Title: Not-Honeymoon

Author: NotebookPaper

Rating: K+ (To be safe. Someone tell me if this seems too high.)

Pairing: MaixZuko

Notes: I've had this finished for a while. I didn't post it because it was a gift for someone over the holidays – my awesome co-worker Shereeeeeee - and I wanted it to remain between us for just a little longer. It was inspired when we talked about her and her boyfriend – should be fiancé in my opinion! – and I'm glad that he ended up liking it to. I warn some readers that this may not appeal to a general audience since it was tailored for my lovely friend.

Also, I noticed that, aside from a crappy, smut-ridden Kingdom Hearts piece and a soon-to-be-posted, fluffy Final Fantasy VII piece (for a pairing I don't ship) this is the only piece I've written that's told predominantly from a woman's point of view. Anyone mind telling me if I handled it well? The other two mentioned were a flop, in my opinion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zuko, Mai or Avatar in general. If I did, Mai would appear more often… and so would Ty Lee.

So the proverbial honeymoon was over before it started.

Actually, it was over before the wedding.

...Well, truly, it was over before the engagement.

For some reason, it was easy to think that everything would be spring fields and butterflies after the war was over, but what did that mean to her? She was sure she hated butterflies.

If she cared.

His highness, the Fire Lord, was a sight. Everyone noticed. He smiled. He waved. He stood iron-bar straight with his hands behind his back, appraising his city as if he were proud. Mai knew Zuko was proud. He had every right to be. She even caught herself smiling at the change in the Fire Nation.

But she wasn't the type to show it for long.

Everyone assumed they were already engaged, that Zuko only held off announcing the engagement so the fervor over the new peaceful era could settle. When it did settle, they expected some of the original Fire Generals to try their hands at intrigue, but the announcement of an impending marriage would forestall them further. Then the wedding itself would continue to keep the generals at bay. Anyone who started trouble during such a happy occasion for the Fire Lord would be looked down upon. Then, anyone who tried to break the solidarity a royal marriage lent to a nation would be frowned upon. It was a perfect plan.

Or at least it would be the perfect plan if it were the plan at all.

Since everyone assumed they were engaged, Mai was exclusively allowed to help Zuko don the Fire Nation Royal Robes. Neither of them really cared - When did they? - to correct anyone on the issue, so Mai walked around her boyfriend, her boyfriend who was not her fiancé, and smoothed her hands over the sleeves, the back, the chest, the hips - that part he seemed to like the most. Sometimes his smirk, the way he moved against her hands just to tease, made her smirk as well. But today, Mai didn't really care.

Zuko's hands dropped to his sides and Mai turned to stand in front of him, her eyes and mouth just as neutral as he was used to. Used to in public, anyway. The brow on the scarred side of his face rose, his golden eye a little more visible.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Mai's eyes seemed to narrow, but it was so minute she doubted Zuko would call her on it.

"Why? Is something wrong with me?"

Zuko's chin lowered, and while he didn't sound threatening to Mai, his voice grew deeper as he spoke. "I don't know. That is why I asked."

Mai didn't give him the satisfaction of letting him see her eyes roll. She knew he could feel the weight of it when she turned away from him, and it would rile him a little more than just seeing it. Good. At least they'd both feel perturbed this morning. She added a sigh for good measure.

"Touchy this morning, aren't you, Fire Lord?"

"Wh-what?" It was an angry stutter. "You started this, Mai."

"Oh, well, that's mature. Playing the blame game. I did nothing, Zuko."

Her arms were crossed when she turned back around, her back straight. Even when he was slouching, looking at her like she was crazy, he was still taller than her. It made her angrier.

"Yeah. Nothing. Just like you always do."

Her temper flared.

"Nothing?!" He wasn't taken aback by her tone like she had hoped, but she made a show of calming herself. "Nothing. Nothing but clothing the Fire Lord's Royal Ass, I guess. You're right. I do nothing." There was an incredulous chuckle somewhere in there.

It settled home that she secretly meant to tell him if clothing him was doing nothing, then he did less than nothing. His scarred eye twitched. She'd hit a nerve. Zuko didn't like to appear inactive. For a man who had spent so much time fighting for his honor, Mai supposed she understood on some level. For now, she ignored that part of her.

"Mai, what the hell is wrong with you today?"

She sighed.

"Not now, Zuko. Your court awaits." She walked past him, her arms still crossed. Behind her, Zuko let loose an exasperated snarl, and Mai was sure she felt the temperature rise. For some reason, it drew a smirk over her lips.

To his credit, Zuko was able to keep his cool - or maybe his warmth? - for the majority of the day. They walked everywhere together, and were as stately and impressive as they always were. It was notable in the last couple months that the younger Ladies of the Fire Nation had taken to an aloof demeanor, the sort of non-chalance they had seen in the soon-to-be Fire Lady. Royalty was usually admirable, but Mai had been courted – She noted the presumed past-tense – by the Fire Lord himself. If he found that aloof quality stunning, then other, lesser Lords must find it simply ravishing, right?

