A/N: This starts the second part of the story (it's broken into four). There's a time skip in both the prequel and sequel halves and it skips over the side stories I wrote over the past year-ish. You don't need to read them to understand since I fill in the important details within this chapter so everything should make sense. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the show.
INTERLUDE: Kya
Standing outside of a hospital in cold, rainy Portland, Oregon, Azula sullenly states to her equally unenthused father, "First of all, I do not understand why we all have to be here for the birth of ZuZu's child. It's a—"
"A cute baby," Ty Lee frantically interrupts.
Azula rolls her eyes. "Well, I was going to say bastard but whatever. I suppose pretending to love my brother could possibly give me some grandparent points."
Grandparent Points™ are the fictional currency Azula created to accurately describe her efforts since childhood to become sole benefactor of the massive Shinohai fortune.
"I wanna meet the baby!" Bunny announces, jumping up and down. She makes a small shrieking sound of unadulterated excitement.
Ty Lee smiles at her daughter and pats her on the head. "You will."
"You know… you never told me when Bunny was born. I was your best friend for years. More than a friend for some of them. But not a single birth announcement or text or anything."
"It didn't seem important," says Ty Lee, watching Bunny take Azula's hand and squeeze it. Azula glances down at Bunny and smiles to herself, as if she does not know anyone is looking.
Suddenly, Azula snaps back to attention and demands of Ty Lee, "Don't lie to me."
Ty Lee mumbles, "I didn't want you guys to know. I was kinda ashamed."
Lacking a decent response, Azula opens the door to the hospital room with the hand to which Bunny is not clinging.
The room is as decked out and lovely as any other rich person room, which the Shinohais tend to fail to appreciate. Katara sits on the bed, Zuko standing beside her and quietly talking.
An old woman garbed in blue must be Katara's Gran Gran, the woman who raised her. The young man in a navy muscle tee beside her must be a brother or cousin or something similar. Azula cannot remember if Katara ever mentioned having siblings.
The moment his sister walks through the door, "Azula, you're here. I wondered why all the birds stopped singing," remarks Zuko.
Ty Lee glances around and then asks, "Where's the baby?"
Katara somberly explains with tears in her tired eyes, "In ICU. She had the cord around her neck five times, meconium aspiration and a fever. She probably has a strep infection since I'm a carrier." She chokes on a few of the words, close to tears.
"I don't know what most of those words mean," says Ty Lee, the hurt expression of a wounded baby rabbit written across her beautiful face. "But I'm sorry."
"Yeah." Katara looks away.
"Don't say anything, Satan," snaps Zuko once Azula opens her mouth.
She clears her throat. "I prefer to be called Ruler of All Things Evil, but I will answer to Satan. And I was going to express my condolences. I am not always cruel."
"I'm…" Zuko opts out of his apology, but he does explain, "I'm kind of irritable. My baby is in danger and I don't need the worst members of my family here."
"Ty Lee is okay," says Katara.
"Yeah. Ty Lee, you're okay," says Zuko.
Ty Lee beams, flattered. Azula glowers at her wife of a few months.
"What's the baby's name?" sweetly asks Ty Lee.
"Kya," Katara softly replies.
"Awww. I wish I had a baby. A new baby. Oh, Azula let's have a baby." Ty Lee smiles at her wife.
Azula just stares for a moment.
Mai rescues her best friend by loudly telling her husband, "I am never having kids. Just to let you know. Never."
Ozai casually replies, "That's fine."
Mai jokes, "You already have one more than you need."
Azula stage whispers to her brother, "She's talking about you."
And Zuko exclaims, earning the irritated glance of a nurse garbed in salmon scrubs, "I know she's talking about me!" He turns to Mai. "I'm sorry I broke up with you in a text like a thousand years ago! You can stop making my life Hell!"
"But making your life Hell is so fun," says Mai, giving a sardonic shake of her head.
Ozai squeezes her arm encouragingly. Zuko snorts.
Zuko snaps, "See, Katara, we definitely shouldn't move to LA. They live there."
"What's this about the City of Angels?" Azula asks with a cocked eyebrow.
