tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; March 15
Rating; PG?
Characters;

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 ♥}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The question didn't surprise her, because... well she had thought about it herself. Scolded herself and wondered over and over why she had kissed him on that roof. The answer was simple. Obvious, even. But she couldn't swallow the pride and pain that would let her accept the truth. So. She lied to herself, and in turn, she would lie to him.

Her shoulders shrugged as she spoke. "I don't know." She didn't turn her head toward him, and instead shifted her eyes away from him and focused her eyes on some random spot on the wall. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"'It seemed like a good idea at the time'?" Zuko deadpanned, not entirely impressed by the response. His own reply came without much thought, "The same could have been said about our break up."

And it was the truth. At the time Zuko had written his letter to her, his mind had been made up. He would have the letter delivered to her house via a servant and by the time she read it, he would find himself joining the Avatar and helping him in his quest for peace.

"Yes, Zuko." She rolled her eyes. "They are exactly the same." She hid behind a wall of sarcasm, and she took a couple moments to stare at the wall and ready herself to look at him.

"Because you obviously didn't notice...." She uncrossed her arms, but only so she could make a gesture with a hand. It didn't really mean anything on it's own, but together with her next words it seemed to try and emphasis them a little. "Sneaking out at night. Wearing that outfit. Attacking people and robbing strangers. I wasn't myself this past weekend."

"Really? Because clearly I hadn't noticed," he returned with a sarcastic bite of his own to his words, eyes narrowing in her direction.

Zuko shifted his weight restlessly. "Anyway--" He held up the bag in front of him, hoping she'd get the gesture. "I didn't come here to argue with you."

The bitter edge left inside her from their break up compels her to open her mouth and let loose more hot words. Though, somehow, she managed to keep her mouth shut long enough for the urge to pass. After a deep breath she tilted her head and gave him a long look. Her eyes focused on the bag within a moment and she instantly recognized it as a peace offering.

But she gave no indication that she planned to stand up, or reach over to take it from him. "What is that?"

Zuko resisted the urge to roll his eyes, taking her question as safe ground to walk around the table. He lowered the bag to the couch next to her crossed legs and sat on the edge of the sturdy table. "Open it, and you'll find out."

She watched his every move as he approached, and when he set the bag down, her eyes followed it to make sure it didn't touch her, then she looked back to him as he sat down. Mai narrowed her eyes just a little when he spoke, but she said nothing as she reached out to lift the bag onto her lap.

Her eyes never strayed from him while her hands fumbled to open the bag, the look she gave him clearly one of mistrust. And while she could have just thrown the bag at his face, she was too curious to not see what was inside, and well truthfully she also wasn't such a bitch that she would throw his effort to make peace with her back into his face quite so literally.

Once the bag was open she turned her head downward to see what was inside it, and blinked a few times until she began to realize what they were. Fruit tarts. Four small, single servings, and for several moments all she could do was stare at them. She couldn't tell if the sensation in her chest was from her heart throbbing or breaking more, and he might have seen the brief moment where her expression softened. Though it was gone too quickly to be able to tell for sure if it was a look of sadness or tenderness.

Her silence was finally broken when she lifted her head to look at him, her expression carefully controlled so that he wouldn't know her inner conflict. "I hope that you really don't think I'm this easy, Zuko." She struggled to remain neutral and held on to her composure.

The entire time he held the eye contact, Zuko grew particularly interested in her expression the moment she looked down upon opening the paper bag. The fleeting expression, it was worth it. But the moment the mask came back into place, Zuko straightened on the edge of the table, jaw setting at her words.

Just once. Just once he wished she would completely drop the indifferent expression and cold tone of voice.

"I know you're not. I know that you're going to hold what I did to you over my head for Agni knows how many years." Zuko shook his head. "I just came here to talk, and to give you back your communicator."

Does he really, really want the mask to be gone? Well, he'll have to settle for the small cracks that show after he's finished speaking. She took the time to set the bag on the table, uncrossed her legs and turned slightly so that she was faced in his direction.

"Don't play the wounded damsel here. That's my part." It's a little bit of emotion, mostly irritation, but it was something right? "You didn't just break up with me. You broke my heart. I trusted you. I wanted to support you, and you just cut me loose the moment you realized what you needed to do."

With a small 'tuk' sound, she jerked her head away, glaring at the ground as she continued. "And you left me that letter... because..." She paused, but it wasn't long enough for him to get a word in before she continued. "I wouldn't understand. Couldn't understand... and I don't but the point is that you should have at least tried talking to me instead of just writing me off like that."

She took a long breath before she turned her head back to him, her eyes only lifting up to his face after she's spoken lastly. "Don't act like I have any reason to act like all is forgiven. Like... I can't hurt you after how you hurt me."

