Chapter 29: Omashu Day Perspectives (Part 2)

Mai

Mai inhaled through her nose and slowly released her breath through her mouth. Any minute now. Any minute now Ty Lee, the most beautiful girl Mai had ever seen, would be walking through that door. Either all of Mai's hard work and planning would pay off, or she'd end up heartbroken.

Trying not to fidget too much with the bouquet of pink roses in her hands, she looked around the room nervously, admiring all the handiwork and effort that went into the setup. The whole room was an explosion of pink and scented candles. It was beautiful, though, now that she thought about it, the pink streamers dangling from the ceiling, along with the pink paper flowers – all twelve dozen of them – placed throughout the room among the candles was most definitely a fire hazard. But hopefully Ty would show up before the room burned down.

The plan, in theory, was simple. Ty Lee would wake up to a note from a secret admirer that would send her on a campus-wide scavenger hunt. The final clue would take her back to where it started: her bedroom. But when she'd open the door, the room would be decorated and Mai would be standing there, bouquet in hand, ready to confess her true feelings.

She couldn't have done it without the help of her friends. Naturally, she had put Sokka in charge of coming up with the clues for the scavenger hunt portion. Unsurprisingly, he went a bit overboard with them, even coming up with clever rhymes for each one. Hopefully the clues weren't too cryptic for Ty Lee…

She had assigned Katara and Zuko to help with decorating the bedroom. Katara had the additional task of handing Ty Lee her first clue in the morning since they were roommates. As soon as Ty Lee excitedly took off for the day, Katara alerted everyone and the decorating frenzy began.

Azula and Jet were entrusted with the most important task of all: baking and decorating a strawberry cake that read, "Be my girlfriend?" Mai completely trusted Jet's skills in the kitchen. Azula's… not so much, especially since the poor girl was still on crutches. But she had noticed that Azula and Jet seemed a little distant from each other since the spring semester started, and she wanted to remind them of how well they worked together. And yeah… maybe she wanted to play Omashu Day matchmaker too, even if they were too damn stubborn to admit their feelings.

Of course, recruiting all her friends meant that she needed to come out to them first. It was something she had dreaded, something that had been causing her a great amount of stress, but if she ever wanted anything to happen with Ty Lee, she needed to be honest. And her friends couldn't have handled it better. Everyone was so supportive of her, especially Azula. Her friends' reactions made her wonder why she had worried so much about it in the first place.

While coming out was a major weight off her shoulders, there was still one thing dragging her down… as far as she knew, she was the only one who knew that both fire siblings were crushing hard on Sokka. And now that Suki was gone, maybe Sokka had had a chance to move on… but while Mai wished for happiness for both Zuko and Azula, she couldn't help but root for Zuko to win Sokka's heart. It wasn't due to having more loyalty to one than the other – she simply thought Azula had more chemistry with Jet, even if Azula didn't see it yet. Azula was less inclined to fall victim to her perfectionist issues around Jet. She allowed herself to be vulnerable around him. However, it was probably pointless getting her hopes up for Zuko considering Sokka's dating history.

Mai sighed. She wondered what was taking Ty so long. Maybe Sokka's clues were too cryptic after all. She had read them all ahead of time and didn't think they would be that confusing. Oh well. As long as Ty Lee got there before the paper flowers caught fire…

Mai heard Ty Lee's voice from the hallway. It sounded like she was talking to someone?

"I'm so excited, everyone! I'm about to explode! Now let's see who my secret admirer is…"

Oh no… she was livestreaming! This was bad, this was very bad. The doorknob slowly turned. Mai's breath caught in her throat.

Ty Lee stepped in, grinning from ear to ear as she took in her surroundings. "Wow," she exhaled, "this is…" Her sparkling brown-gray eyes landed on Mai and instantly softened. "Mai?" Her voice was barely audible. "Y-You…?"