"We thought about moving home—uh, my home—and stuff recently with the baby, and mom and Uncle moved back so we'd have them. But Katara likes her job."
"They have hospitals in LA," Mai dryly states.
"It's hard to break into," says Katara. "You have to know someone in big cities like that."
Sokka pipes up, "I know people in the medical field in LA."
Katara laughs as she demands, "Who?"
Sokka says, "My friend Jason sells breast implants."
Katara rolls her eyes and laughs. "That doesn't count as the medical field."
Mai offers, "Well, I live in LA, and I once watched twenty-one consecutive hours of Grey's Anatomy."
"That also doesn't count as the medical field," says Katara, gazing at the window with the sudden longing in her gut to just fling herself out of it.
Mai offers, "I also went to four years of pre-med."
Katara hesitates before replying, "Still doesn't count, although, wow. I didn't know that about you. Why did you stop?"
Mai states coolly, "Because I was married to a rich guy and didn't feel like putting in the effort of the extra decade it would take of hard work and no sleep."
"I'm less impressed now." Pause. Katara briefly looks puzzled. "You hate people. Why would you go into a job based on the desire to save people's lives?"
"I am aroused by scalpels," sarcastically says Mai, entirely unwilling to tell anyone but Ozai, Azula and Ty Lee that she decided to commit to the cutthroat medical field because of the horror film American Mary.
"Are you?" mocks Katara.
"Mhm." Mai cocks an eyebrow, sarcastically seductive.
Azula snaps harshly, "Ugh. Just kiss already."
Zuko returns to the relevant conversation with, "Anyway, it's expensive to live in LA. No point being rich if you waste all the money on basic living expenses and fourteen-dollar boxes of beer."
"And I agree," says Katara, weakly nodding.
Azula mocks, "We could start a charity fund for you."
"I'll give you eighty-thousand if you let me hunt Zuko on my island," says Mai, patting Katara on the hand, carefully avoiding the IV sticking out of it.
Katara just rolls her eyes.
Zuko partially turns to Ozai, and says quite smugly and contentedly, "Well, I guess now that I'm a father, I know how you feel."
"Constantly disappointed?" Ozai remarks, smirking at his own joke.
The argument, of course, begins. Azula watches, shamelessly entertained.
Zuko screams, earning extreme ire of the hospital staff, "I can't have one thing? I can't have one day? I can't have five minutes of your respect?"
As the argument rages and Katara bursts into tears, Azula and Ty Lee exchange a glance.
Welcome to the Shinohai Family.
A baby's life at risk, and no one can think about anything but grudges, pride, inheritance and petty jealousy.
CHAPTER TWENTY: Summer Bummer
After ballet class, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee sit in the relentless summer heat, sipping Starbucks. This is the only time they see each other thanks to the stunt pulled after prom. Azula has been locked up tighter than a serial killer in Riker's Island.
Azula takes another sip of her Venti black iced coffee and continues, "Okay, if you had to choose between stabbing yourself in the face or cutting off your hand—"
"Okay, this is an enjoyable conversation obviously," says Mai, mostly sarcastically. "but is your dad going to unground you anytime soon because I'm completely in support of you and Ty Lee hooking up again because this is really awkward. Really awkward. I hate awkward."
"It's not like it's awkward that you're dating my brother."
Mai says coldly, "I like Zuko, and this isn't about Zuko; this is about you and Ty Lee."
"Okay, but me and Ty Lee are like fire and matches, salt and pepper, fish and chips, hipsters and condescension. You and my brother are like snowpants and elephants." Azula laughs. Ty Lee forces a giggle even though she does not get the joke. Mai remains silent.
"The fuck does that mean?" dryly demands Mai.
"It means you don't mix." Azula rises when she sees her car arrive. "Good luck to the two of you. I am on lockdown in Riker's Island and I don't expect a prison break anytime soon."
Ty Lee hastily kisses Azula on the lips, fast, like a habit, like they will do it again and again for the rest of their lives. It warms Azula's cheeks, but she still tears away without saying a word and enters the limousine.
Mai turns to Ty Lee as Azula is whisked away.
