AN: Woohoo! Maiko week 2016! Just a plus that it's also my birthday week, family vacation, and graduation test (homeschool thing that lets me know if I can graduate or not). So yeah, busy week. But I've got my stories prewitten already! Hope you enjoy and have a blessed day!

Prompt: Smoke

Smoke, Mai thinks, is a very nice way to describe her relationship with Zuko. There's the smoke that comes from a steady flame, only staying for a moment then floating high in the sky and way out of sight. There's smoke from an explosion, a smoke that's thick and strong; one that lingers for all to see and know. Both can be used in her metaphor of smoke and her relationship with the prince.

The first type, by definition is this: A cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas

Truly, it started before the relationship began.

When the princess took a liking to her in school and decided that Mai was going to be her friend, whether Mai wanted to or not, the young girl knew her life now revolved around the proud and mean firebender. Of course, everyone in the school knew Azula got what she wanted whenever she wanted, but it was more than that. She was still young, but already her mother was trying to groom her into the perfect noble wife. Meaning that if anyone from the royal family wanted her attention, she was to give it without a thought. So she had to go on play dates with the princess and another girl, Ty Lee, to the palace.

That's when it began.

She never spent much time with Zuko, but she did notice him. She noticed how he was usually always by his mother's side, how he got so emotional when firebending, how he showed more care to ducks than Azula did to people.

Maybe it was that her mother was hoping for Mai to marry into the royal family, or maybe it was that he was a prince and it was every girl's dream to be a prince.

Or, maybe, it was because he was different than what she was used to.

The boys she knew only cared about making themselves look good. They didn't care about who they hurt to get there, from pushing a kid over to get to the play area first or yelling at someone who had shied themselves to be better than the meanies.

Zuko was a nice person. Sure, he yelled some, got angry, but he was still nice. He wasn't afraid to show his emotions, the nasty things her mother had been drilling into her head to hide.

So, when she realized she had a crush on him, she hid it. She would duck behind pillars of the palace when he'd be passing by, cover her blushing face behind one of her sleeves if she had to face him. They were times they'd talk and she'd keep her replies short and low, trying to save herself from any embarrassment she might cause. But she couldn't deny that she felt a lot of emotions her mother didn't like when she spoke with him those times.

She was letting her feelings for him suspend in the air, not acting on them or pushing them away.

She couldn't act on them, oh no way. She heard what the other girls at school called her, and said how she'd never be fit for a husband. Back then, she didn't know that she could've ignored them. Her mother had taught her that what the people said behind her back was what mattered, right? Mai never acted on her feelings or emotions. No matter how many times she wanted to, she didn't.

But she refused to get rid them. Too young to understand love, but smart enough to know that the feeling she got when she saw him was something special. It made her feel like it was okay to have emotions, since he let his flow so freely. The young girl felt more happy, dare she say it, with him (though the times be few and short) than any other person in her family or even her friends. They all expected her to do so much, be who they wanted her to be.

Zuko didn't tell her what to do, what to think, what to feel. He didn't lay expectations on her or boss her around. He was kind. He understood. He never tried to hurt her.

It was nice, having a crush.

Until Azula found out.

After that, just like smoke, the feelings suspended in air vanished.

The second, by definition is this: A hot vapor containing fine particles of carbon being produced by combustion

Mai can't really complain, to be honest. Sure, the feeling of having her secret exposed was a bit embarrassing, but for what she received in return? No comparison.

Azula would pull her stunts, getting both Zuko and Mai flustered. Whether it be locking them both in a closet during hide and seek, tying their feet together under the dining table, or even getting them both to fall into a fountain. The noble girl assumed at first that the prince was only getting flustered because he was embarrassed, but she was wrong. She found that out the time Azula bound their wrists together 'on accident' while trying to show them a magic trick.

She had rolled her eyes, ignoring the fierce blush on her face, and was about to apologize when she felt his hand take hold of her own. Wide eyed and mouth ajar, she turned to she red cheeks just like her own.

Ever since that day, things changed.

Feelings exploded. They went from just knowing each other to not knowing how to be away from each other. It wasn't a hot love in that it was sexy, but it was strong. Exciting. It went from her hiding behind pillars, trying to hide her heated face, to them both hiding behind the same pillars, trying to hide from Azula's teasing. From being forced in a closet during hide and seek to making excuses to play hide and seek so they could hide in the closet.

Just like the smoke from an explosion.

There were some kisses thrown in there, as well as some longer than needed goodbye hugs. Those weren't hidden. Sure, it was more thrilling when they were done in the dark, away from the eyes of the people. It made her feel alive. Like she was living in a book or play of some sort. She heard it said before that it was the definition of young love, and Mai couldn't have enjoyed it more.

She couldn't have been happier.

Her family was ecstatic. Their daughter, half of the princess' best friends, was now courting the prince. Their name couldn't have gotten any better!

Azula was less than thrilled, now that her minion was spending a lot of time with her big dumb brother. But she was proud, nonetheless, because she was the one who brought this on.

The girls at school were envious, mostly. How could this girl, with awkward limbs and a weird liking to sharp objects, could have gotten the prince to easily? All she did was show up a few times and then they were courting. In their eyes, it wouldn't last. He'd would get bored of the young lady who's main emotion was being in a state of boredom.

None of that mattered when Zuko would hold her hand under the dining table, eating his rice with pink cheeks.

Sure, her mother was still telling her to be the perfect noble woman she was supposed to, Azula still bossed her around, and the girls at school still spoke mean things behind her back. But Mai took it in stride.

Even with all that was still on her shoulders, and all she was being told to do, Zuko was letting her be herself. He wasn't making her do anything she didn't want to, he never made her think she needed to be better.

He was still the nice person she had the crush on when she was just a young child, and now nearing teenage years, she was beginning to think it was love.

Then he got banished.

After that, just like the smoke, the exciting romance born from an explosion of feelings vanished.