#114: Lazy Day
Prompted By: SuperlustrousRainstorm
The day after returning from Ember Island, Azula, Ty Lee, Mai and Zuko lounge in the palace. Ty Lee plays Pai Sho poorly with Azula as they sip stolen sake. Mai sharpens her favorite knife as Zuko sits lazily, enjoying his drink as he lounges with his arm wrapped around Mai's shoulder.
As the sun shines a little brighter through the wide windows, Mai leans over and presses her lips against Zuko's, he slides his hand behind her neck and kisses her fiercely.
"Ew!" cries out Ty Lee, gently whacking Mai with a cushion. She pulls away from her boyfriend.
Azula examines her brother and best friend closely. "I want to say you both are better than this, but honestly you're not."
Ty Lee laughs a little too hard and a little too long.
After the laughter dies down, Mai examining her knife as Zuko rubs his shoulder, "Mai, do the thing with the knife!" pleads Ty Lee.
"Fine." Mai pretends to be annoyed by it, but she honestly likes showing off with blades. Not that she would ever let anyone know that.
She spreads her fingers on the coffee table and lifts the blade. Azula smirks as she grabs Zuko by the arm and forcibly presses his palm on top of Mai's.
"What are you doing?" demands Zuko, hiding his panic.
Mai switches their hands so hers is on top of his, pinning him to the table.
"Trust me, babe."
"I don't!" Zuko turns to Azula. "Are you fucking serious, you evil-"
Mai starts before he can finish speaking, Zuko struck mute by terror as he looks down at her stabbing the knife between their fingers so quickly that it looks like a blur of flesh and metal. Ty Lee claps and coos as Azula rolls her eyes.
Mai pulls away and Zuko lifts his shaky hand, examining a small, bleeding nick on his finger.
Azula smirks evilly. "Oh, Mai, I thought you never miss."
Mai tries to grab his hand but he stands up before she can reach.
"Zuko, I'm sorry," she says in a tone of earnest few ever hear from her. "I'm really sorry. I didn't think that would happen."
"I'm out of here." He downs his drink and starts to exit the room.
"Zuko, come on. Don't leave," requests Mai.
Azula loudly mocks, "Where are you off too so fast? Hot date with your right hand?"
Zuko grinds his teeth and shoots a glare at his sister and Ty Lee both. "I'm done messing around with you hyena-vultures."
Azula is undeterred by his anger. "Scared Mai will do another knife trick and you'll have to start using your left?"
"You're going to need to go on a three year journey to find the Avatar to recover from that burn," snarks Ty Lee with a smile
Azula cackles and Ty Lee starts giggling when she hears her girlfriend laugh.
Zuko scowls. The wounds are fresh.
"Can't hide a grudge, can you?" mocks Zuko. "You just wish you killed him, don't you?"
Azula's expression sours. She wants desperately to call his bluff, but knows she must save that for a wiser time than this.
Instead, she shrugs and airily retorts, "I have better things to do with my time than hold grudges."
Mai dryly protests, "Please, Azula, you've held a grudge for seven years over a dumpling."
"Because those turtleducks knew what they were doing!"
"It's not like Zuko ever knows what he's doing," teases Mai.
"See, ZuZu, even your girlfriend thinks you're pathetic. How sad is that? I bet she fantasizes about me while having disappointing sex with you."
"You have a lot of nerve saying that."
"You have a lot of nerve being alive."
"Maybe you two need to cool off. It's a lazy day, remember?"
"I'm going for a walk. Ty Lee! Join me."
Ty Lee leaps to her feet as Azula seizes her wrist and drags her from the room.
They end up in Ozai's private art collection. Ty Lee cannot hide her smile at being taken somewhere so special by her secret girlfriend. Very few people ever get to witness what the Fire Lord keeps in this secluded room.
"Am I allowed to be in here?" asks Ty Lee quietly, eyes wide with awe.
"Probably not. I never exactly asked where I could sneak my secret girlfriend in the palace."
They stride close together as they examine the paintings in a beautiful, comfortable silence.
Ty Lee freezes in front of the strangest one she has ever seen. The others are all gorgeous landscapes and portraits of distinguished Fire Nation figures. This one is so abstract that she furrows her brow as she looks at it.
Azula leans against her as they look at it together.
"What's this one?" asks Ty Lee, kissing Azula's cheek.
"It was a gift from a very celebrated artist in the Colonies. My father flaunts it but he doesn't even like it." Azula smiles to herself. "When I look at it, I see chaos. Unbridled chaos. What do you see in it?"
"Freedom. Like the tracks left when you run in fresh snow."
"I asked my father what he thought it meant once. After dismissing me for asking a useless question, he decided to tell me that his own interpretation was a secret."
"Well, your family does really love secrets."
"We do, and you happen to be my favorite one," whispers Azula.
"I wish…" Ty Lee falls out of the spell and remembers who she is speaking to. Azula. She cannot protest against Azula.
"What? Spit it out."
"I wish we didn't have to be a secret, but I'm fine with being a secret if it means I have you."
"My father would kill you if he found out. That is not an exaggeration. He would have you executed."
"Well, the danger and treason are kinda hot."
Azula laughs.
"I must agree."
"What would Mai and Zuko say if they found out about us?"
"They would ask what the fuck we're doing."
"And what would you tell them?"
"That I have chosen you as my partner, and that I will have you as mine and mine alone until the sky falls, the sea boils over and the sun turns to ash."
Ty Lee breathes a teary eyed sigh and kisses Azula on the lips.
They sink into it so deeply that they do not hear Mai and Zuko walk in until the prince clears his throat. Azula shoves Ty Lee off of her and they both spin to face their friends.
Azula has no words. She for once does not have a sturdy lie to protect her.
"You guys couldn't wait until after the Comet? I owe Mai sixty gold pieces now!"
"I want to say you both are better than this, but honestly you're not."
Azula groans.
Ty Lee weakly smiles.
Zuko shakes his head and laughs coldly.
What a fucking day.