"I love her," Ty Lee whispers.
Mai can only say, "I know."
[X]
In the sweltering evening, Azula sits on her bedroom windowsill, a cigarette perched precariously on her coral lips. Three rose candles burn on her dresser to mask the smell. Then again, she supposes her father could not go further with this lockdown.
She no longer has a door, for example.
Her phone rings and she picks it up. When she sees Mai's name, her heart sinks, but she answers it anyway.
Azula loathes it when people skip pleasantries and get right to the point, but Mai startles her when she immediately asks, "What would you say if I told you that you were going on a date to the movies this weekend with Ty Lee?"
Azula faintly pouts. "I'd say you have the wrong number."
"I'd say I have a plan," says Mai. "However, it involves visiting your mother."
"That does not sound like the type of plan I would endorse."
"We go up there and you two can do whatever you want. Road trip?"
"My father will never let me go on a road trip with you two when he won't even let me have a sleepover." Azula cannot believe this waste of her time. Her copious, overflowing time.
Mai prods, still in a confusing monotone, "Oh, come on. You're more manipulative than that. You can do it."
"I suppose if we neglected to mention Ty Lee, and I said I was going with you alone… He inexplicably trusts you, and you're doing something like dating with ZuZu."
Mai does not seem to notice the irony in her dry tone as she remarks, "Yeah. See. That's the spirit. I charm your father like a pro and then we skip town tonight."
"You are uncomfortably invested in this. I think I prefer the version of you that doesn't care about anything at all." Azula examines her fingernails. She neglected them of late. They almost look tacky, God forbid.
"I also prefer that version of me. I'm desperate. I'm driven to desperation by hatred, if it makes you feel any better. I hate being around you two. I also hate the incessant texts from Ty Lee while I'm trying to do nothing in my cold, dark room. Give me a chance. It's not like I care if I fail, anyway. Do you care?"
Azula sighs. "Honestly, no. I doubt my situation could get worse."
"Good. Ask your dad if I can have a… playdate with you."
Azula scoffs at the term playdate, but hangs up and strides downstairs to find her father working at the spotless marble kitchen island.
"Mai wants to come over."
Ozai growls without looking up, "Why?"
"She said she misses me. She is not Ty Lee. She is a respectable friend who has never done anything wrong in her life."
"You have an hour," he says, not unlike a prison guard.
Azula texts her best friend.
[X]
Mai greets Ozai Shinohai seamlessly. She knows how to be polite; she chooses to instead be sarcastic and frigid. In this instance, she goes the distance and Azula better appreciate it.
They remain in the kitchen, under observation, and Mai thinks as best she can while Azula discusses something lofty and self-indulgent.
Mai examines the coffee in her hand and makes her choice.
She throws it on Azula's shirt. Azula screams and her fingers seize up like she intends to tear Mai's eyes out with her acrylics (which would be wise, since that is exactly what runs across Azula's mind). But then the Shinohai sees what this means.
"Azula needs to clean herself up. I can wait down here, since I know you don't trust us very much right now," states Mai.
Ozai shrugs. "Go ahead, little princess."
Azula shoots Mai a disapproving glare as she walks away, the sound of her heels clicking on the stone floor gradually fading as she heads upstairs.
She changes her clothes, taking her time to gave Mai the best chance she has to convince Ozai. Azula contemplates if it feels wrong to lie to her father and meet up with Ty Lee, but, no, she kind of does not care who she lies to. Never has, never will.
Once Azula walks downstairs, her father looks up at her.
"You can pack your things and go visit your mother with Mai. But if I get a single word you went anywhere other than Ursa's, I will make you wish you were never born."
Azula nods. "Thank you, father. I deeply appreciate your trust in me."
"Good," coolly states Ozai.
Mai gives Azula a slightly smug but mostly expressionless glance.
[X]
Twenty minutes later, "What did you tell him?" Azula demands as she forces Mai to lug her small suitcase down the endless Shinohai Palace stairs.
"That I was going to break Zuko's heart and you wanted to watch." Mai almost smiles.
Azula freezes in place on the third to last step. "Jesus, my family is fucked up."
