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Every part of Azula was a weapon. She was a fiery force, unpredictable for where she would launch an attack from. Her martial arts training and hand to hand combat just as flawless. Her words could cut just as deep if not deeper than a knife and her mind was just as dangerous. And even her nails were as sharp as claws of a wild, untamable beast.
So how was it that she found herself sitting cross-legged on her bed, with Ty Lee filing down her nails? It all started when she tried to hold Ty Lee's hand while they were walking around town. It was a small town and they just stopped to get some supplies, nothing special.
Yet Azula ended up getting dragged from vendor to vendor, shop to shop, by her energetic friend who she had a hard time saying no to, for some reason.
"Ty Lee how many more stores must we go into before you're satisfied? We already have everything we came here for. Now we are just wasting precious time. What is it that you're looking for anyway?" Azula looked and sounded bored as Ty Lee skipped from one end of the trinket shop to the other. She lost count of how many they’ve been to.
"Nothing! But that's the beauty of it, Azula. It means whatever I find will be all the more special. Like... oh, this bracelet over here! Isn't it pretty?" It was almost like she picked one at random. It also wasn't anything special, it wasn't even expensive or looked in any way valuable.
"Nice eye, young lady, that is one of our most beautiful ones." Azula rolled her eyes at the merchant's attempt to peddle the necklace. He probably said that about everything he had for sale.
And Azula really didn't want to spend any more time on this nonsense. "Ty Lee, if you like that one I will buy it for you. I will buy you this entire shop if we can just leave already."
"Aww, you'd do that for me? How sweet!"
"You have a very nice girlfriend there, young lady." The old man was smiling from ear to ear and it seemed a lot more genuine than when he was trying to sell the bracelet.
"Oh, no, we-"
"Are leaving." Azula interrupted, grabbing Ty Lee by the wrist with one hand and throwing more than enough money at the old man with the other. She heard Ty Lee groan and protest as she dragged her out. "No, Ty Lee we cannot stop anywhere else. We wasted enough time as it is."
"No, Azula, you... your grip, your nails." Azula stopped abruptly and only Ty Lee's nimbleness kept her from colliding. The tightness around her wrist let up slowly. "Sorry if I bored you. I didn't mean to."
"As long as you don't do it again. I trust your little trinket will satisfy your shopping craves for a while." Azula clasped her hands behind her back, hands clenching and unclenching. "Let's hurry along. Mai is surely wondering where we are."
Mai was indeed wondering where they were but she wasn't exactly worried. She had no reason to be because only an idiot would try to harm her friends. "Took you guys long enough. Did you end up buying the whole town?" She looked up from the book she was reading on the couch, the usual unimpressed expression on her face. Briefly she did look at Azula and Ty Lee's hands, once again locked together. Neither knew at what point during their walk it happened.
One would have to be both blind and stupid not to pick up on the growing attraction and tension between them and Mai was neither of those things. However, she also didn't want to be on the receiving end of Azula's wrath and denial. She already had to listen to Ty Lee sigh lovingly as she talked about the Fire Nation Princess and then listen to Azula as she talked about the things that seemingly annoyed her about Ty Lee but it sounded more like she was annoyed at herself for liking those things.
"Ty Lee couldn't decide what she wanted so we ended up staying a bit longer than we planned. I bought her a bracelet in order to make her leave with me." Ty Lee showcased it to Mai, a beaming smile on her face never dropping. It was unheard of for Azula to do anything nice for anyone except for her friends and even then they were forbidden from talking about it. She had a reputation to keep, face to save. "In exchange, Ty Lee I require a favor from you."
"Of course, Azula! Anything for you!" Like an eager puppy Ty Lee waited for Azula's request, eyes gleaming. If the girl had a tail it would be wagging uncontrollably.
And that is how she ended up getting her nailed filed shorter.
"I'm surprised you're asking me for this. You have such pretty nails, seems like a shame to get rid of them. N-Not that I don't think you'll look just as pretty with short nails! If you want I'll even paint them for you! I have this wonderful shade of pink that would look amazing on you!" Ty Lee carefully held Azula's hand in hers, not because she thought she needed to be gentle, more because she didn't want to mess this up. It wasn't that often that they spent this much quality time together outside of hunting down Zuko or the Avatar.
