(no subject)

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

When; March 15
Rating; PG?
Characters; pyromatics, hatersbehatin
Summary; After a certain few events over the past week, Zuko decides it's time to seek Mai out to talk. To really talk. And to give her back her communicator that he broke by smashing against the wall...
Log; Complete

Although Katara had managed to take away most of the pain Sunday night/early morning, Zuko still felt a twinge here and there. Her healing ability had come as a bit of a surprise to him, something he hadn't fully anticipated a waterbender could do. It had helped immensely with the aching and hurting muscles, however, the splotches of bruising along the expanse of his back remained but were hardly as dangerous a color as before.

Zuko turned the corner and approached the apartment just in time to spot the petite brunette stepping out to wave at him. She beckoned him to hurry up and so Zuko quickened his steps, pulling the door open wider. "She's not expecting you," she told him, "but she's on the third floor in our apartment. Be nice to her, Zuko! I worked hard to make her smile!"

And then Ty Lee was leaving his side to do whatever it was she had plans to do that afternoon.

He watched her go, frowning to himself. A paper brown bag in one hand, Mai's newly repaired network communicator in his back pocket, Zuko let himself in and began to make the climb up to the third floor.

What had happened that night on the roof, he was still trying to wrap his mind around it. Zuko had seriously thought he had bumped his head a little too hard and had imagined the kiss, but now... now he wasn't so sure. Thinking back on it, her lips pressing over his had felt way too real to not be.


{ooc; Ty Lee's part in the beginning was added with permission ♥}

Comments

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

It's been a pretty rough few days for Mai. Since the moment she woke up in the City and got her first glance of the strange world outside a strange window ... things have just been really, really crazy. An emotional ride like she has never experienced before in her life. All the Avatar stuff and Zuko stuff aside. What happened to her this past weekend... was... she wasn't sure what it was, but she was far from happy about losing control of herself. It was an awful feeling, and she's been doing everything possible to forget about it since she woke up Monday morning and realized it wasn't just a dream.

Ty Lee proved to be a good distraction, and although she's never said so, Mai is very grateful that the other girl is here. If not for her, Mai probably would have been living on the streets, sleeping in any building she found abandoned and living like a homeless peasant. It wasn't a life she wanted, but it would have been a welcome alternative to going to strangers for help. Which would have been a step above asking Zuko for help. At this point, the last thing she wanted was to be indebted to him in any way. That would just make their situation even more uncomfortable.

She's also been avoiding him and anyone associated with and has been holing herself up inside the apartment, honestly perfectly content with being there. She found many things to keep herself entertained, and had to become resourceful when Ty Lee mentioned that throwing knives indoors, while she didn't personally mind it, the landlords probably would have a problem with it. So, Mai, found different things to ease her anxiety so that she could keep her emotions in check.

One of her more favorite activities being drawing on any bit of paper she could find in the apartment. Paper bags, receipts, napkins, even sheets of paper that her roommate had important uses for, if Mai got a hold of it, she was scribbling on it. And while she wasn't an artist, she did have steady hands and could spend hours just making swirls, curves and other random shapes, abstract objects forming from the black lines she connected and looped around one another. The hobby had a soothing and mind numbing affect on her, and that's something she wanted right now.

And that's what she's doing as Zuko made his way up the stairs. Soon after Ty Lee had left her alone, Mai had come across a slip of paper she had managed to miss before. Or maybe her friend had just left it there on purpose. Whatever the case may be, Mai was sitting in the living room of the apartment on the couch, hunched over the small table set in front of it. One hand holding the paper in place as her other hand carelessly stroked a black pen over it. Starting at one corner and working her way up and outward, curving the lines like fire, with sharp edges like knives and slopes of vines. It really isn't anything at all, but she focused on it, adding and adding more in order to keep her mind and body occupied.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

As Zuko approached the apartment door, he noticed that it stood ajar. He assumed that Ty Lee had left it open for him and hesitantly let himself in, first peeking his head into the apartment and looking around. He didn't spot anyone at first and pushed the door open further to completely step into the front area, closing it behind him.

Apartments were new to him; Zuko was always so used to the tea shop and the gardens and ponds, the fish swimming around peacefully in the water. Everything about this world was still new, particularly the tall, towering buildings made up entirely of glass. Such things... he'd never imagined them existing.

Making his way along the hall Zuko came to the living room and paused just in the threshold of the doorway, golden eyes making a sweep around the room to find the dark-haired girl hunched over and... drawing? Zuko wasn't sure what it was that she was doing, but opted to remain where he was standing.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

A little enthralled with her task, but not so consumed that she didn't hear the door close. Mai knew that Ty Lee had left some time before, but she hadn't lost sense of time to not realize that she had not been gone long. Moving without any worry to rush herself, she finishes several more lines before she lifts her head.