Mai nods, eyebrows slightly raised. "I know, right?"
Without another word, they head out to go meet Ty Lee at the 7/11.
[X]
The moment Azula, Ty Lee and Mai arrive at Ursa and Iroh's mansion on the Street of Dreams, Azula's mother insists on being happy to see her. She suffers through it. She strides into the first living room and sees her brother on the sofa.
"Azula," says Zuko, smirking so smugly, "I wasn't expecting you. Have you come to collect your Dalmatian fur coat?"
Her expression sours and she bitterly retorts, "Ha-ha."
"So, what exactly are you planning?" Zuko asks, shamelessly scratching his shoulder.
"Nothing," says Azula huffily, and Zuko scoffs in disbelief. "I don't plan, brother. I scheme."
"Yeah, well, I want no part of it." He suddenly looks disappointed. "And I can't have any part of it. I'm grounded."
Azula walks forward a few steps. "Ooo, for what? Punch another guy's lights out?"
"Teeth out, that time, remember? Or, uh, broken everything like that guy of yours at the dance. Anyway, I got caught selling Ritalin… and Xanax… and a little Oxy."
Azula inquires in genuine interest, "Did you go to jail?"
Zuko rubs his face. "Mother got me out of it."
"Regardless of law enforcement's success, your rap sheet is becoming impressive, brother."
"Aww, thanks," Zuko sarcastically croons. Azula frowns at him. "I knew you loved me."
Azula fiercely snaps, "Don't get so cocky, Pillbo Baggins."
Zuko just laughs. He then sees Mai walk in and rises to kiss her. Azula pointedly gags in the direction of her girlfriend and Ty Lee shakes with silent giggles.
"Can we just get on with this date. I'm literally dying standing in this awful house. The countless buddha statues and impulse buys are starting to suffocate me."
Zuko snaps, "You're not literally dying."
Azula sneers at him. "Okay, I am literally dying. We are all slowly dying."
"That's a pleasant thought," grumbles Zuko.
Before Azula can further press her need to escape, her mother strides into the room.
"So, you're here to sneak around with your girlfriend."
"Yes. I do it because you never loved me." Azula sniffles. Mai chokes on a cold laugh. Ursa remains miraculously calm.
"You do it because your father is angry, and I will let you see her. She seems like a nice girl. What made you fall for each other?"
"I did not sign up for an interrogation," Azula hisses, clenching her fists.
Ursa says calmly, gently crossing her arms, "You showed up at my house partially unannounced in defiance of your father. I can ask a couple of innocent, motherly questions."
Ty Lee chirps, "I love her because she's perfect. She's pretty and smart and has been my best friend forever and ever."
"Thanks," mutters Mai.
Azula sighs. "Well, mother, Ty Lee and I have always had this sort of amicable chemistry where we know each other well enough to finish each other's—"
"Sentences!" eagerly exclaims Ty Lee.
Azula shoots her a glare. "Do not interrupt me."
Ursa finds herself speechless. And then she has an idea perhaps as wicked as one her ex-husband would concoct.
"Perhaps you and Ty Lee and Mai and Zuko would like to go out with me and Iroh. I can meet the girlfriends of my children."
Azula looks like someone just shot her in the chest.
Zuko cannot stop grinning until Mai punches his shoulder.
CHAPTER TWENTY: The Crystal Anniversary
Azula stands in a meeting a few months after Christmas with her family. It is the two-year anniversary of her marriage to Ty Lee, but the company comes first in her eyes. Their time together has been pleasant, albeit with its ups and downs, mostly during the holidays. However, now, on a sweltering and humid summer day in New York City, Azula answers a phone call from her wife of three years during an uncomfortable break during which she treats the gaggle of investors to champagne and fine chocolate.
"How's your meeting, princess?" Ty Lee asks on the other line.
"Awful. I feel like stabbing everyone here to death."
"Please don't get blood on your dress. We have anniversary dinner reservations tonight."
"I love you for enabling me."
"I love you too."
Once Azula hangs up, she smiles faintly to herself.
She chose the perfect wife.
Although, a perfect woman such as herself deserves that.
