Secret

Summary: Zuko and Mai talk before their ship arrives in the Fire Nation. Set during The Awakening. K+ for some implications. Hope it's not too meh.

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Escaping Azula and her constant need for attention hadn't been easy, but somehow she pulled it off. Thank Agni for Ty-Lee persistent hair fetish.

With a cup of jasmine tea in hand, Mai pushed open the door of her room.

Zuko was inside.

She froze, taken aback by his blatant refusal to respect privacy. Maybe she felt the burn of excitement too, but it sure as hell wouldn't play out on her face. Not for him.

"What are you doing here?" Mai's eyes narrowed, but not to the point of expressing irritation.

Zuko remained sitting on her bed, ruffling dark hair. "The rooms on this ship all look the same."

Mai sat down next him, and sipped her tea nonchalantly. "I suppose that means your room has makeup and hairpins on the dresser as well." Why does he make it so easy?

Zuko glanced at the small table near the door and winced and ran a hand through his hair. Again. "There goes my excuse."

"You should probably find a new one. This is starting to become pointless."

She began to rotate the cup with the other hand and stared at its swirling contents. When Mai finally did look up, she saw Zuko rising to his feet and glancing at the door.

"I wonder if Ty-Lee's room looks like mine. I should find out."

How shameless. Too bad it works.

Her hand reached out and gripped his. Black eyes returned their gaze to tea. They glowered. "I didn't say that you could leave."

Zuko sat back down rather quickly for someone who was on the verge of going away.

"Fine."

Mai sighed. I can't believe I'm doing this.

"It sounds like you really are having -um- a hard time." She slightly pinked, and brought her eyes to his. Zuko raised an eyebrow and grinned smugly. The embers in his eyes danced.

"I thought you didn't want to hear my life story."

"I don't." She hated the fact that she loved his smile, no matter how conceited it looked. "Try not to bore me to tears."

Zuko fell back until he laid down, arms flopped over the end of the mattress.

"I'm about to either get everything I've dreamed of for Agni knows how long, or I---"

Silence. Breathing. I hate guessing games.

"Or you what?"

In her eagerness for him to continue, Mai turned her head toward him. His eyes were blank and staring at the ceiling. The fingers of his right hand were tracing the contours of his scar.

"I don't know if I can handle it again."

Her enlightenment wasn't sudden; it was the slow rising of a sun. The cold faces of dissapproval and the silent hands that put fingers to lips that she lived in was nothing, nothing, compared to the cause of his silence.

Mai's throat was dry. The lips that usually dripped with sarcasm searched for something to say.

"Do you want to know a secret?" she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Her thoughts poured out to her, no composure. Zuko awoke from his trance and sat up. "Sure."

Mai edged closer toward him and rested the hand holding the tea on her knee. "Three years ago, when I heard about what happened to you and found out you had to go...I cried. For three days straight." Her face begged for reaction, a sign that she message had been recieved.

Zuko said nothing, but faced her. His expression was hard to read, but the irises that were always so hard and direct now looked softer, nearly melted. Her moved closer, never breaking eye contact.

Mai should have shoved him off. Each breath he took was a tickle against her face. His scent snaked its way into her lungs. The pounding in her chest threatened to break it open.

Too close.

He raised a hand to her face. Slender fingers ran against the curve of her cheek and slowly slipped into her hair.

"I have a secret too."

"Mm?" was all her mouth would allow.

"I was cold."

And then, his lips were on hers. It was something that she had experienced a few hours ago, but the feeling had been refreshed. Mai pushed against him with more insistence. Finally.

His body lowered and lowered until it lay flat against hers. The cup that she was holding dropped; the remaining tea sank into the dark folds of her clothing, and released a waft of steam like a last breath.

But Zuko's heat was the only kind she could feel crawling into her skin.

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Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't belong to me. Sob.