This fic was inspired by the Korean drama/comedy; 200 Pounds Beauty. It's about how a lot of Korean girls are pressured to get plastic surgery. It's actually really good and I recommend watching it. The full thing is on Youtube.

I probably won't continue this one until after I finish Swift As Karma but I had this idea in my mind and wanted to start it before I forget it.

Tylee dabs another layer of concealer onto her face. She makes a few kissy faces at the bathroom mirror. "That Sokka is kinda cute."

Mai rolls her eyes. "I can think of at least twenty hotter guys in this school."

"I said cute, not hot. And Sokka is a cutie." She caps the makeup. "Right, Azula?"

"Yeah, sure." She replies, admittedly distracted.

"You're not still thinking about Chan, are you?" TyLee asks.

"What?! No!" Azula sputters. "I stopped thinking about that ten minutes after it happened." She looks at the clock, some thirty minutes have gone by since the boy had made his comment.

Mai sniffed, "that guy has to be one of the most dull-headed jocks in this school and Sokka tied professor Long Feng's underwear to the flagpole."

TyLee bursts out laughing. "Oh! That was funny. Come on, Mai, even you thought so."

"It was mildly entertaining." Mai confesses.

"Yes I suppose it was rather humorous." Azula replies if for no other reason than to maintain the illusion that nothing else is on her mind.

The two of them can offer all the reassurance they want, but it doesn't make Chan any less correct. She hasn't particularly thought about it until his remark. But now that he has said it, it is so painfully obvious and she can think of many other minor remarks that she had missed. It had been so simple and so subtle and yet it turns in her head over and over again. Perhaps because she has had her suspicious before.

"You know that none of them are looking at you, right?" It plays back in her mind.

Now that he has brought it to her attention, she knows that it is true. When boys looked their way they weren't looking at her. They were ogling TyLee's chest or staring unblinkingly at Mai's charmingly narrow face.

And what does she have? Her sharp mind, she supposes. But her face is anything but. She has her top-of-the-class grades, but neither the boys nor the other girls really look at that. No, they look for other things. Physical attributes.

It isn't anything to to Azula, the notion that physical attributes have just as much weight as intelligence and skill; perhaps even more. One look is all it takes for a person to write another off. It is why she invests a healthy portion of her morning into styling her hair and makeup and finding flattering attire.

She can do all of this but she can't fix the main problem. The problem Ozai has pointed out time and time again before proposing that he had a quick fix.

Suddenly, it seems to make sense, why Mai has had two boyfriends and TyLee has had several. Why the two of them seem to turn so many heads. And why Azula herself has been single since dating became a topic of discussion. But, up until this startling epiphany, she had never paid it any mind.

"Oh! Oh no, we're gonna be late!"

"It's only lunch, TyLee." Azula says, thankful for the distraction. "They don't make much of a fuss over being late to lunch."

.oOo.

Azula had taken a very long and scrutinizing look in the mirror before coming to an ultimate decision.

She is going to go through with it.

She has been staring at herself for at least fifteen minutes, gathering a list of everything unsavory about what she is seeing. Twenty minutes, and now she sees what they were talking about.

She touches her her cheeks, they are too soft. Too round. Her chin and nose are much the same. Perhaps the only thing that she has going for her are her narrower eyes. But in the end they don't make enough of a difference; she still has too much of a baby face, especially when walking alongside Mai.

She doesn't know where it has come from; her father and Zuko have prominent cheekbones and sharp chins. Her mother has a prominent jawline and a more pointed nose. She doesn't understand why she has such unflatteringly delicate features.

Her fingers move from her nose to her lips, the one feature she would mind having some soft, fullness is thin and unremarkable.

At one point she almost believed that she looked alright, plain, but not unpleasant. These days she isn't so sure. Even if she were, alright isn't good enough. She needs to look perfect; flawless skin, a slender body, and an attractive face will make the difference between she and the other students on the high honor roll.

Azula wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. Crying isn't going to fix anything. But her father's solution will. The man has probably been waiting for her to come to the same realization that everyone else has and ask him to make the appointment.

She takes a moment to compose herself before wandering down the hall. She drags the walk out for as long as she can and waits a few moments more before lightly knocking her knuckles against his office door.

Ozai unlatches the door and motions for her to sit; more business-like than fatherly. "This better be important, I have things to do."

"I've decided that I will get the surgery." She wants to sound firm and mature but her voice comes out very softly, almost shakily.

Ozai smiles, likely relieved that he will no longer have to worry about having an ugly daughter. She tries to return the smile, knowing that he only wants what is best for her. She feels herself tearing up again. A single tear rolls down her cheek.

"What are you crying for?" He reaches over the desk to wipe her tear away. "You're going to be beautiful."