Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender, the brainchild of Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMaritino, is (c) Nickelodeon Studios. No challenge to the copyright or misuse is intended by this fan work.

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This fic is dedicated to every dirty-minded fan who has ever contemplated the yuri-licious ramifications of Azula and her cronies.

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A Little Fanservice

It had been a late night, what with one thing and another, and to make up for it Azula let them sleep in late. She was a harsh taskmistress, but she wanted her team fresh and alert, not sluggish with fatigue.

The inn was quality, naturally—the Heir Apparent to the throne of the Fire Nation demanded nothing but the best that was to be had—and that made it easy to take advantage of the permitted lie-in. Even after waking, Ty Lee didn't move much, luxuriating with feline indolence among the silk sheets and down-filled cushions. She considered trying to fall back asleep for another half-hour or so, to partake a little more of those scrumptious dreams she had been having. All those hard muscles and cocky grins…

Mai was already awake, of course, and on her feet and drilling herself in her throwing forms. Her hands were empty, since Azula would hold her responsible for any inconvenience that arose as a result of damage to the premises. No one, not even her two best friends, wanted to be around the princess when she felt inconvenienced.

"Morning, Mai," Ty Lee mumbled around a yawn. She lay on her stomach and stretched, arching her body until she was practically kissing her own heels.

"Morning," Mai grunted in response.

"Any idea what time it is?"

"No."

"Oh, well, I don't suppose it matters much. Azula will come to get us when she wants to get moving."

There was silence for a moment, Mai moving smoothly from stance to stance, Ty Lee flexing out the minor kinks that sleep had set in her joints. A bed like that, she shouldn't have had any kinks at all; it must have been the dream that did it.

"Mai, have you ever kissed a boy?" she asked abruptly.

"No. Why do you ask?" Mai returned simply, as utterly deadpan as she always was.

"No reason. I was just dreaming about boys before I woke up, is all."

"I thought you seemed restless. Anyone in particular?"

Now, that was unusual. Mai was asking a question, which meant that she was actually taking an interest in something! Ty Lee was so startled that she almost forgot to answer.

"No. Yes. Maybe. Promise not to tell Azula?"

"Why would she care? Unless…you were dreaming about her brother?"

"No!" Ty Lee whined, throwing a pillow at Mai, who plucked it neatly out of the air and tossed it aside. "Last I checked, that was your job."

"Then who?"

"Well, they were mostly just…boys in general, I guess. Imaginary boys. But one of them was someone I've met. It was…that Water Tribe boy. The one traveling with the Avatar. I think he's cute."

"Stop that," Mai said with something that might, in some small way, have been vaguely reminiscent of a hint of an edge in her voice.

"Stop what?" Ty Lee said innocently, rising up on her hands and regarding Mai upside-down.

"You're lucky I won't tell Azula; she'd be furious if she found out you were having romantic dreams about the enemy."

"Dreams are harmless."

"Not necessarily. They show how you really feel about things, and you can't afford to have feelings for that boy."

"I don't have feelings for him; I just think he's cute, is all. You think Zuko's cute."

"Not anymore," Mai lied. "Boys are boring."

"You think everything is boring."

"It keeps me focused."

"Are you saying I'm not focused?"

"I'm saying you're in danger of getting distracted if you think of that boy as anything but an enemy and a target."

There was silence again, and this time it was a tense silence that lasted only a fraction of a second before Ty Lee launched herself without warning at Mai, knocking the other girl to the floor and pinning her with her entire body weight (which wasn't very effective, Ty Lee being a slender girl) and a few fingertips barely brushing sensitive pressure points (which was extremely effective indeed.)

Mai didn't smile—she never smiled—but she cocked an eyebrow. "Not bad."

"I care about you, Mai," Ty Lee hissed impishly, "but I bet I could still take you down in a one-on-one."

"We weren't talking about me," Mai pointed out. "Unless you've also been dreaming about kissing me."

"Would it upset you if I have been?" Ty Lee teased.

Azula walked into the room. She didn't knock, because princesses didn't have to. She took in the tableau—Ty Lee and Mai twined together on the floor, their faces mere inches apart, a pillow nearby—and her face slowly broadened in a sadistically delighted smirk.

"Oh, my," she said playfully. "Am I…interrupting something?"

Ty Lee blushed as pink as her clothing, but Mai merely shrugged. "That depends on what you consider 'something.' Ty Lee was just proving a point."

The smirk dropped. "Be ready to move out in fifteen minutes." She turned to leave the room, stopped in the doorway, and looked back over her shoulder at the other two, who hadn't moved yet. "Oh, and girls? If we happen to find the Avatar today, see if you can manage to keep your tongues off each other's nipples long enough to capture him."

Then, and only then, did Mai blush.

END