"I did not grow my nails because I wanted to be pretty. I grew them out because they served a purpose on the battlefield. However it has come to my attention that they might be impractical now that I'm spending more time with you. It... was not my attention to harm you earlier. If it was I would have done far worse." No matter what gentleness she showed she had to undercut it with an equal, if not greater, display of dominance. A good balance of attentiveness and fear. Perfect control.
"You didn't mean it, so I forgive you. Plus it gave us an excuse to spend more time together. This is nice." Ty Lee tried to remember the last time she'd done something like this, not just with Azula, with anyone. It had been a while.
Azula inspected her nails as she offered the other to Ty Lee. "You haven't done a terrible job. This reminds me of the sleepovers we had when we were kids." When they were kids? Ty Lee frowned because they weren’t adults, sure they were older, years passed since they've seen each other but they were still kids. Clearly Azula refused to think of herself as such. Perhaps she never had the luxury of that in the first place. Ironic that something would be denied to her, the Princess of the Fire Nation.
"Those were fun. We'd stay up for hours, just you, me and Mai. I had a few sleepovers with the girls from the circus." Azula grabbed her by the forearm, the still unfilled nails digging into her skin. She did it again. And why? Because Ty Lee had friends that weren't her? They were probably no fun anyways. "Don't worry, I like our sleepovers better."
Azula hummed as she felt herself relax once more. She didn't scratch Ty Lee this time but she could have. It was unsettling, how easily she lost control of herself around her friend. No one else got to her like this.
"I didn't have any sleepovers since you and Mai left. This... yes, it's nice." She didn't want to sound too eager but the thought of doing this again appealed to her. Specifically spending time with Ty Lee more. That part excited her the most.
Ty Lee finally finished the nail makeover and with a big grin took Azula's hands in her own. "Let me see my handy work." Like she needed to inspect that closely. Azula would have rolled her eyes if Ty Lee didn't bring her hands to her lips and kissed her knuckles. "Pretty, just like I said."
It shouldn't matter if Ty Lee found her pretty, it shouldn't matter that her voice was so sweet when she said it, it shouldn't matter that her touch was so gentle, and it shouldn't matter that she looked at Azula like she was the only other person in the world right now. None of that should matter because Azula wasn't weak enough to be swayed by matters of the heart. "I think you are too." She faltered.
When Ty Lee leaned closer and caressed her face with her hands Azula should have pushed her away. When she asked if she could kiss her she should have said no, perhaps laughed at her for even suggesting such a thing. When she did kiss her she should have bitten her to make her pull back.
Should have, should have, should have. But she did none of those things.
Instead she kissed her back as gently as Azula was capable of. She didn't know how to kiss, she had zero experience and didn't want to let it show. If Ty Lee did notice Azula knew she wouldn't say.
"Is this also something you did on your little circus sleepovers?" For once there was no cutting intent behind Azula's words, only teasing as she eyed the way her lipstick now stained Ty Lee's lips.
"Would you kill me if I said that I sometimes did?" As if to placate her Ty Lee settled into Azula's lap, but not with her full weight as she figured that trapping Azula under her might not be that good of an idea.
"Don't be ridiculous, Ty Lee. I would track down the people you've kissed and kill them." She was in such a good mood right now that she laughed when Ty Lee shoved her back.
"You're terrible sometimes!" That also might have not been a joke, Azula rarely joked about her threats.
"How flattering. There's no need to flirt with me, I've already kissed you and bought you a gift." From this position Azula stretched her arms high above her to take a look at her nails. It was odd, seeing them so short after all these years. "Good enough. I will expect this again when my nails get sharper."
"Depends. Will I get a kiss for every nail?" She was quite literally playing with fire. Azula had to give it to her at least, not many people dared to be this casual with her. They'd be dead if they tried.
"You drive a hard bargain. But I think I can arrange that easily." And she won't ask for anything more. Happiness like this wasn't long lasting, she was a warrior, a soldier. Her priorities were elsewhere, this was just... a fun pastime. When she's Fire Lord, then she might think about a more permeant relationship.