[X]
Azula and Ty Lee sit across from each other in the dim, romantic lighting of Tao.
"Remember when your dad and Mai, like, surprised us here?"
"It was unpleasant," Azula replies, taking a sip of champagne.
Ty Lee continues scrolling through her iPhone. Azula answers an e-mail.
Neither minds much. Perhaps their anniversary should be more… gushy, but that would never happen with the two of them.
"Aww, look at Valerie on Instagram." Ty Lee holds up her phone. Azula blinks twice before her eyes adjust to the sudden blinding light. "She's so cute. Were you this cute when you were a baby?"
"Cuter," Azula coldly says, examining her baby half-sister - the daughter of Mai and Ozai - napping in a dinosaur costume.
"Kya is cute too." Ty Lee displays another picture from her feed, this one of a toddler with fawn skin and big blue eyes just like her mother.
"I'll pass," Azula coldly says, refusing to rescind her loathing towards Katara over a single cute photograph on Instagram. "I honestly do not know why these people—these people I once knew—post so many pictures of their children online. Do I do that with Bunny?"
"Yes." Ty Lee grins. She loves Azula's mommy side to pieces, even if Azula hates it.
"You were supposed to say no!" Azula leans back in her chair. "And I only post pictures of Bunny because she is an exemplary child, better than all the rest. Valerie and Kya are useless."
"You're weirdly jealous of Valerie."
"She might steal my inheritance. Or my father's love. I am the favorite. I insist on being the favorite. I will not lose that merely because a baby is cuter than I am."
Ty Lee warmly smiles and touches Azula's hand. It sends an electric jolt through that Azula ignores, as always. "You're my favorite."
Azula scoffs and slips her soft fingers away. "You're broke, so I don't honestly care."
"Not so broke that I didn't get you an anniversary gift."
"With my money. You bought me the gift with my money."
"So. My thoughtfulness and big heart." Ty Lee beams and reaches into her oversized purse. She sets down a cute, well-wrapped box on the table where no appetizer sauce lurks. "It's the crystal anniversary so I got you earrings… and a mood ring."
Ty Lee opens the box and holds up priceless and rather classy diamond earrings studded with rubies and set in gold. She also holds up a tacky mood ring stained a mix between dark purple and light green.
Azula accepts them both.
"I'll make you wait a bit for mine." Azula smirks.
"Okay, princess," Ty Lee says, taking it surprisingly well. She always struggled with patience. "What's your highlight of this year of marriage?"
"ZuZu eloping with his whore girlfriend on Thanksgiving. It really made us look good." Azula takes a smug sip of champagne.
"Mine is when we had sex in that library!" Ty Lee states so loudly that Azula feels quite grateful she reserved the private upper floor.
"How about Halloween when I fake cheated on you with drunk Hercules?"
Ty Lee blinks, perplexed. "How is that a highlight?"
"It proved how dearly you love me."
Ty Lee gently sets her hand over her heart and blushes. "And you dearly love me too."
"Something like that." Azula does not want to admit it, even after these years of marriage.
"Oh! You said you had something to tell me about your grandfather?"
Azula, for the life of her, has no idea what Ty Lee is talking about.
"I doubt it was important," she says, pretending not to care.
Their food arrives, and they talk about less disastrous events.
[X]
As Ty Lee cracks open a fortune cookie, Azula decides to at last give her the lovely gift.
"And, for the crystal anniversary, I gave you something beautiful and unexpected. Since I do not share your taste in jewelry, I thought it best to buy you something…" She struggles with the next word. "Sentimental."
She opens her slouch bag and sets a box on the table. She shoves it over to Ty Lee, nearly toppling a serving bowl of hot and sour soup.
Giddily, eyes alit like a cartoon character, Ty Lee opens it and withdraws a set of priceless antique crystal goblets.
"To feel like a true princess's bride. Or my Queen of Darkness, or whatever you please." Azula smirks, truly smug. She won this anniversary. Glorious regal goblets easily trump a mood ring.
Ty Lee giggles. Azula glares. "This looks like it belongs to a grandma."
