better than the mirror

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/47795794.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/F
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Relationship: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Characters: Mai (Avatar), Ty Lee (Avatar)
Additional Tags: Artist Ty Lee, Tattoo Artist Ty Lee, Drawing, Figure Drawing, Fluff,
Hurt/Comfort, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nicknames, as a form of affection,
Kisses, Partial Nudity, Nonsexual Nudity
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-06-11 Words: 2,157 Chapters: 1/1
 better than the mirror
by upquarkdownquark

Summary

Mai and Ty Lee are getting ready to do a usual figure drawing session with Mai as Ty Lee's
model, before Ty Lee breaks down and reveals an issue at work that day.

Notes

Content warning for partial nudity as part of art. Enjoy!

See the end of the work for more notes

"Are you ready, moonbun?" Ty Lee called through their bedroom door, to her girlfriend on
the other side.

"Yeah." Mai opened the door, holding a sheet around her body loosely. "Living room?"

"Yep!" Ty Lee stepped aside to let Mai out of the door first, into the communal space. The
blinds were all drawn, to keep from flashing random strangers, but rotated just so to let
enough light in, the beams dancing across the floor lightly in a small dance. There was an
area cleared in the middle of the room, and Mai went over to stand in the middle, drawing an
imaginary circle around her.

Ty Lee moved over to a rolling chair set against one side of the room, sketchbook in one hand
and a pencil case in the other. She could feel her hands shaking with anticipation, as she
opened her sketchbook, flipping to a new page, and pulled out some of the lighter drawing
pencils she owned, before looking up.

"Whenever you're ready!" Mai nodded in confirmation, their ritual beginning. With several
light swoosh, swoosh es of the fabric, the sheet she was holding now pulled away. Holding it
out with a hand, she dropped it onto the floor without any grace, the sheet crumpling into a
pile by her bare feet, just outside of her circle.

Ty Lee hummed slightly, drawing a couple of warm up circles and mini stick figures in the
corner as Mai moved herself into the first position she decided on. Ty Lee, being the artist
here, had long since gotten used to the idea of nudity as a part of art, it was just a part of life
and something beautiful to be replicated and recreated. Mai on the other hand, despite doing
this for a little while now, was still not always completely comfortable with the idea, even if
she was willing. She loved the drawings that her girlfriend produced.

They made her look better than any mirror ever would.

But that line of reasoning is still why Mai was wearing some simple but soft red lingerie
today, the edges lined with lace and the side panels mesh. It provided enough coverage to be
comfortable, and enjoy their time together.

Face deepening from the slight goofy smile she was wearing a second ago into something
more serious, more tamed, more practiced in the way a martial artist practices their craft, she
leaned into the first pose, at first her leg moving slightly, to the side and out, foot ever so
gently pointed. The knee ever so slightly bent, almost as if she were a doll, but also almost as
if she were sweeping it from in front of her to the back, in one long move. With her right leg
set, she made sure her left leg was fully in position, already so from it being the weight
bearing leg. Foot pointed forward, knee not locked in place, hips leading into the legs.

Trying to make sure that her midsection wasn’t at a weird angle, she leaned forward just a bit,
eyes flickering up to Ty Lee. Expecting to see that concentrated smile Mai had known to love
and adore, pressing kiss after kiss to those tight lips and those furrowed eyebrows. She would
be able to kiss those lips again tonight, to make her giggle and play with her hair and put red
lip stains all over her neck, before she was greeted in return with equal energy. But that’s not
what she saw, instead she saw the recognizable face of worry and overthinking. Breaking the
facade for just a second would be fine.

Mai smiled warmly, wiggling her fingers just so at Ty Lee. Ty Lee held up her sketchbook to
her face, hiding the redness before peering over the top, and laughing a bit. Her shoulders
also loosened up, resettling into the chair, as Mai pulled the front sections of her hair over her
shoulders to cascade down in front. Letting her head fall into place, angled a bit down and to
the side, she finally moved her arms into place, one somewhat in front of her, wide like a
dancer would. The other was floating behind, out, like a giant curve. Knowing next to
nothing about posing, shapes, all of the other stuff Ty Lee talked about on a daily basis, all
Mai could do was just hope that it was something good.

“That’s perfect!” Something in her little heart swelled, and burst open, washing everything in
a wave of love. There were some times where Mai felt like Ty Lee knew her like no other,
and this was one of those times.

Her job was done now, all she had to do was sit and wait for Ty Lee to be done sketching. If
she was lucky, she would’ve given herself a way to look at her face, watch the concentration
as she drew. She could barely see out of her peripheral this time, but upon first glance she
noticed Ty Lee chewing on her pencil. A habit from long before they ever met, the chewing
meant she was likely worrying about something. Hmm. She should probably ask about that.

“Hey, my rose,” she started, speaking quietly but loud enough to hear. There wasn’t much
going on in the background other than maybe a fan in the neighbors upstairs’ apartment, but
no loud noises were obstructing their speech so far.

“Yeah?” Absentmindedly Ty Lee responded, the one pencil hanging out of her mouth as a
way to hold it now, the other fiercely scribbling something in, as she looked back and forth
between her model and her drawing.

“Are you doing alright?” You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”

A pause, filled with the scratching of graphite on paper.

“Yeah… yeah. I’m fine. Busy day, you know.” Oof, Mai could feel the exhaustion that
statement carried.

A few more minutes passed, and Ty Lee started reaching for other pencils, obviously
rendering a bit more in the shadows now. Mai’s mind wandered, wondering what these
sketches were going to look like. She couldn’t be sure, but she knew it was likely to be great.

