I'm pleased with how this turned out :D

my first smut. ever. please be nice.

disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. 'nuff said.
unpretty.

"I'm going to take a shower," Mai declared for no one in particular to hear. "I should be out in 15 minutes."

Zuko happened to hear her statement, and waited to see her again. "15 minutes isn't too long to wait," he thought to himself.

Mai went into the bathroom, and began to get ready to get in the shower. As she was about to climb into the tub, she happened to see herself in the mirror. Then, she began to look at herself. Everyone told her she was good looking, but she wondered if it was actually true. She noticed her imperfections: the little freckle to the right and above her bellybutton, her long, slender fingers. She began to hate herself.

Why couldn't she find anything positive about herself? No matter how hard she tried, she could never find a good trait about her. "Why do I always feel like this?" she thought. "I never think I'm good enough, even though I know I should." Realizing how imperfect she thought she was, she crawled into the bathtub and cried.

Meanwhile, Zuko was starting to get worried. Mai said she'd be out of the shower in 15 minutes, and it was going on 45. He decided to knock on the door, just to see that she was okay. When he knocked and nobody answered, he took the initiative that things were not okay, and opened the door slightly.

He saw Mai curled up in a corner of the bathtub, her long, black hair in a mess around her face.

"Mai?" Zuko slowly walked towards her. She turned her back to him; she didn't want him to see her like this, all pasty and imperfect.

"I'm sorry. You didn't need to check on me." She replied with what little voice she had left.

"I know; but I care about you. You said you'd be out in 15 minutes." He replied. Zuko had never seen Mai like this, so vulnerable. But that only made him love her more.

"I wish I could be beautiful... for you." Mai said, near tears again.

Zuko reached to try to touch her, but she turned away again. "don't try to tell me that I am, you don't need to lie to me."

Zuko then reached over and kissed her softly. "It's not lying. it's looking at things another way," he cooed in her ear. He had such a way with words. "weren't you going to take a shower?"

"oh, yeah, I guess I just got a little… distracted." She admitted.

"I can fix that." He replied coolly.

A smile came to Mai's face "okay."

We can fill in each other's blanks, can't we?

-end-