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Ba Sing Se was a drag.
It was just like Caldera City. Turns out, all nobility are exactly the same. Everyone was grumpy, but pretended not to be. They all wore stiff robes and stiffer expressions. They all sucked up to the king as hard as they could, just like her parents did to the Firelord back home. The king himself seemed happy, probably because he didn’t know about the war raging all around him, unaware that he was living in the eye of a century-long war. Mai knew she would be happier if she lived in his shoes. His dainty, green, gem-encrusted shoes. They were completely impractical, and probably impossible to walk in. Ty Lee couldn’t stop making fun of them after they first met him, coming up with more and more scathing remarks as the night wore on. Well, alright, maybe she wouldn’t be happier if she was the King of the Earth Kingdom.
Azula had gone off into the palace alone for some reason she didn’t deign to explain, leaving Mai and Ty Lee alone in the suite. They were applying their Kyoshi Warrior makeup for the day. They weren’t sure if the real Kyoshi Warriors wore the makeup all the time, but regardless, they needed it to cover their very clearly Fire Nation features. Azula’s golden eyes still shone through, but no one had noticed so far. Azula always said their pale skin and angular faces were the mark of purity and the height of humanity, and it was a shame they had to cover up for this job. It was only permissible because they were going undercover to benefit their nation. Mai didn’t necessarily agree with all that, but she didn’t plan on telling the princess.
All of a sudden, Ty Lee giggled, pulling Mai out of her thoughts, and away from the swirling anger she was marching towards. She looked up to find Ty Lee looking at her in the mirror, her two fingers rubbing the white paste into her cheek.
“What did that brush ever do to you?” Ty Lee asked playfully, pointing at Mai’s brush with her chin.
Mai managed to tear her eyes away from Ty Lee for a moment to take a look at her brush, where she had unthinkingly smashed it into the red paint they were putting on their lips and eyes. She held it in front of both of them, and together, they examined the bent bristles.
“It’s salvageable,” Mai huffed.
“Oh sure, just smooth it out a bit,” and then Ty Lee reached over and took the brush, her warm, calloused fingers brushing over Mai’s knuckles. It was a brief, accidental touch, but Mai still jolted, and watched Ty Lee’s fingers hold the smooth handle of the brush, and delicately maneuver the bristles back into their proper place. She moved each hair one by one, like she cared about every little detail of this brush, unimportant as it was. The Earth King had supplied them with everything they needed, even the brush, so they wouldn’t even be keeping it once Azula’s plan was finished. Mai probably could have asked for another, if she wanted. But now, she wanted to wrap this brush in a scented cloth and tuck it away in a drawer, like a pressed flower from vacation, or a letter from a lover.
Ty Lee bit her lower lip gently as she worked on Mai’s brush, her body very still as she narrowed her focus. She had finished putting her make up on, but Mai almost wished she could still see the golden tone in Ty Lee’s skin. Still, she could see the apple-like curve of Ty Lee’s cheeks, and the round jut of her brow bone. Perfect.
Mai could feel her ears burning with embarrassment, and when she caught sight of her own reflection, the side of her face she hadn’t covered yet was blushing pink. Ty Lee seemed too engrossed in the brush to notice, but Ty Lee had always been good at noticing everything, even when it seemed like she was too wrapped up in her own perfect bubble to see anything. Not many people knew that. Sucked for them.
“There,” Ty Lee said, and presented the brush pinched between her thumb and forefinger. She held it right in front of Mai’s nose, forcing her to go cross-eyed to look at the brush and its perfectly reformed tip.
Mai snatched it out of her hand, “Thank you,” as she twirled the brush around to dip it back in the paint, she added, “I’m just going to mess it up again.”
“No!” Ty Lee cried, tilted sideways to rest her head on Mai’s shoulder. Once again, Ty Lee was quick to pull away, but Mai had to battle the conflicting desire to scoot further away, or lean into Ty Lee’s touch during that brief moment of contact.
Ty Lee shook her head ruefully, “I worked so hard.”
Mai shrugged and swiped the brush through the paint, wiping the extra droplets onto the side of the dish, “You shouldn’t have.”
