Takes place pre-canon.
Main characters: Ozai, Azula
Other characters: Ursa
Pairing(s): Minor Ozai/Ursa
Prince Ozai had had a long day.
Long and stressful, between dealing with his wife's nagging and other annoyances. Some nerve she had, after what she'd pulled last night. All he wanted was a little attention and the frigid bitch couldn't even give him that.
"Please just leave me alone, Ozai," she huffed, turning over onto her side, away from him.
He couldn't bring himself to keep trying. And so he'd gone to bed without even so much as a kiss.
Ozai had stopped expecting anything from Ursa in the way of the respect and admiration a wife should have for her husband, or so he thought. Even he couldn't deny that up until that point, a part of him had always wanted to believe she'd come around... or at the very least, that she didn't completely despise him. But the way she looked at him, like he was an insect, the way her voice had utterly dripped with disgust and contempt.
Four years of marriage and two children, and this is what it brought him?
Trying to push those thoughts away, Ozai approached the courtyard, where he could hear Azula and Zuko playing. He liked watching them play, sometimes. Never joining in their games though, only watching from afar. Lamenting the child he himself had once been, the boy who'd never had a playmate or even a friend. Only his books.
The books were never enough.
When the children caught sight of him though, something happened that caught him completely off guard.
"Dada!" exclaimed little Azula, not even two years old.
Then she was running right up to him, hugging onto his leg.
And in that moment, Ozai finally realized what it was to be loved by someone.
Smiling, he patted Azula's head and she only held on tighter. For a second, he even allowed himself to wonder if he loved her, too. Maybe he did. He didn't know.
What he did know, though, was that this perfect little girl he'd made was clutching at his very heart and he didn't want the feeling to stop.