"Well. That was fast."

She set down the pen and began to move, turning so that she was looking toward the door as she continued. "Did you forget something?" The question was out before she actually saw who stood in the door way, and her mouth was pulled into something between a smile and a smirk. It wasn't a bright expression, but it certainly was in comparison to the look on her face that followed once her mind processed that Zuko was in the space where Ty Lee should have been.

What little emotion had been on her face faded almost instantly,leaving her eyes more narrowed and her mouth pressed close so tightly that her lips almost disappeared completely. She stared at him silently, trying to decide how she is going to deal with her roommate the next time she saw her, because she assumes that this was her doing. While Ty Lee wasn't as vicious about it as Azula, Mai knew that the girl sometimes liked to tease about Mai's ever present fondness of Zuko... but this was going too far.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

"Uh-- hey..."

And that was all Zuko had to say. What else was there for him to say anyways? He was only there to drop off her network device and that was that.

Okay, not true. Zuko was there to talk with her. He'd made the mistake himself of acting hostile in the beginning to a few certain people, as had she days ago in the tea shop with Aang. The incident still made Zuko a little uneasy on the inside. The root of the problem was him, him walking out on her with only a letter. He had to fix this, that was the only way.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

His greeting got Mai to tilt her head, eyes gazing down the length of her nose and cheek at him. While she understood why he was uncomfortable, she felt no sympathy for him because that awkwardness was entirely his fault. He brought it onto himself.

"What are you doing here?"

She stood as she spoke, and once on her feet, she crossed her arms in front of her. The pose meant to give him a silent signal that she didn't really care what his answer was, but he could still go on and try to humor her at least.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

He should have expected her to pose such a demanding question. Her stance wasn't helping matters either.

Sighing to himself, Zuko reached back into his pocket to retrieve her network device. He held it up for her to see. "You... left this in my room. And, uh-- you kind of need it here in the City."

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

Her eyes flicker to the device a few moments, but then she looked back to him, seeming unimpressed with it. "Why would I need that?"

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

"To communicate with people." Straightforward answer is straightforward.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

"Because I have so many friends here." Sarcastic reply is sarcastic.

"You really came all this way just to give me that?" With a shake of her head she stepped forward, holding out one hand. Her voice and expression clearly giving the impression that she felt like she was having some undesirable chore forced onto her. "Just give it to me."

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

Zuko put the device into her hand, the very tips of his fingers accidentally grazing the inside of her palm. He pulled his hand away, flexing his fingers while trying to ignore the weird tingling. Then he frowned. "You can still make friends, Mai. I did."

He meant that; she was just misguided by the lies the Fire Nation had put into their textbooks. Sure the Fire Nation was a great city and that greatness should have been shared equally with the rest of the world, but through a war? Zuko couldn't see how that was sharing anything.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

If she had felt anything from his touch, she didn't give anything away. Though she had raised an eyebrow at is reaction before she turned away from him. "Yeah. Well. I'm not you."

She pulled the communicator in closer to look at it carefully. It really didn't look like anything useful to her, so it only had her attention for a few moments before she looked back to him. "What. No threats this time? Not going to warn me not to touch the Avatar... or else." She didn't go into details, but the way she said that last word implied that whatever his punishment would be, she wasn't afraid of it. If anything she concerned it to be a joke.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

"I didn't come here to threaten you," he answered in a quiet voice. He continued to hold the paper bag at his side, watching her, taking in the expression she wore which was as it always was; impassive, hard to read, a mask.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

After his reply, she kept a steady gaze on him during a prolonged silence, then suddenly turned away to walk back toward the couch.

"Well... it looks like you have something to say."

When she sat back down, she put the communicator on the table, letting it fall several inches so it made a loud thunk sound on the wooden surface.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

Of course she had to bring that day up. The war meeting in which his father had, to his surprise, delayed until Zuko's arrival. The war meeting that had Zuko rethinking everything as the seconds had passed into minutes and then into the hour.

Zuko let his eyes drop down to look at the ground at the space between his legs. He contemplated the question, her words. Who was he?

"I'm... Zuko." What else was there for him to be? What did she expect him to say? His destiny, all that time, had been clouded, mixed, a conflict of good and evil. What was wrong was right, what was right was wrong.

"What more is there to be or say?"

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

Her eyes narrowed and Mai brought her head around to face him better. "I know what your name is, dummy. That wasn't what I was asking." She moved her hands to lie on the cushions beneath her and paused to think of how to rephrase her question. "You figured out who you are and what you have to do..."

Her voice drifts off into silence just as her eyes lower from his face. "That's who you are now." Not a question.