“Oh, sure I should have,” she looked down, wiping the paint from Mai’s brush out from under her nails, shy all of a sudden. She risked a glance at Mai’s face in the mirror, watching her apply the paint for a moment before looking back down at the smudged cloth in her hands, “Worth it.”
Mai’s heartbeat picked up in her chest, but she kept her focus on keeping the makeup smooth and evenly spread across her eyelid. Even with all Mai’s experience in applying her winged eyeliner everyday, she found that keeping the shape right was suddenly trickier than normal. Mai couldn’t understand why the Kyoshi Warriors wore such heavy make-up to fight in at all, but the red eye and lip paint was the most confusing. Why would fighters from the Earth Kingdom pair their green uniforms with such bright, Fire Nation red? It didn’t make any sense politically, and besides, it was a garish color-combo.
Of course, Ty Lee pulled it off with no trouble, even making it look stylish and purposeful. Like it was made for her. Feeling like the need to be discreet for reasons she didn’t quite understand, Mai watched Ty Lee out of the corner of her eye, her brush frozen by her face. Ty Lee had rolled up her sleeves to avoid getting any paint on them, revealing her forearms, corded with muscles that moved under her skin as she cleaned the brush in the shallow water dish. She was done with her eyes, and sure enough, she wore the tacky face paint with such confidence that it looked casual. Seamless. Beautiful. Mai’s breath caught in her throat as Ty Lee started to paint the dye over her pink lips, staining them a shiny red. She stared at her best friend, unable to turn away even with the realization of what she was doing, what she was thinking.
Ty Lee’s brush stilled on her lip, and Mai watched helplessly as a pair of grey eyes inched to the side, to look right at her. By now, Mai had twisted her head to the side, brush forgotten on the vanity, staring openly. She had been hypnotized. And now that she’d been caught, she just kept on staring, slack jawed.
Realizing that, she snapped her jaw shut and swallowed, trying to quell the buzzing of butterfly bees in her stomach, but to no avail.
It was Ty Lee’s move, they both knew it, and she set down her brush, looking away to set it carefully on the table. The red paint dripped off the end of the bristles, onto the dark green vanity. That was going to stain. But then, Ty Lee was slowly lifting her eyes again, and staring at Mai with a stormy intensity, and Mai forgot all about the vanity and whether or not they were keeping it clean.
Only Ty Lee’s bottom lip had been painted, and Mai found herself thinking, with surprising clarity, that she wanted to spread the lipstick onto Ty Lee’s upper lip for her.
Still, she didn’t look away in embarrassment, not even when her exhale came out shaky and audible, and she felt herself lean imperceptibly forward. Ty Lee must have noticed, because she too leaned forward, still slowly, like she was trying not to move the air around them. But she didn’t stop after an inch or two. She kept going. She shifted across the cushions, her face getting closer and closer to Mai’s. And when she was close enough, she rested her hand on Mai’s thigh, and the feeling of it burned through the thick fabric of the dress. Still, Ty Lee didn’t stop moving forward until her lips could almost touch Mai’s. She could almost feel the whisper of them, a phantom touch.
It was Mai’s turn. She swallowed one last time, and brought their mouths together. Even then, she didn’t stop moving forward, pressing against the other girl while she leaned into her too, bringing them closer and closer together.
It wasn’t nearly close enough. Melting at the contact, Mai opened her mouth under Ty Lee’s and she followed suit, letting out a soft sigh.
The sigh was what did it for Mai; her hand flew up to wrap around the back of Ty Lee’s neck, pulling her in, wanting to take all of her into her mouth, not even sure what that meant, but hoping she’d find out if she tried.
Ty Lee moved closer, and Mai felt her hand bunch up into the front of Mai’s dress, her fingertips digging into the cartilage of Mai’s ribs.
Gasping, Mai moved their mouths together quicker, wanting to feel all of Ty Lee’s lips and tongue that she could, anything she could reach. Ty Lee seemed just as eager, tugging her closer, opening her mouth and roughly pressing her soft nose into Mai’s cheek.