Mai slowly nodded. "Ty, I… I know I'm probably not who you were expecting." She let out a nervous laugh. "Y-You know I'm a woman of few words, but… the way you make me feel, I've never felt like this about anyone before. I'm… crazy about you. So, ummm…" She stepped to the side to reveal the strawberry cake. "…will you – "

"Yes, a thousand times yes!" Ty Lee cut her off, her eyes filling with tears. She ran up to Mai and threw her arms around her.

Mai's heart leapt in her chest. She couldn't believe this was actually happening.

"I feel the exact same way! I just… I never thought…"

"I never thought either," she chuckled.

Ty Lee laughed through her happy tears.

"Oh yeah, by the way…" Mai handed Ty Lee the bouquet of pink roses. "…if it wasn't obvious, I'm gay."

She smiled softly. And then she turned to face the phone in her hand, which was still recording. "I'm gay too!" she grinned at everyone watching her. "Gay pride, y'all!" Then she set her phone down, cupped Mai's cheeks, and kissed her passionately on the lips.

Sokka

Sokka dashed to his sister's and Ty Lee's dorm room as soon as he heard the announcement. The new couple had invited everyone over for cake, and he was determined to get there first, and not just because of the promise of sweets. No… he had somewhat of an ulterior motive, an ulterior motive that was making him incredibly anxious. But there was no time for that. The rest of his friends would be there soon. He had to make the most of his limited time.

"Sokka!" Ty Lee greeted, hugging him with a bouquet of flowers in hand. "You're out of breath!"

"I ran all the way here!" he chuckled. "Couldn't wait to congratulate my new favorite couple in person."

"Sure," Mai nodded skeptically. "I'm sure it wasn't because of the cake or anything…"

"Well, I mean…" his voice squeaked.

The girls laughed.

"Actually…" He paused. "…there is something I wanted to ask you."

"Sounds serious…" Mai said.

"It's… kinda personal."

"What is it?" Ty Lee placed a comforting hand on his back. "You know you can ask us anything."

"Unless you're about to ask for a threesome," Mai teased.

"Aw, shucks," he teased back. "Yeah, but in all seriousness, I…" He sighed. "How… how did you know…"

Ty Lee looked at Mai and then back at Sokka. "Know what?"

"How did you know that you're… not straight?" he blurted, his cheeks growing hot.

"Oh." Mai looked surprised. "Oh."

"Well I've pretty much always known!" Ty Lee jumped in. "I mean, I can appreciate a hot guy here and there, and sometimes I even enjoy kissing them, but I've only ever had romantic feelings for other girls."

"Hm, interesting."

"My journey was less straightforward, no pun intended," Mai said.

"Aw, I like puns."

"I always assumed I was straight, just like everyone else. I even had a boyfriend in high school, Ruan-Juan. He was nice and I enjoyed spending time with him, but… I never wanted to do anything sexual with him beyond kissing."

"Oof."

"Yeah… so for a long time, I thought I was asexual. Of course, if I had paid closer attention to the artwork I created, I probably would have noticed my fascination with beautiful women. I just never put two and two together. But something that helped me realize I was gay was – oh, you're probably not gonna like the rest of this story."

"No, tell me."

"Well… I guess it was when we were all on Ember Island together and I kissed Katara during that game – n-not that I liked kissing Katara per se, but I liked the feeling of kissing another girl if that makes any sense. Just to reiterate, I do not have feelings for your sister – "

"Yeah, that makes sense…"

"If I'm remembering correctly," Ty Lee smirked, "you kissed Jet on Ember Island."

"I… I did…"

"So how did it make you feel?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't bring himself to answer.

"Because I remember you getting all bashful and red in the face – "

"Ty, come on," Mai stepped in, trying to keep the peace.

"What?" she asked indignantly. "It's true! I notice these things."

"She's right," Sokka said under his breath. "I… I didn't hate it. I-I guess you can say, I kinda liked it."

"Sokka, do you – " Mai started.

"Spirits, Sokka, are you gay?!" Ty Lee squealed.

