Work Text:
Azula scowled into her red cup, checking her phone for notifications for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Mai and Ty Lee had disappeared into thin air after an impromptu circus performance. Azula always teased Mai about her possessiveness, suggesting that they lay off the circus tricks if it was just going to make Mai mad. She and Mai were too similar, and she could tell that Mai enjoyed bursting the bubble of any male admirer by claiming Ty Lee far too publicly.
Usually she took pleasure in Mai’s confused mix of pain and satisfaction, but not when it resulted in her skulking in a dark corner. Azula never felt out of place, but she could definitely acknowledge that something about the scene around her wasn’t exactly conducive to making lots of friends. The low lighting and loud music made it impossible for any of her sarcasm to land, and the few people she’d attempted speaking to seemed somewhat intimidated by her brash words.
She surveyed the room in front of her, from the table covered in various dips and biscuits to the filthy carpet that acted as a dancefloor. Everyone was excited, movements exaggerated as they celebrated the new year. A year ago, Azula would have started hyperventilating from the overstimulation even from the driveway. She was secretly extremely pleased that she could be there, enjoying a typical teenage scene, even if she was pretending to be annoyed at her friends for ditching her.
A familiar flash of light blue caught her eye and she almost blushed as she hunched over, avoiding Katara's gaze. She positively glittered under the low lights, hair larger than life as she swayed to the music. Azula had been harboring an unfortunate and inconvenient crush on Katara for at least a year. Ever since she’d recovered and started attending the same highschool, she found herself overthinking every interaction between them. It only intensified when Katara and Aang, the supposed dream couple, broke up and Katara came out as a lesbian.
They hadn’t been friends, not at first. Azula was new to the school and even newer to friendship and was aggressively jealous of everyone in Katara’s immediate friend group. Once Ty Lee and Mai, two childhood friends, took Azula under their wing, she’d had the requisite lesbian crisis thanks to their loud and inescapable reading of the lesbian masterdoc every lunch.
Having discovered that she didn’t want to be Katara, she just wanted to be with her, Azula was embarrassed to say that she’d taken every opportunity to make a fool of herself in the past year. She was uncharacteristically shy, yet quick to a temper in her irritability. They’d had many furious debates, Azula acting deliberately obtuse just to keep Katara’s attention on her.
It didn’t help that she had a tendency to… firebend, somewhat involuntarily, around Katara. Most people thought firebending came from anger, contributing to Azula’s reputation as intimidating, but after 6 months in hospital she’d worked through enough of her trauma to draw from a deeper well.
It just so happened that well was her all-consuming crush on Katara. She was truly infatuated and it was humiliating. Her brother, her friends, hell, even some of the teachers smiled knowingly at her when she got caught staring or ‘pigtail pulling’.
Azula came back to earth from a particularly nice dream about Katara braiding her hair when she realised she was making direct eye contact with her from across the room. Startled, she chugged the rest of her drink in an attempt to hide the slight blush across her cheeks.
‘Happy new year, Azula!’ Katara said cheerfully, smirking down at Azula. Did she mention Katara had grown and now towered over Azula? It made her feel small, but she didn’t mind it. Liked it, in fact.
‘Happy new year,’ she mumbled, struggling to maintain eye contact in the face of Katara’s radiance.
‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here!’ Katara exclaims. Azula opens her mouth to reply with something unnecessarily harsh, but Katara interrupts. ‘I’m really glad you came, though.’
This confused Azula. She wasn’t exactly subtle about her crush, but she thought Katara would hate her after all the dumb arguments they’d had over the year. ‘I’m sure you were looking forward to another debate. What will it be this time? Something about animal rights, I hope.’ Azula drawled, trying desperately to play it cool.
‘I’ll have you know that animal cruelty is a major problem in the beauty industry, impacting 10 million animals each year in the Earth Kingdom.’ Katara laughs, her blue eyes intense as she looks at Azula.
‘Fascinating. I’ll have to make sure my eyeliner hasn’t been used on rabaroos.’ Azula lifted her cup to her mouth for a sip before remembering she’d emptied it before. ‘I’m getting another drink, do you want any?’
‘Just water for me.’ Katara passes over her cup with a smile. Azula exhales as she walks to the fridge, filling their cups as she tries to will away the blush rising on her cheeks.
She returns and hands Katara her cup silently. ‘Any new years resolutions?’ Katara asks, taking a sip of water.
‘Oh, the usual. Kiss more girls, take my meds on time…’ Azula trails off as she looks down. ‘How about you?’
‘Pretty much the same.’ Katara smiles. ‘I didn’t know you liked girls! It’s great.’
‘I hang out with Ty Lee and Mai, why wouldn’t I be gay?’ She huffs, smiling a little at the unexpectedly enthusiastic reaction.
‘You’ve got a point there. I don’t know how Mai stands all these guys drooling over Ty Lee. I’d just take them all out.’ Katara says.
‘She’s so possessive, it’s hilarious. I didn’t really have you pegged as the jealous type, though.’ Azula muses, leaning against the wall and facing the room as Katara faces her side.
‘I guess you just don’t know me that well.’ Katara says ambiguously, smirking.
Before Azula can think of a witty reply, someone starts counting down. She’d seriously lost track of time talking to Katara, and now she was panicking. Should she find Ty Lee and Mai? Surely not, she didn’t need to see them making out again. Once was enough. Should she stay here? And face the crushing rejection of Katara turning away from her when the clock struck twelve?
She made to move, but Katara pinned her shoulder to the wall.
‘Five!’ the crowd cheered, Azula’s heart beating out her chest. ‘Four!’ Azula was stupefied, unable to move under Katara’s gaze. ‘Three!’ Katara was not leaning in, it must be a trick of the light. ‘Two!’ Azula pinched herself on the arm. ‘One!’
‘Happy new year, Azula’ Katara whispered before kissing her. Azula's heart soared and she reciprocated generously.
After a few moments, they broke apart, both beaming from ear to ear. 'Looks like I'll be sticking to my resolutions for once.' Azula says giddily before leaning back in.