Mai thought she could have done that forever; smearing her makeup onto Ty Lee’s face and continuing to pull her closer until she could feel every part of her, and maybe not stop even then. But unfortunately, they were in Ba Sing Se, and Azula could be back any minute, and the logical part of her brain that managed to survive the kiss was desperately trying to remind her that this was wrong. It was unnatural and dirty and misguided of them, and something bad would surely happen if they continued.
So, Mai slid her hand off of Ty Lee’s neck, and twisted her head to stop the kiss.
For half a second, Ty Lee’s mouth chased hers before realized that Mai was pulling away. She blinked at her, dazed, but then she sat back on her knees, and shifted away just as slowly as she had moved in, though she had the gall to look a bit hurt.
Mai took in Ty Lee’s hair, slightly mussed and frizzy, and the pink smear of makeup on the lower half of her face. But before she had her fill of staring, even before she could shake herself and remember that she shouldn’t be staring in the first place, Ty Lee got to her feet. That was good. It was wise to spend some time away from each other and finish their routines alone.
And yet, loneliness set in as soon as Ty Lee slipped away, leaving Mai with burning cheeks and a stinging ego. Which was stupid, because she had been the one to break the kiss in the first place.
However, just as quickly as Ty Lee had left, she came back, holding a small bowl of water in one hand, and two fresh cloths in the other.
She knelt back on her cushion, setting down the bowl and holding out a cloth for Mai to take. Relief flooded her that Ty Lee still wanted to sit together, even if it was only because there was just one vanity in their suite. Gratefully, she took the cloth, her fingers brushing the calloused pads on the tips of Ty Lee’s fingers as she did so, and she tried not to gasp at the contact, even as all of her focus zeroed in on it.
As they cleaned up their faces, Mai made sure not to dunk her cloth into the water at the same time as Ty Lee. She wasn’t sure if she would even be able to touch her friend’s hand ever again. She winced at the thought, but knew it was for the best. They could never do that again, and Mai would do everything in her power to avoid it. And she knew she would have to do everything; it would take all of her willpower not to bend to the desire to touch and be touched by Ty Lee.
They had been scrubbing away at the stubborn makeup on their faces when the rattle of a turning knob and the whoosh of a well oiled door opening startled them.
In the mirror, Mai saw Azula standing in the doorway of their suite, severe and calculating as always, “Hello girls,” she said loftily.
Mai didn’t have it in her to respond, and apparently neither did Ty Lee.
Unfortunately, Azula took advantage of their silence to start talking again, “We’re going to talk with the king soon, so I suggest putting the warriors’ paint on instead of removing it.”
They both stiffened, staring at the princess in the mirror as she frowned at them.
Azula sighed, like she was being forced to explain something very simple to someone very stupid, “We have the optima of perfect Fire Nation features, without the paint we could not pass as Earth Kingdom commoners.”
Mai was too nervous to even consider rolling her eyes.
Ty Lee, luckily, rotated on the cushion, and gave Azula a weak smile, “Oh, right. Oops.” As far as excuses went, it wasn’t one, but Ty Lee’s sweet, bubbly voice would be enough to put anyone at ease. Even some tension in Mai’s shoulders eased away.
She glanced at herself in the mirror. She had fully wiped away the smear on her face, so there was no reason for Azula to be suspicious. Moving very carefully, she set her cloth down onto the vanity, and picked up her brush, still smeared with the white face paint.
In the mirror, Azula rolled her eyes, and slipped into her bedroom. Mai wasn’t a spiritual person, but in that moment, she offered a quick prayer of thanks to whatever spirit was listening. Maybe to Avatar Kyoshi. They were wearing her uniform, after all.
Ty Lee let out a shaky breath, and she too began to paint her face once again. In the mirror, her eyes flicked over to Mai’s, and they made contact.
Ty Lee was quick to offer Mai a gentle smile. It was barely there, but it was genuine, and it crinkled her eyes at their corners. Mai’s lips quirked up in response, and they kept looking at each other for a bit longer than strictly necessary before shifting to their own reflections and the thick paint between them, carefully avoiding brushing up against each other’s hands.