"W-Well no, I'm not gay! I definitely like girls, I mean, Suki and I had a lot of sex and that was really awesome, but… maybe I'm… maybe I'm…"

"Bi?" Ty Lee finished for him.

"Yeah… maybe?"

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is so exciting! I just knew there was something special about you when we met when I was doing that photoshoot in the Southern Water Tribe, and you – "

"Wait, Sokka," Mai cut in, "do you like Jet?!"

He opened his mouth to answer, but thankfully the rest of his friends came bursting through the door before anything came out.

"Happy Omashu Day, everyone!" Katara cheered. "Let's hear it for the happy new couple!"

Azula

"Since it's Omashu Day, I made cupcakes!" Azula smiled, gesturing to the tray of chocolate cupcakes Jet was holding for her. She shifted her weight on her crutches. "They're like… my way of saying thanks to you guys. I… know how difficult I've been this semester."

The truth was, Azula really couldn't care less about a frivolous holiday like Omashu Day, but after pushing her friends away since the semester started when they were genuinely trying to help her, she wanted to make things up to them and show her appreciation. It was just… she didn't want to fall back into bad habits. Ozai had spoiled her rotten when she was growing up, she was given everything, but… she wasn't happy. After her life got turned upside down, she wanted to prove that she could do things on her own. She wanted to be independent, to figure out who she was outside of her lavish upbringing. But over time, she had grown too reliant on her friends, especially Jet. With her leg broken and her friends jumping to take care of her and make her life easier, it was like having her past thrown back in her face, relying on father's hired help to wait on her hand and foot. She hated all the pitying looks she got from her friends. Even Iroh and Ursa kept sending her care packages. She couldn't go back there. She wouldn't be a burden to anyone ever again.

But maybe it was okay to accept a little help every now and then. And maybe she could still be independent without pushing everyone away.

"Ooh, chocolate!" Ty Lee cheered. "Perfect to go with the strawberry cake!"

"What's that crunchy stuff on top?" Mai asked before getting a closer inspection. "Wait, are those fire flakes?"

"Mhm. Half of them have fire flakes, you know, for a little kick."

"Sounds tasty!" Sokka said, walking briskly up to Azula with a mischievous grin on his face.

Azula thought he was going to grab a cupcake from Jet, but instead, Sokka put his hand on top of Azula's head and ruffled her hair. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Considering she was on crutches, she couldn't exactly fight him off.

"Why are you covered in flour?" he laughed. "Baking mishap?"

"Azula and I got in a little food fight," Jet answered for her, smirking.

She snickered, thinking about all the trouble they had caused in the kitchen. It had been the first time she had spent extended alone time with Jet since the spring semester began. He had been so busy at the café along with all the added responsibilities of being a third-year student. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed him until they were baking together, just the two of them. The food fight that ensued was only par for the course. Now they were both covered in flour, sugar, frosting, and whipped cream.

"You two better not have destroyed the kitchen," Zuko groaned.

"Don't worry, Zuzu. We cleaned everything up."

"And by 'we', she means 'me'," Jet corrected.

"You should have known better than to start a fight with someone with a broken leg!" she taunted.

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. "Worth it."

She felt heat fill her cheeks, but hopefully her blush was hidden by all the powder on her face. She didn't know exactly when it happened, when she realized her feelings for Jet. If it hadn't been for her accident, she might not have ever realized. Looking back, it had been so obvious. He was the one who was always there for her, right from the start when he showed up at her room with a fresh coffee after he hit her with that frisbee. She loved him. She loved him so much, it hurt. But whether he felt the same way, well, she wasn't counting on it.

"A-Anyway… everyone grab a cupcake and let's cheers to the beautiful new couple!" Balancing awkwardly on her crutches, she took one of the fire flake-topped cupcakes from the tray, with her friends quickly following suit. "To Mai and Ty Lee!"

Everyone held up their cupcakes and cheered. "To Mai and Ty Lee!"

"To finding love!" Katara added.

Azula's eyes quickly darted over to Jet and then back to the group. "To finding love," she whispered. To finding love…