𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦. 𝗍𝗒𝗓𝗎𝗅𝖺

frenemies

  zuko woke up to the sound of scratching. he slowly sat upright, trying not to wake mai. the fire lord gave a sigh of relief as he spotted his messenger hawk standing on the window sill. he stood up and walked over to the bird.

  he opened the case and pulled out a piece of parchment. zuko went to his desk and sat down uncomfortably, he unrolled the parchment and started reading.

  zuko,
  yes, my birthday has definitely come and gone sooner than i expected, my work with the other kyoshi warriors has been rough. i'm on my way to ember island as you read this letter.
  but i'm not sure i will attend her party. i understand that she's stable now but, she went a little bit overboard with mai. she'll hate me for what i did at the boiling rock. i don't even think she can bare looking at me, but i will bring her a present. to say sorry for everything.
  i'll try to talk with her and i'll try my best to attend her birthday! it better be more extravagant than my cozy one with suki, for sure! anyway, i'm glad to hear from you.
  suki is overjoyed about coming to ember island, she misses sokka more than i miss mai! we'll see you all soon.
  with love,
  ty lee.

  by the time zuko finished reading the letter, he had an ear-to-ear grin on his face. this would be it. the start to fixing a broken friendship. he heard mai sit up, zuko turned around, with a big smile on his face. mai looked at him while rubbing her eyes. she squinted at zuko, she didn't believe this was her boyfriend and the fire lord.

  "uhm...zuko? why're you smiling like that? it's creepy, quit it," mai rolled her eyes as zuko kept smiling.

  "what happened? aang fell down a mountain? why're you so happy?"

  zuko chuckled and crossed his legs.

  "two words. ty lee."

  mai continued looking for clothes to wear for the day, she smiled slightly and sighed.

  "i knew one day ty lee would steal you away from me, didn't know it would happen so suddenly in the morning."

  zuko rolled his eyes and stood up, he hugged mai and kissed her cheek gently.

  "don't be like that. i got a letter back from her, she said she'll come. she said that she might try and fix her friendship with azula, but she sounded quite doubtful, to be honest."

  "i'm sure ty lee will succeed. she's ty lee after all."

  zuko smiled and changed into his everyday clothes, he knew what mai meant too well.

  "true... let's just see how the next few days go."

  knock knock

  katara and aang were hugging, katara on aang's lap with his arms wrapped around her waist. sokka imitated them and sniggered quietly, he watched and laughed loudly as toph stuck her tongue out and pretended to throw up. toph immediately straightened up, she had heard the knocks.

  "suki and the flexy girl are back!" toph shouted with a big smile on her face. katara stood up and opened the door slowly, she smiled and hugged suki. she sighed and looked at the second girl, ty lee didn't change much.

  ty lee was slightly taller, she was about 5,5" now, her long brown hair wasn't in the usual braid. it was in a half-up, half-down sort of style. it suited her. katara smiled and hugged ty lee too. sokka jumped up and hugged suki tightly, he glanced at ty lee and smiled.

  "god, i missed you guys," suki's voice was filled with excitement.

  "hi everybody!" ty lee said with a smile on her face.

  toph came up to ty lee and held out her hand. ty lee grinned, she recited her and toph's secret handshake.

  "yes! you still know it!" toph bounced up and down, she smiled wholesomely as she looked up at the taller girl.

  mai and zuko heard a lot of excited voices downstairs, they walked into the main room and smiled. ty lee had arrived already, zuko was surprised how quick this girl was. mai ran to the brown-haired girl, she pulled her into a tight embrace.

  "woah! great to see you too, mai," ty lee giggled and hugged the tall girl back, "is... she upstairs?"

   zuko nodded and pointed at the stairs.

  ty lee sighed and thanked the fire lord. she started climbing up the stairs until she heard a loud bang, a slam of a door. she took a deep breath and entered azula's room.

  "did anyone ever tell you that it's rude to enter a person's room without knocking?" azula's voice was cold and bitter, she almost spat the words at ty lee.

  ty lee frowned and stayed where she was, she noticed azula had changed slightly. azula's back was turned, she didn't want to look at the other girl but ty lee could see that azula's hair was cut short. the hair of fire nation royals was sacred, and was hardly ever meant to be cut. it was basically their honour. seeing the haircut made ty lee wince a little. azula was taller than ty lee. standing at 5,7".

  "hey... 'zula, great to see y—"

  "cut the act, and don't call me that. you have no right to act like we're still friends after what you did. and what's with the new hairstyle? trying to attract even more idiots?" azula snapped back at ty lee before the poor girl could finish her sentence.

  "leave my appearance alone! i can do whatever i want with my hair. and you were going to kill mai, i couldn't just stand there and watch you kill one of my best friends!" ty lee clenched her fists and shouted back.

  "...you chiblocked me."

  "it was the only way to stop you."

  "you chiblocked me."

  ty lee made a face, why did azula keep repeating the same sentence?

  "...i always thought your chiblocks were for enemies. yet you chiblocked me, which makes me your enemy, right? what are we? friends? or enemies?"

  before ty lee could answer, azula clamped her hand over ty lee's mouth, she pushed ty lee backwards until the girl's back hit the wall.

  "you can't make up for what you did. i despise you. got it?"

  the acrobat's eyes started tearing up. azula's other hand was squeezing her arm tightly, the firebender's palms were starting to heat up. the gymnast nodded as small tears rolled over her cheeks. azula scoffed and pushed ty lee to the side, she started heading for the door until she stopped and turned around.

  "i don't know what i saw in you," azula rasped. and with that said, she left the room, slamming the door hard. ty lee shook her head and sighed, she should have expected such rash behaviour. she watched azula through the window, as the firebender walked out of the house, and towards the steep hills in the east.