(Theme Thirty-Seven) Cupcake Wars

(As Prompted By) x0xcoffeeandcigarettesx0x

"Baking is fun, princess," Ty Lee whines and Azula sighs. She is going to wind up having to do this, isn't she?

It is another date, this one in the palace. Zuko seems pleased with Ty Lee's visit, because he is using her as a chi-blocking prostitute to keep Azula in line. It perturbs the princess, but she has to admit she likes having someone on her side. Now that Zuko and Mai are back together, the lustful desire is increased by tenfold.

"I don't bake. I'm a princess. Servants bake for me," Azula purrs airily but Ty Lee whimpers and bats her eyes. Azula closes her own eyes and hopes that it will prevent her from being won over by a baby animal face.

"There's that party tonight and it will be so fun if we bake the little cinnamon cakes for it," Ty Lee says, forcibly opening Azula's eyes with her fingertips. If Ty Lee were anyone but herself, Azula would bite off one of her fingers, or at least chomp into her hand.

"It's genuinely unbecoming of a princess and the noblewoman she's courting," Azula says with a small sigh. Ty Lee scowls; Azula will budge if it is the last thing she does.

"You're courting me?" A lopsided smile and a seductive bat of her eyelashes.

"There's not a better word for it," Azula sighs, rubbing her temples. She is going to end up baking. "You owe me. You realize that."

"I always pay my debts." Ty Lee pecks Azula on the lips as if that will sway her. But being perfectly honest, Azula has little else to do but lounge around, and she and Ty Lee have already slept together twice today. There is not anything else desirable to do, so perhaps degradation is the next step in curing her boredom.

"This debt paying better be pretty worth it," Azula purrs and Ty Lee winks at her. Ugh. That wink. Azula sits up slowly from her lounging position and gestures for Ty Lee to guide her to an oven.

Ty Lee sets up with ease, dashing about and gathering ingredients. Azula kicks out the servants with a particular pleasure in the condescension. The princess's nostrils are overwhelmed by cinnamon as Ty Lee seizes a bowl and gestures at the grand baking scenario she has built.

"Congratulations?" Azula offers, examining her girlfriend with mild distaste. "Where did you learn to bake, anyway?"

Ty Lee points at the oven and Azula goes to light it, waiting for her answer as she walks. "I picked it up a few places. I do live as a peasant most of the time. And in a circus. And... well, I'm not quite as pampered as you."

"I was a fugitive for two years," Azula offers in a sing-song tone and Ty Lee only cocks an eyebrow.

"Did you do a lot of baking while on the run from Zuko?" Ty Lee asks sweetly and Azula lights the oven and crosses her arms.

"I'm proud to say that I didn't," Azula purrs and Ty Lee kisses her again. They are at the endless touching phase of their relationship, according to Mai. And Azula has to admit she likes the wet heat of it.

Ty Lee starts laying out ingredients as Azula stares in mild disdain. But Ty Lee starts stirring and thrusting recipes into Azula's hands.

"You like analyzing things," Ty Lee says, batting her eyelashes for the thousandth time. Azula wants to tell her that it does not work, but she finds it appealing.

"I do," Azula admits with a small shrug. And so she dives into baking with Ty Lee.

As the cinnamon cakes are put in the oven in record time and Ty Lee is congratulating herself, in awe of her own abilities, Azula laughs slightly and sits on the counter. Ty Lee clutches the bowl of cake mixture to her chest and sticks her fingers into it, eating it in a way that makes Azula roll her eyes.

"You want some?" Ty Lee offers, extending one finger. Azula thinks of the fact that Ty Lee's saliva has been all over it, but then she realizes how many bodily fluids they have exchanged over the past several years and Azula licks it off of Ty Lee's finger, sending shivers through Ty Lee's spine.

Azula sucks on her finger and Ty Lee's eyes flutter.

"See, I'm good at that. Baking... not so much."

"Did you just admit you aren't a prodigy at something?" Ty Lee exclaims, laughing and swiping up more of the cake mix.

"I suppose." She glances at the sad cakes she burnt, not by putting them into the oven, but by searing them with her bending in a fit of rage. It is amazing they made any cakes at all with Azula's near mental breakdown over it.

Ty Lee shoves her finger coated in cake mix into Azula's mouth.

The princess sucks it off and then rolls her eyes.

"At least it's edible," she remarks and Ty Lee nods.

"That's kinda what I was going for. Now no more of this for you; I did all of the work." Ty Lee clamps the bowl to her chest and Azula simply gazes at the oven.

"The things I do for love," she sighs.