Prompt: 2 am
The thirteen-year-old prince ran across the dark, unusually empty clearing that separated his house from his girlfriend's. He smiled as the word passed through his mind. Mai, Zuko's girlfriend. It had only been a few days since they had, with much Azula-initiated confusion, declared their feelings for each other.
Zuko stood in front of Mai's house feeling incredibly small and stupid looking up at the huge wall surrounding her home and realizing that he didn't know which of the dark windows was hers. He decided that he had come too far to turn back now and confidently walked up the stairs.
The idea had come to him in a moment of insight, the brilliance he knew he possessed shining through. Remembering a scene from his mother's favourite play where the dashing hero came to his forbidden love's window in the dead of night and stole her heart, he pictured Mai's response to this utterly romantic gesture and grinned at the idea of the normally stoic girl melting into his arms
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. There was an awkward moment while Zuko stood alone, wondering if perhaps no one had heard him and he should knock again.
A tired servant half wearing pajamas and half wearing his uniform opened the door and peered at the prince under raised eyebrows. He bowed and spoke, trying to sound more awake than he actually was.
"Hello, Prince Zuko. How may I help you?"
"I'd like to speak with Mai."
Zuko stood up straight and held his arms behind his back while he waited.
A moment later, Mai appeared at the door, not trying to hide her desire to be asleep as opposed to standing in her sleep clothes and speaking to some idiot well past midnight.
"Yes?" Mai deadpanned, leaning against the doorframe and crossing her arms.
Every witty and romantic speech Zuko had prepared flew from his head and he found himself stuttering blankly at his irritated girlfriend. He noticed that her hairbuns were tied up with ribbons, as they had been when they were little. He cleared his throat.
"Hi, Mai. I like your hair."
He cringed internally, watching as Mai rolled her already half closed eyes. Normally, she would have been happy to see Zuko, flattered even, but her fatigue pushed any self-consciousness she had to the back of her cares. She could worry about what Zuko thought about her nighttime appearance in the morning.
"Go to bed, Zuko."
Mai closed the door. Zuko turned and began to walk slowly down the stairs, kicking a pebble in annoyance. In his opinion, it was a fantastic idea.