tchiblocked·:
𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐛 𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞 and she’s scared to open her mouth in case they escape and she gives herself away. Not even white face paint can hide the colour spreading from her cheeks. It’s as though time has come to a still and Ty Lee can make head nor tail of where they are right now. The walls are foreign and she stares at Mai as if they’ve never met. In a way they hadn’t , not like this. Had everything changed now that she knew 𝙼𝚊𝚒 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 and not fire flakes ? It’s silly , she knows , but she’s thought about it more times than she’ll care to admit.
❝ Mai , ❞ She says her name softly , as if she’s worried she’ll forget what she felt like if she moves too much. With a shaky laugh she stumbles backwards a step , spiralling her arms dramatically as if to maintain her balance. Anyone who knew the acrobat knew that the last thing she’d need was help staying on her toes , but anything for a distraction. ❝ So , um , ❞ Ty Lee looks everywhere except at her friend , tongue tied and stomach in knots. She clumsily gestures to the warrior armour on her body , giggle sounding a little more natural as she composed herself. ❝ Is this a conflict of interest ? ❞
--- mai will never admit it, but she hates the feeling of ty lee pulling away. there's a beat as mai's eyes focus on her best friend. had everything changed now? it still felt the same to mai. ❝ no, because i'd already have dropped everything for you, ❞ mai says dryly. she sounds so calm, but on the inside, she's wondering how this might go wrong. will ty lee see ( much like zuko had ) that she's awful with feelings? that she doesn't know how to express most emotions. maybe ty lee already knew all of that. but there's a little pause before mai asks: ❝ --- what did that mean to you? i mean... do you like me like that, ty lee? ❞