"It is timeless, stylish and classy," Azula says through clenched teeth.
"I know style and classiness and stuff."
"You wanted a pink Christmas tree," spits Azula, nose wrinkled.
Ty Lee shrugs and smiles. "Yeah, 'cause pink Christmas trees are classy. It's the kind of thing Snooki would have."
"Yes," sarcastically says Azula, "Snooki, the epitome of class."
"Mhm," replies Ty Lee in true earnest. "So, speaking of class, I think we're classy, and I think that means we help people."
"I have never helped someone in my entire life, and that is why I am obscenely rich."
"Yeah." Ty Lee does not bring up that Azula is an heiress. "My cousin's girlfriend is pregnant."
"I would ask which cousin but I don't even know any of your cousins in the first place. Do you want me to buy them a nice trailer in the park with the most flamingos? I could manage that."
"My cousin Aang got his girlfriend pregnant, and they do not live in a trailer park."
"Isn't he like twelve?"
"Sixteen. Which is why the two of them can basically take care of themselves."
"Why—why is that fact important?"
"Because his family kicked him out and she ran away with him and so they're in our apartment right now watching Bunny."
Azula insists with a slight snarl of her rouge lips, "Where they are babysitting for a few hours as practice for parenthood."
"Where I told them that they could stay for as long as they need." Ty Lee smiles and bats her eyelashes. Azula remains bitter despite the attempt.
"Why?"
Ty Lee pleads, clasping her hands together melodramatically, "I think they can learn from us, and they need a safe place to stay."
Azula cocks an eyebrow and sourly remarks, "Learn that it's not so bad to be a teen mom if you're able to trick someone rich enough into loving you?"
Ty Lee giggles. "Something like that." Then her smile fades and she eyes Azula with a serious expression. "They need our help."
"Why am I having such a hard time summoning sympathy?"
"Probably because you're a psychopath," chirps Ty Lee, batting her eyelashes.
"Probably," Azula sourly replies. "Perhaps we should end this dinner early and go check on our uninvited houseguests."
"Technically they are invited. I invited them."
Azula grabs her coat. "Do not make this worse for yourself, Ty Lee."
And she looks scary, so Ty Lee leaps to her feet and does not say another word.
[X]
Azula steps into her penthouse and hears the television blaring. She imagines it must be something trashy. She strides inside with an aura of terror enough to strike the strongest man dead. An Ice Queen walking on hellfire.
She freezes in front of Aang the boy with face tattoos and his pint-sized girlfriend with a pregnant belly who wears sunglasses inside.
"They certainly belong to the Beverly Hillbilly family. The resemblance is remarkable," Azula sourly says, glowering at her terrified wife. "Where is Bunny?"
"Hi," says Aang, jumping up as gracefully as a ballerina with wings. He shakes Azula's hand. Not a strong handshake, but a confident one at least. "It's really nice to meet you. Bunny is in her room playing a video game. The video game is kinda violent and I don't know if that's okay but she seems to only have pretty violent ones so, I, uh, I couldn't convince her to do anything more pacifist. We played with her for a while and then she wanted some alone time so we just set her up with the, uh, the baby monitor Ty Lee told us about. Thanks so much for helping us. We really needed a place to stay."
Azula's lip contorts into a slight snarl. "It remains to be seen if you will be staying here or not. I was uninformed of your… visit."
"What's the resemblance?" Ty Lee inquires, scratching her head.
"Aang's big eyes and cheery demeanor. He has the classless face tattoos that are the equivalent of a permanent pink Christmas tree. His girlfriend wears sunglasses inside."
"She's blind," says Aang, sounding unoffended. Azula cannot imagine why his feelings are unhurt by her callousness.
"She's what?" asks Azula, cocking an eyebrow.
Toph snarls from the sofa, "She's not deaf, so stop talking about her like she's not in the room."
"Sorry," Aang states, bowing his head in respect. Azula narrows her eyes.
"Also, he looks just like my wife when I snap at her. It's kind of cute." Azula looks between them. She lacks a heart and most of a soul, but she does not think she can kick a blind girl and an innocent Bambi-eyed boy out on the streets without a good enough lie. "I would have to clear this with my grandfather. However, he is away for the next few months and has been and has requested no phone calls."