"Helping the Avatar to stop the Fire Nation, that's the kind of person you are now?" Okay so that was a question, even though she already knows the answer.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

Zuko tensed on the edge of the table, watching her; was this... was this progress? Were they actually getting somewhere? No - nothing ever came this easy...

Dummy... That was a name Zuko hadn't heard from her in a while. He remembered the last time she'd spoken it, the fondness in her tone, the small moment they had shared. They had shared many. "Otherwise known as a traitor to my country."

Zuko nodded curtly.

"To help the Avatar stop the Fire Nation and the war, it's more than that - it's my destiny."

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

No sooner was the word 'destiny' said that Mai let out a heavy sigh. Quickly her voice followed. "See. Your mind is made up. I wouldn't have been able to talk you out of it, but still..." She lifted her head, still not looking at him directly. "It would have been nice to have at least had a chance to try."

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

"Mai..."

His broad shoulders slumped somewhat. Zuko took a deep breath, lowering his head to rub at the back of his neck.

"It doesn't change how I feel about you. Even now."

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

Without thinking to, she lowered her head while a hand lifted up and placed her palm against her face so that half of it was hidden. It wasn't quiet a facepalm, but it was close. The sigh she made before she shook her head lightly. "And just why do you need to tell me that now?"

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

A frown tugged at his lips. Wasn't it obvious? Did he have to spell it out for her, too, while they were hashing things out?

"Because I care about you! Why else?" Zuko stood up from the table, towering over her. It wasn't to frighten her, it wasn't to assert some sort of power; he was restless about this entire discussion.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

Like it would be that easy to frighten her, she doesn't even seem to care that he stood, and instead rubs the side of her face. Mai didn't have a headache, but she needed something to do after she heard him say that.

There was another few moments before she lowered her hands and stood in a swift movement, that way they were on the same level when she spoke. There was still a foot of space between them, and she threw her hands out at her sides as she spoke. "This is emotional blackmail, you know. I can't take you forcing this onto me. You break up with me because you need to leave. Then you say it's to protect me. And now you're telling me that you care about me?"

She tilted her head with an aggravated sigh and her eyes rolled away from him. "Alright.. how about this. Since we're not in our world anymore, there isn't a war... and technically that kind of voids out you being a traitor. Right?"

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

Zuko was about to protest to the 'emotional blackmail' bit and argue with her when she continued. He said nothing at first, only glared down at her, brows both deeply knit. How was any of his actions and words emotional blackmail? Zuko didn't get it - it hurt him to say goodbye just as much as it had hurt her to read the words. He cared for her then and he still cared for her now, so what was the problem?

Did she... not care for him anymore?

The muscle in his cheek ticked faintly. "... Right."

Seriously - where was she going with this?

He had no idea but the more he watched her, the more his mind tried to work through it all.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

It was emotional black mail because he had to know how it would affect Mai to hear him say all that. He couldn't be that dense? At least that was what she thought until she stared at him for half a minute after he answered. She moved her hands to her hips and continued to stare up at him, waiting for something apparently.

"This is stupid." As it was said, she rolled her eyes, her expression bleak as it ever was. Then a moment later her hands move, one arm held out a little to her side as her other hand made a gesture. "Come here." It's an invitation for him to close the distance between them, and she waited for him to take it so she can hug the idiot.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

Emotions and Mai, together on the same scale and in the same vicinity, no one was safe. She was unpredictable, and Zuko imagined more so than even Katara at times. As her arm went out at her side, the gesture drew his eyes down. He looked her up and down for a few seconds - only seconds - and there was a moment where relief flooded him, swept away the confusion.

Zuko wouldn't have called it emotional blackmail only due to the fact that he hadn't anticipated any of this to happen, Mai's appearance in the City in particular. But the invitation was there, she was there, standing in front of him...

This was what he wanted, wasn't it?

One step forward brought him to stand directly in front of her. He stood so close, not taking his eyes off of hers, that he could make out the light brown flecks around her pupils. Zuko said nothing and hesitantly slid his arms around her as if to test her reaction. Then he pulled her in close, pulled her in flush against the front of his torso, the warmth of her body through her clothes against him familiar.

[hatersbehatin.livejournal.com]

She waited as he took his sweet time accepting her offer and tilted her head just a bit when he finally moved his arms around her. And just because she could, she taunted him. "Are you going to take all day?"

Then once she was pulled against him, she lied her arms over his so that her hands rested along his back, just below his neck. Her face found a place near his shoulder, pressed against his chest and let out a silent sigh once she was in position. And there she closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the warmth and allow herself to enjoy this. But only just a little. Cause she's still mad at him for being a jerk and breaking up with her like he did.