls they offer by the time she and Azula check out.
Azula has never been so nervous to go home. Maybe she should tackle Ty Lee too.
She stops on her way and picks out the tackiest and most expensive necklace and bracelet she can find and grabs a lovely bouquet of pink roses.
There. Azula can be very thoughtful when she wants to make sure her fiancée does not get any ridiculous ideas about breaking up. Not that Ty Lee would be brave enough to do that. Right?
Azula arrives at her penthouse and prays that this will go well.
Inside, after waiting for ages at home without Ilah, Ty Lee decides she must face Azula. By that, she means give in entirely for fear of losing her princess charming.
"You look miserable," says Azula when she walks in.
She sets down the bags of Barbies and crosses her arms. She had several game plans during the workday and in the limousine but now she cannot remember any of them. Perhaps Ty Lee does have an effect on her that other girls do not.
"I was away from you all day. I had separation anxiety. I get separation anxiety from you and I felt it about my parents for a little while before I decided my home was horrible and I totally rather join the gypsies or the circus. I have it so much from Bunny. I'm worried about her right now and she's just in the other room." Pause. "You must understand."
Dryly, Azula replies, "The only things I have ever had separation anxiety from are my cigarettes and my inheritance."
"Right," Ty Lee says, her breath catching. "I really hope things are okay between us. I knew I wouldn't want to be your secretary forever. We're going to be married so soon, anyway."
Azula decides to go with the most reckless plan she had. It is insane, insane as could be, but she goes for it anyway.
"We should get married in June," Azula says, stunning Ty Lee. "The thirteenth."
"That's the anniversary of—"
"When we got together. I know," Azula says, which leaves Ty Lee confused as could be.
"I didn't know you cared about stuff like that," Ty Lee whispers.
"Neither did I," Azula earnestly replies. "It will be a lovely time of year to get married anyway. It's not peak tourism season at the Brimstone."
Ty Lee hugs Azula and their lips graze against each other.