Wounded damsel-- how that rubbed a nerve entirely the wrong way.

"You don't think it was hard for me to write that letter and walk away?" he growled out, frustrated. "I did it to protect you, Mai. And your family. Do you honestly believe that? That instead of writing a break-up letter, it would have been easier for the both of us if I had ended it in person?"

Zuko held out his arms, gesturing to the area surrounding them. "Look at us! I would still be called a traitor to my country, your heart would still be broken, but we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

No, probably not, but that was thanks to the events of the past weekend. That kiss.

She shook her head once, and ended the motion with her head turned away from him again. "You don't get it." Mai threw herself back against the couch with a huff and folded her arms in front of her again. "I don't want your protection. I don't want you deciding things for me or telling me what would have been easier for me."

A moment later, she paused to take a breath, closed her eyes and held the air in her lungs for a while before she let it back out. "You should have talked to me." Should have confided in her. Her voice dropped in pitch, and while she didn't say her real thoughts, maybe some of her disappointment could have been heard in her voice.

That would have been great if she'd told him that earlier. Zuko thought he had been doing her a favor back in the Fire Nation by writing that letter, by ending their relationship so that he could get back on track with his destiny and her family could keep their status of nobility and she would be safe from his father's wrath. He thought he had been chivalrous or gentlemanly by trying to protect the one person he cared the most about. Why couldn't she get that?

The drop in voice was noticeable but Zuko didn't comment on it. Instead he sat in silence on the table, leaning forward with his arms rested on his thighs. He watched the side of her face, took in her features - but for what? She was a pro at keeping her emotions in check and not letting them show, especially in this situation. It was like asking for the impossible.

"Tell me why. What good would it have done? It all leads down to the break-up no matter what path we choose."

Edited 2011-03-16 09:25 (UTC)

There was no answer she could come up with, nothing that made sense. Mai just knew that it was wrong for him to have robbed her of the chance to have a say in him leaving. That she didn't even have the opportunity to ask him back then. Instead she had to work it out on her own, doubt and confusion making it worse, making her wonder how much he had really cared.

Her mouth opened, the idea to bring up the fact that if it had been Azula going on her own, she would have brought Mai along with her. It wasn't a good idea to draw comparisons between the two, and it was an even worse idea to say something that could imply something she wasn't ready to admit to. That she would have gone with him, even if she thought he was stupid and didn't agree with his choice. She wouldn't have let him go alone. But she couldn't say that, not now. Not when it seemed a useless sentiment since he so obviously believed that their break-up was inevitable.

"Forget it. You made up your mind and clearly nothing will change it." Her head tilted as her shoulders shrugged lightly, the mood she wore not really caring anymore. "We can keep talking circles around it, but it doesn't matter now since what's done is done."

Zuko stared at her for a moment and then growled again in frustration, head hanging as he reached up to drag a hand down his face. Augh! "What do you think I made up my mind on? You seem so sure - so tell me."

His hand dropped back down to his lap. He straightened up on the table, looking over at her. It was so aggravating how opposite their behavior was (had always been); one wore their emotions on their sleeve and was prone to a short temper, while the other kept themselves calm and collected, in control.

One day Zuko would break that control. One day Zuko would break Mai, and the satisfaction it would bring him just to know he was capable of evoking such a reaction out of her...

He could break Mai, and on some level he's always been her bane. Even as a child her feelings for him were used against her for Azula's amusement. There were many things she would do for him, and before he left there had been a huge improvement in her attitude. She had actually been opening up and started acting almost domesticated and gentle. But then he wrote that letter and she shot right back to the emotionless girl she had been back before they started dating.

She used to think she knew him, but she wasn't so sure anymore. She hadn't been sure of anything she knew about his feelings since after that war meeting he had gone to. And while he asked her a question, she countered it with one of her own. "Who are you, Zuko?"

"... What?" Zuko found himself gawking at her, golden eyes widening in surprise and then squinting with confusion, that question throwing him off-guard.

"What does that have to do with this?"

Her gaze drifted away, a thoughtful look on her face. "After that war meeting." She had just remembered, he said something that she didn't really pay much attention to. Figured it was just because he was nervous, but now when she thought about it...

"You said that you were the perfect prince. But you weren't yourself." She couldn't recall it word for word, but that at least stuck in her memory clearly enough. "It was what you wanted so I didn't know what you meant. I didn't ask you about it then... because..." He just looked so upset, and since she wasn't that good with dealing with her own feelings, she couldn't bring herself to pry back then. She didn't finish that thought out loud, and shook her head before she turned her head enough to look at him from the corner of one eye.

"So... who are you?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only