Mai met Ty Lee when she was 7 years old. She had been playing in the mud like any self respecting seven year old would when her father had caught her and made her go to her room and change into a clean dress and start behaving like a ‘proper lady’. On her way back outside, now wearing an even more frilly dress then before, a little girl dressed entirely in pink cartwheeled straight into her. Mai and the pink girl tumbled across the pavement making Mai scrape her knee and rip her dress.
“Oh no!” Cried the young girl, “Father’s going to be so mad.”
“Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh-“ the other seven year old repeated in panic, pulling at her braids in despair.
“I am SO sorry!” The girl started to cry, sitting down next to Mai, “my name is Ty Lee and I was just trying to practice my gymnastics! I didn’t mean-“
“It’s fine.” Interrupted Mai moodily,
“You don’t know how to sew do you?”
Ty lee shook her head in despair, “No, but I do have a bandaid!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! But it’s in my secret treehouse…” her voice dropped down to a whisper as she leaned in closer, “you won’t tell anyone will you?”
Mai shook her hair vigorously, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of being let in on a secret, “of course not!”
“Pinkie promise?” Asked Ty lee very seriously,
“Pinkie promise.” Responded Mai, just as serious, the two girls shook pinkies and Ty lee took Mai’s hand to lead her to the secret tree house.
———
“It’s around here somewhere…” said Ty lee, as Mai took in her surroundings. The secret treehouse was giant to Mai, filled with cool junk her father would never approve of.
“Awesome!” She whispered.
“Found it!” Came the other girls voice from the other side of the structure. She shuffled up to Mai a bad aid in her hand.
Ty lee very carefully peeled away the plastic and put the band aid on Mai’s bleeding knee, and then, without warning she swooped down and placed a small peck onto the injury.
“W-why did you do that?” Asked Mai, her cheeks reddening for some odd reason.
“Oh! That’s what my mom always does when me or my sisters gets hurt!” She said brightly, “it helps the healing process.”
Ty lee sounded so sure of herself, it must have been true.
———-
“Ty lee! Stop it!” Screamed Mai as the swing flew higher into the air over the small creek they’d discovered the summer before. They were nine now, their hair flying behind them, closer friends than ever.
“Come on Mai, it’s fun!”
“For you maybe!”
Ty lee giggled, “fine! Don’t come in then, I have a better idea! You can braid my hair again, we’ll go swimming later.”
Mai stumbled off the swing and Ty lee did a flip straight into her lap.
“Do your braiding magic!”
Mai laughed, “you're really good at those acrobatics you know.” She said shyly,
“Thanks!” Beamed Ty lee, “Once I'm old enough, I’m going to run away and join the circus!”
“Oh?” Said Mai, she’d heard it all before of course, but hearing Ty Lee talk about her dreams never got old.
“Yep! And you're coming too!”
“I don’t think Father would much appreciate me running away to the circus, I am not to engage in such frivolous activities.” She said dryly, concentrating on the strands of her friends hair she was brading.
“Too bad for him! He can’t stop the two of us, as long as we’re together there isn’t a thing we can’t do!” Said Ty lee confidently, “now are you done? I’m sure we can get Mr. Iroh down the street to give us some free iced tea if we ask nicely enough!”
———-
Mai was 11 when she had her first kiss. It was in the secret treehouse, a hot summer night. Her and Ty lee would sneak out at night to talk. They lay on the creaky wooden boards, their heads pressed together and whispered for hours on end.
“My parents fought again last night.” Said Mai quietly,
“What was it this time?”
“Same old argument, my dad’s being a jerk.” She said, avoiding the question slightly,
“Yeah, well fuck him!” Declared the other girl. Mai gasped,
“Ty lee! Where did you learn that? Have you been hanging around Azula?”
Ty lee giggled into her hand,
“Oh shut up, it’s true isn’t it?”
“Well yes…” Mai resigned herself,
“Just you see Mai, soon enough we’ll both get out of this dump.”
Mai smiled, “to the circus?”
“To the circus!”
The two girls stared at eachother a second, they were so close their noses were almost touching. Ty lee moved her hand up to Mai’s hair and before she knew what was happening, Tylee had leaned in and kissed her.
The kiss was short and sweet, Ty lee tasted like strawberries and the summertime, at least to Mai she did. It was a bit awkward, neither of them had either done this before and the angle was off, but it was the best thing Mai had ever done.