Mai didn't take any joy in starting a trend. If anything it annoyed her. It was amazing some girls didn't turn blue when they sighed so deep. She didn't sigh that deep, did she?

Walking through a Garden, she saw Zuko glance to his left out of the corner of her eye. She tried not to appear interested in what he was looking at, but peered over all the same. Two young people of noble birth were, for all intents and purposes, flirting under one of the blooming trees. The girl's face was disinterested, but every other bit of her demeanor screamed "come hither."

Well, maybe she didn't appear too easy, but all Mai felt was an odd sense of unoriginality. And when she saw Zuko smile covertly at the two, so as not to attract their attention, she pointedly turned her head away, suddenly angered for reasons even she couldn't understand. Zuko noticed.

"What?" The exasperated tone from the morning was once again apparent, and she couldn't help but get angrier. Instead of showing it, her tone was mild, flippant and neutral all at the same time. "I don't know." She pointedly walked ahead of him.

Part of her wanted to stop too when she heard the slight rustle of his feet cease behind her. She wanted to see the simmering, confused anger on his face, but she wouldn't like it if he made a scene in the garden. If she got far enough away before he said anything, if he did say anything, she could pretend she didn't hear him like she pretended not to hear the girl giggling at them like it was some cute lovers' spat before she checked herself and walked pointedly away from the boy attempting courtship.

Zuko caught up to her in the hallway past the garden, He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. His touch wasn't horribly rough so it didn't register as a threat to her, so as she turned around her movements were bored, and she made herself look put-upon by his company.

Until her back collided with the wall.

More surprised than hurt, she gasped and her eyes widened more than she would have liked.

"Oh, so you can feel," Zuko stated sardonically.

His comment made Mai remember herself. She glanced to see if anyone was down the hall, avoiding his eyes for a moment really since she should have known that he would have checked first, then narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.

"What-"

"What was that back there? Why did you get angry? You couldn't have been jealous." He meant that the girl back in the garden had been no competition. To any other girl that would have sounded nice, but Zuko just didn't get it.

"I wasn't angry."

"Mai, I know how you act when you're angry. You try to hide it." At least he understood that by now, as much as she hated to admit it. "But something tells me you want me to notice now."

"Oh yeah? What makes you think that, Fire Lord?"

"The fact that I don't usually know you've been angry until after you've huffed and left me confused." Huff?

"I don't "huff," Zuko."

Suddenly he smirked, and in spite of everything, she raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow as well, but for an entirely different reason. The look he gave her was suggestive and dark. He came closer, his breath oppressive in the sweetest sense. His eyes seemed to say, "Let's just find out if you don't huff."

But Mai only stared at him for a moment, and then made a disgusted noise.

"Really, Zuko? Nice."

He seemed taken aback, but before he could say anything else she shoved his arm – that she could even move his muscular limb was testament to how off balance he was – out of the way and left him in the hall, not even listening to see how he'd react. She also tried not to notice how warm her cheeks were.

Mai supposed she had to realize the majority of their relationship prior to Zuko taking the Fire Lord title had been spent in pretty constraining conditions. If Zuko hadn't been off fighting or chasing something, like the Avatar or his honor or whatever, then Azula had always been there to...well, ruin anything and everything. Sometimes Mai wondered what she had been thinking being friends with such a girl, but that was in the past, thankfully gone.

What it boiled down to was that she probably understood that Zuko's first attempt at innuendo would be awkward. Probably.

But then probably could easily be mistaken for maybe, and maybe mistaken for not really, and so she chose to not really understand Zuko. How silly was it that he tried to use innuendo to pacify her anyway? Very silly, and the attempt had been mediocre at best. "Huff" wasn't even an entirely attractive word for breathing, not really sensual to any degree. She might have even been insulted.

But the strange thing was that she wasn't insulted, because while "not really" understanding wasn't too great, it didn't mean she misunderstood completely. She supposed he had tried to make her feel better, if in an unconventional fashion, but he had tried, and believe it or not, Mai was beginning to feel the tendrils of guilt gripping her professed dark soul.

After leaving Zuko in the hallway, the day had turned out to be a complete bore. Mai realized that she really didn't have anything to do and no one to talk with. Azula wasn't there to order her, Ty Lee wasn't there to be a completely adorable goof, her family was not in the nation, and Zuko was giving her space she realized she didn't really want. She could have had all the servants attend to her needs, but past asking for an extra large tart – which she felt awkward for finishing – she decided she didn't want to see them either. She stayed in Zuko's room, a place he usually never occupied until night-time now that he was the Fire Lord. For some reason she hoped he would find his way there today, but instead he was out going about his duties as normal. She ended up taking a nap in his Zuko-smelling room, in his Zuko-smelling bed, under his Zuko-smelling covers, feeling both annoyed and a little hurt with her Zuko-wrought feelings.

She woke up hours later and just laid there in the dark for about fifteen minutes before he came in. Apparently he had brought a male servant with him to help peel off the royal robe, but upon seeing her, supposedly asleep, in his bed, he waved the man away.