Azula briefly prays her wife will not open her dumb mouth. But of course, she does.
"Didn't you talk to your grandfather this morning before you went to work?" sweetly asks Ty Lee as she slips out of her pink pumps.
Azula frowns at the thought, struggling to avoid laughter. She forgets about the trashy problem sitting in her well-groomed living room and remembers what she forgot to tell Ty Lee at dinner. "He spent the entire phone call talking about how important the legalization of weed was in Oregon. His doctor suggested it. He told me it solved all of his problems and that it would solve mine."
Ty Lee giggles. Azula's expression remains blank.
She ekes out through her adorable laughter, "It's funny. He's such a… such a stuck-up man. I never imagined he'd be a stoner."
Azula groans and looks away from the trashy teenagers on her lovely sofa. "He's like Cheech's grandfather. It is humiliating, Grandparent Points aside."
"What are Grandparent Points?" asks Toph, smirking and half-laughing.
Azula casually explains, "It is how I quantify my status in their eyes. I intend to be sole benefactor in their wills by the end and that requires a certain level of effort when everyone else wants part of their estate."
Toph smiles. "You're evil. I like it."
Azula's lips twitch. Thankfully, the blind girl cannot see it. "I know."
Toph suggests, eager for the first time since Azula met her, "You could probably exploit it."
"How so?" asks the Shinohai Princess, hoping to high Heaven she will not get roped into letting these miscreant teenagers live in her perfect penthouse.
Toph explains loosely, not looking in Azula's direction but still as commanding as any Shinohai ever was. But in a dirty way. A gangbanger way, instead of a classy Godfather fashion. "You know, like, 'You said you were going to give me twenty-thousand dollars; you just forgot because you were high,' and that kind of thing."
Silence.
"How could someone so cutthroat get herself knocked up at sixteen? Or let… that boy get into her pants in the first place?" Azula demands, concealing how aghast she feels.
Toph shrugs. "I'm giving up the baby. I'm not ready to be a mom, not only because I'm an irresponsible kid who would rather weekend mud wrestle than wrestle a toddler into a bath, but since I never want kids. They are gross and loud and sticky."
Azula nods. "Excellent points."
"But we still…" Aang rubs his tattooed neck.
"Can you mud wrestle blind?" Ty Lee asks, tilting her head to the side like a puzzled puppy.
Toph kicks her feet up on the table. Azula's distaste for her returns when she sees her ungroomed toenails sitting on her priceless mahogany table. She might as well bring muddy shoes in. "You'd be surprised what I can do blind. And I bet it'd earn you some grandparent points to look charitable and stuff. Stoners and rich pricks eat that stuff up."
"They do." Azula crosses her arms. "You may stay until you find jobs and an apartment."
"That's all we need," says Aang, clasping his hands together in a plea.
Azula pointedly rolls her eyes. "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the leader in your relationship."
Toph cackles. Azula smirks. Ty Lee and Aang exchange a glance.
"Right. So, Ty Lee, we can… we can stick with you. Thanks for staying by our side," Aang says, looking at his kindest cousin. "I'm really sorry to do this. We'll just stay on our side and you guys can have your side and we'll stay on the side and—"
Toph grunts viciously, "Twinkletoes, stop saying side before I go into premature labor from fucking frustration."
Ty Lee beams. "Yeah! I get why. It's because there are no sides in family. We're a circle!"
She drags both Azula and Aang into a tight, uncomfortable group hug.
"Circle!" she chirps as Azula struggles to break free.
It could not be more evident that Toph meant no such thing, but Azula allows Ty Lee to be happy. It is their anniversary, after all.
Just as Ty Lee begins to explain the guest room, the doorbell rings. Ty Lee rushes to answer, leaving Azula in cold silence with her new underaged roomies.
When Ty Lee answers the door, she makes a strangled choking sound.
"Who is it?" demands Azula, turning to her wife.
Ty Lee pauses for a moment before replying, "Bunny's dad."
Azula's eyes flash.