The kiss ended quickly, the two girls broke apart nervously and parted ways red in the face and slightly giddy. That night Mai dreamt of the summer and braiding Ty Lee’s hair.
Only a week later, without warning or notice, Ty lee, her father and all six of her sisters moved away, their mother left too, drove away in the opposite direction and left without a trace, the house was left for sale and the details left to be worked over by phone. Mai was left all alone.
———
Mai stopped thinking about Ty lee when she got to high school. A lot happened, her parents got divorced for one, she even got a boyfriend, Zuko. He was a family friend and their parents thought it suitable, they’d broken up only three months later, when Zuko had admitted to Mai that he was gay (“yeah I am too dumbass.”)
She also got much closer to Zuko's sister Azula, she was a bit unhinged but she had a good heart, she’d known Ty lee too, but they hardly ever talked about her. Mai never showed the treehouse to a soul.
Sometimes she’d think of the girl with the long braids and a dream to join the circus though. And sometimes, on days when she couldn’t stop her thoughts from getting away from her, she’d dream of summertime and strawberries and she'd remember what it was like to be truly happy.
It wasn’t until college that everything changed again.
Her parents had actually let her go to college which was a pleasant surprise, she was sure her father would marry her off to the richest bachelor he could find as soon as she came of age. She had convinced her parents separately to let her go to a college far enough away for her to stay there year round. She said it was a better school, she really just wanted to get as far away as possible.
She walked into her first class in fishnets, doc martens and loads of eyeliner that Zuko had helped her with, (just because they’d broken up didn't mean they couldn’t do each others eyeliner!)
It didn’t even take a minute for her to notice the girl sitting in the front seat, her hair done up in a singular braid, dressed entirely in pink.
“Ty lee?” She whispered, and then class started and she rushed to a seat in the back, her eyes still wide.
Mai stared at the girl all through class, she really hoped there was nothing important the first day because she was definitely screwed. Right after class ended she rushed straight up to the girl and she was sure she didn’t imagine that she smelled strawberries. Mai fell a little bit in love right then and there. She tapped the girl on the shoulder but before she could say anything the girl gasped
“Mai?” She said, okay so it was definitely Ty lee.
“Um, yeah!” Said Mai nervously, “your Ty lee right?”
Ty lee nodded enthusiastically, “Yep! Oh my god it’s been so long!” She pulled Mai into a crushing hug, “we have to go get some coffee and catch up!”
They had to get to their respective classes but they made plans to meet at the coffee shop on campus at the end of the day.
——
Mai nervously stepped into the small cafe and looked around for a girl dressed in pink. Ty lee was pretty easy to spot as she had seen Mai and was waving excitedly. She came down and sat at the table, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt.
“Mai! Oh my god it’s so great to see you again! Your aura is so-“ started Ty lee, but Mai interrupted her rambling.
“Why didn’t you tell me when you moved away?”
Ty lee was clearly taken off guard, she looked down at her hands and when she spoke again it was much quieter,
“I didn’t know I was going to move, it was very last minute.”
“But why didn’t you tell me? Why did you move?” Insisted Mai
“I- I moved because of you.”
“What?!”
“I told one of my sisters that we’d, well kissed, and my parents found out.”
“Oh.” Said Mai glumly, “I’m sorry.”
Ty lee continued,
“My parents had a huge fight about it, my mom drove off, I don’t know what happened to her, my dad decided he needed to take us all away and that we needed to go to religious school all the way out west. I wanted to tell you Mai I swear I did! But I wasn’t allowed to talk to you…”
“Oh god Ty lee! I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault I-“
“Hey!” Ty lee cut her off, “I’m the one who kissed you didn’t I? And I’m not sorry one bit, you shouldn’t be either!”
Their eyes met and they smiled at eachother shyly.
“Hey, uh, I was wondering,” Said Mai as casually as possible. “Would you like to maybe go on, like, a date sometime?”
Ty lee beamed at her, “I thought you’d never ask!”
They enjoyed the rest of the day, laughing and drinking their coffee, or in Ty Lee’s case, some very pink drink Mai had never heard of. Mai learned that Ty lee had gone to religious boarding school for almost all of high school before finally getting away, she had gone to her grandma who had taken her in but had insisted she finish her education, Ty lee was still going to join the circus though, just after college.
On the way out of the coffee shop Ty lee linked her pinkie with Mai’s, Mai looked up to see the other girl smiling wide, she smiled back.