He sat on the side of his bed, and though Mai's eyes were closed she could tell he was watching her. It didn't last as long and sentimental like as she had assumed it would.

"Mai, I know you're awake. Why are you here?"

For some reason, that hurt.

"I was waiting for you, Fire Lord."

She sat up in that tired way she knew most pampered princesses did, though it was an art Ty Lee perfected well before Azula, if the Fire Princess had ever even tried to be feminine. One hand was between Zuko and herself on the bed, while the other rubbed sleep from her eyes. Her weight rested on one hip, accentuating the other that was now just half covered by the voluminous comforter of the Royal Fire Bed, while leaving her obviously open to any advance Zuko wanted to make, be it amorous or less-than friendly. She didn't really know why. Maybe it was because she didn't really want Zuko to be angry, or even curt with her, and the slightest show of vulnerability would keep him from loosening his temper. Zuko these days, despite his hot temper, never wanted to appear to be attacking the weak. Mai hoped that would translate to her in this case. Later, she would blame her behavior on being tired.

"Oh?" Confusion bubbled below the surface of his voice. Inwardly Mai wondered just what else he thought she'd be doing in his room rather than waiting for him. It spiked her ire momentarily, but it didn't last because she knew it was more why she was waiting for him that he wanted to know. "Well, I'm here."

She saw some tension fly from his shoulders and she guessed her choice of poses deflated him somewhat. Good. She sat up straight and ran a hand over her hair, which thankfully only felt slightly ruffled after her nap. Mai realized then that she had no idea what she wanted to say, because she certainly did not want to apologize. Zuko must have noticed because he took the opportunity to slide up onto the bed next to her, legs still above the covers while her lap remained underneath.

"I don't get it either," he said.

Her eyebrows crinkled.

"Don't get what?"

"Why we fight so easily. I mean, we're pretty good together, right?"

There was a strange hybrid of a pout and a frown taking over Mai's face.

"You should know that. And it wasn't what I was thinking. I know why I want to fight." She looked at him suddenly, and Zuko looked confused all over again.

"Y-you want to fight?" She nodded. "But we're good together?" She nodded again. "…Then what were you thinking?"

She sighed, realizing she didn't really want him to focus on that. "I wanted to say I was sorry. I could have handled… your advance… better earlier." Her tone didn't change when she spoke despite the pauses.

There was silence for nearly a minute as Zuko seemed to take in what she said before he blurted, "Then say it."

Mai couldn't help a sound of disgust before she crossed her arms. He was infuriating! He wouldn't even focus on-

"Hehe, kidding." In an odd show of affection he kissed her cheek and moved down to lay his head in her lap.

Though her lips were still pursed in a frown he seemed unruffled, smiling at her like he was off the hook. "So why do you want to fight with the Fire Lord?"

She uncrossed her arms, her hands settling at her sides, and though her lips lost tension she glared at him.

"I want to fight with the Fire Lord, because I'm not the Fire Lady Presumptive." Though her outer demeanor appeared no different, her heart had skipped perhaps two beats and her blood rushed hot and painful.

Zuko himself was caught off guard. His grin was still plastered on his face, but he was so utterly still there was no denying that he was taken aback. Moments later the grin broke and he sat up facing her, his lips slightly parted and his scared eye somehow just as wide as the other.

Then Mai felt anger rising again. He'd taken too long to respond. Her teeth clenched and she glared fiercer than before. "Quit gaping like an idiot, Zuko." Her tone was low and dangerous. "Why don't you get yourself ready for bed tonight?"

She slipped from his satin covers with a fierce whisper of cloth and stalked to the door. Yet she was surprised that she halted when she heard his voice.

"Somehow I always assumed you'd be the one to propose, Mai. I didn't think you – we – were ready."

Mai blinked at the door, her hand half raised to open it.

"I never really liked forcing you to do anything. Even at Boiling Rock when I left you in that cell when you probably would have listened to me… It felt wrong."

"Well you did, didn't you?" She was facing away from him, anger seething in her voice. "And I made the right choice, didn't I?" She was glad her back was to him.

"U-uhh, well yeah, you did."

"Uh-huuh." The sound was a drawl, and her voice condescending, but the expression on her face was slowly turning from a self-satisfied smirk to a smile. He'd hear it in her voice when she spoke next. "Well, I can't always make the decisions, Zuko. You're the Fire Lord. You have to decide things too, and hope the rest of us make the right decisions following yours. So here's something." She turned around and walked back to him, realizing he was now standing. "Are we going to get married or not? Decide well, Fire Lord."

She crossed her arms, trying to appear threatening while she looked up at him, though her satisfied smile ruined it.

Zuko shook his head as a smile broke out over his own face as well. His eyes rolled towards the ceiling before he wrapped his arms, and voluminous sleeves, around her.

"If I say yes, will you go through with it?"

"You have to say yes first, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Yes. Now can I call you Fire Lady Mai?"

When Mai spoke, her affirmative answer was drowned in his lips.