“Ok, you can move now. Next pose?” Mai stood straight up, allowing herself to move freely.
Swinging her arms around her a bit as she turned, trying to find the next pose, it came to her,
her back facing Ty Lee.

“Oh that’s good! Do something with your back facing me, but you’re looking over your
shoulder?” The request was simple enough, so Mai followed the instructions. She pulled her
hip up as well, putting her foot onto the ball instead of flat, and pulled her shoulder up a bit as
well, reaching back to pull half of her hair to the front with a small swsh swsh. One hand in
front and one hand by her side, tending backwards, she stopped, holding the pose, waiting for
approval. Ty Lee never actually said anything, just the sound of scratchy paper soothing
Mai’s anxieties a bit. First came the elongated up and down noise, then several larger and
longer ones. After that, they tended to get gradually shorter and shorter, and a bit more
varied. Ty Lee had tried to explain it once, when she asked what the noises meant, but all of
the words went over her head as soon as Ty Lee started talking, so she just smiled and nodded
the entire time, taking in the sound of her sweet sweet voice. It felt like honey, dripping
down, with the sugar of melon infused.

This time, it was different though. The noises were getting more and more sporadic, more
and more as pauses got longer. Mai could not see much, even less so than the last pose, so she
waited before breaking the pose and turning back around, to find her girlfriends head hanging
down, eyes distant but starting to brim with tears.
Pose and circle abandoned, Mai walked forward briskly, covering the small distance in no
time. One hand immediately went onto her upper back, softly rubbing the shoulder, and the
other cupped her cheek.

“Babe. What’s wrong?” Mai might not be the best at empathy, but fuck, she just wanted to
help her girlfriend.

“I,” A deep, shuddering breath in. “A client today…”

“Rosebud. It’s ok, you’re home. You aren’t at work. Take a deep breath, try to relax. Here, sit
up, that’ll help.” Resting her hands on Ty Lee’s shoulders, she pushed her up, back against
the back of her chair. Ty Lee took another breath, less shuddery than the last one. Progress.

“That’s good. Keep breathing, in and out.” Mai demonstrated, tapping out a steady rhythm
with a finger. One that was familiar to the both of them. Ty Lee, understanding, quickly
followed, After a couple of rounds, Mai nodded.

“Ok, good. Now, what’s the problem?” Ty Lee frowned a bit, closing her eyes to steel herself
first before she spoke.

“There’s a client that I got stuck with at work today who’s really difficult. She came in for a
consultation a bit ago, and she had this terrible idea that included a lot of circles, fine lines,
everything, on her ribs too. We tried to come up with a couple of sketches then, but she was
nitpicking everything and wasn’t pleased with any of it. This is also supposed to be her first
tattoo, and brushed us off when we said that wasn’t a good idea. Anyway, she came back
today to talk about designs some more because she wasn’t satisfied with anything we gave
her, and we had like, five designs ready to go and a couple more that could be quickly edited,
but she just kept nitpicking!

“She was also insulting our skills at every chance possible, And it was me and my senior
artist too. We did report her to our boss, and he kicked her out, but I can’t stop thinking about
her comments…” Ty Lee finally trailed off, her rant over.
“What an asshole,” Mai commented, without thinking about it first. She only realized she
said it out loud, once Ty Lee started laughing.

“What did she say to you guys though?” Mai’s voice was getting darker, a sign that she was
getting pissed.

“Well, I think it was mainly that my art was too busy, too flat and line based at times, and my
style is not that specific or solidified in my work.” Ty Lee counted off the insults on her
fingers, looking around, staring into space as she remembered. “Yeah, that was it.”

Yeah, sure. Mai didn’t know a lot about art. Did Ty Lee know that? Definitely. Was she going
to say that now, though? Definitely not.”

“Sounds like she just hates your style. Also, you’re a fucking tattoo artist, you’re supposed to
be able to cater to different groups of people. Of course you change your style from piece to
piece.” She could say she understood that much, though.

Ty Lee laughed, wet with tears still.

“She didn’t understand the assignment!”

“But your boss did,” Mai replied, a small smile on her face. “She got thrown out, right? So
that means that she can’t come back?”

“Most likely.” Ty Lee didn’t elaborate.

“Good.” Mai let her hands snake down from Ty Lee’s shoulders to around her waist, sitting
on her back. “May I?” Ty Lee’s smile and nod was more than she needed.

Standing up, she picked her girlfriend up, pencils and sketchbook abandoned, and headed
back to their bedroom. Once there, Ty Lee was deposited softly onto the bed, and Mai sat
down right next to her once she acquired a hair tie and messily tied up her hair into a bun.
Both grinning widely, they aggressively threw their arms around the other person, falling
back onto the bed, as they took turns lazily pressing kisses into each other’s neck and face.

At one point, Mai made Ty Lee giggle by kissing up her neck, right to her ear, and playfully
nipping the side of it with her teeth. Unable to stay serious, she fell back again, arms still
draped over the other, letting out a laugh as well.

Not seeing a reason to move, they laid like this for a couple of minutes, even until their cat
walked in, announcing his presence with a soft meow. He jumped up right onto the bed,
walking around their hair, before settling into a circle on Ty Lee’s chest, and dozing off to
sleep, right on top of Mai’s wrist.

“Well, I suppose we’ll be stuck like this for a bit!” Ty Lee, ever the optimist, seemed to be
happy about the arrangement.

“What are we going to do in the meantime?” Mai questioned.

“I say sleep!” Smiling, Mai just lightly kissed Ty Lee’s cheek again, before snuggling up
right next to her, settling in for a good late day nap.
End Notes

Wasn't sure if I wanted to post this or not, so let me know if you liked it!

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