Author: x0xAngelxDynamitex0x
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Story Title: Wicked Schemes
Summary: "Well, Zuko's been in love with you for forever! Date him, seduce him and tell him it's his! And then tell me who the real father is because I'm your best friend and deserve to know," Ty Lee suggested, smiling blithely during the darkest lunch hour of Mai's life.
Ships: Maizai, Maiko, Tyzula, Jetara, Zutara, Taang, Sukka.
Rating: M
Warnings: underage sexual contact, semi-explicit sexual content, drug use, language.
Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable is mine.
Notes: I'm excited about this story. It's a Modern AU revolving around the Fire Kids. There will probably be about three weeks between updates.
Wicked Schemes
"This is so exciting!" Ty Lee chirps as she hops into the back of Azula's car, the plastic convenience store bag bouncing on her knees.
"I have no idea how you could possibly find this exciting," Mai dryly says, which she would remark of any activity, but this one is the worst. She is unsure how she even manages to reply to Ty Lee on this grim afternoon as she hides her nerves.
Azula at last gets into the driver's seat. Mai leans back and slides her dark sunglasses back over her eyes; that way she can avoid looking at her best friend. Even seeing Azula makes her recall how fucked up it is that she might be pregnant with her sibling.
"We can do this at my house," haughtily orders Azula, pulling out of their parking space.
"No!" Mai shouts before she can bite her tongue. The outburst makes Azula stop the car with a loud screech and stuns Ty Lee into agape silence. Secretly livid at herself, Mai leans back and readopts her apathetic air. "I mean, you have an overbearing father who knows my parents."
"He happens to be in Singapore," silkily remarks Azula, beginning to drive again, "my mother is working late and my brother is at lacrosse practice, so I assure you my home will be cold, lonely and devoid of witnesses."
"Okay," Mai reluctantly agrees.
Honestly, it does not matter where she does this.
Nothing and nowhere could make it any less painful.
Saying the results are unpleasant would be the understatement of the century. She sits in Azula's bathroom for an eternity as she tries to figure out what to do. Mai took five. They all came out positive. She is royally fucked.
The pounding on the door could only be coming from Ty Lee. Though those fists be but delicate and well-moisturized, they are fierce.
"They all say yes," Mai says, forcing herself to her feet and leaving the bathroom.
Ty Lee and Azula both stand waiting for her. Slowly, they back into Azula's room and Mai shuts the door behind herself.
"Who's the dad?" Ty Lee asks eagerly, her eyes bright.
"I don't know," Mai says and Ty Lee clamps her hands over her mouth at the scandal of it, while Azula hmms.
"No, you are not the type to sleep around," Azula says, smirking, so proud of her intellect.
"You are the type who literally thinks boys are icky," coolly says Mai, "so I don't know how you'd know that."
"Firstly, boys are icky. Secondly, I'm a people person," states Azula.
"She is," Ty Lee says eagerly, her eyes sparkling as she gives Azula an adoring gaze. The gushiness is enough to make Mai want to stab her.
"Maybe you two were too busy screwing each other to think about who I might be screwing." That is true, but Mai still is technically lying. "And even if I knew, I wouldn't tell either of you because Ty Lee can't keep secrets and Azula uses them like weapons."
"I'll keep this secret! I promise!" Ty Lee zealously insists in a shrill tone.
"You better," Mai says gravely, steely-eyed.
"I think you know who the father is, but you're embarrassed," Azula says, crossing her arms. She looks smug, and Mai wants to slap her. It is a miracle that she restrains herself.
"I think it's none of your business and—" Mai's phone buzzes and she stops talking to look at it. "And my dad is here to pick me up, so I'll see you two at school tomorrow."
"But, Mai!" Ty Lee cries out, her eyebrows shooting up.
"But nothing," Mai coolly snaps as she shoves four pregnancy tests and their boxes into her backpack and runs for it. She knows her friends probably think she is weird for not throwing these away, but the last thing she needs is for the baby's father to suspect.
Mai is concerned about two things:
She can only hide this for so long, which means her parents will know… and the baby's father probably will too.
On Wednesday, the girls share no morning classes, and Mai avoids both Azula and Ty Lee until lunchtime. She cannot hide now that they are in their piano closet.
It is an abandoned room of the school where the trio always eats lunch. Azula sits on the piano bench, Mai sits in a half-broken metal chair, and Ty Lee sits on the floor. They are like lions.
"So, what will you do about the baby?" Ty Lee asks, finally bursting. She did not know how she could hold it in much longer.
"I put a lot of thought into the three options and I haven't decided yet," says Mai. "An abortion would be easiest, but I think giving it up for adoption wouldn't terrible, seeing as that's how my parents got me. As much as I hate my parents…"
Mai shrugs. She does not know how to explain the feeling she gets when she thinks about her parents acquiring her. They both are such assholes, but… Ugh. Mai cannot even explain it to herself.
"Well, you gotta tell the dad," Ty Lee says, licking the spoon she liberated from her pudding cup. "That's important. You gotta tell us who the dad is too. That's also important."
"I need to think before I tell him. I don't know which of those two things I'm doing yet. If I just have an abortion I don't need to tell him. If I adopt it, I probably have to tell people something. Trust me when I say that I can't have the dad finding out or anybody finding out I slept with him."
Ty Lee has the best idea. "Well, Zuko's been in love with you for forever! Date him, seduce him and tell him it's his! And then tell me who the real father is because I'm your best friend and deserve to know," Ty Lee suggests, smiling blithely during the darkest lunch hour of Mai's life.
Azula replies before Mai can, "I think that is the best idea I have ever heard. It will finally give my father a good reason to kick Zuko out."
And Mai quickly interjects, "I think that's completely amoral."
And Azula continues, "Or kill him. Maybe he'll kill him. Mai, you have to do it."
And Mai finishes, "But I'm completely amoral, so, sure."
Ty Lee looks thrilled. "You guys think I had a smart idea! This is the best day ever."
"You say that every day."
"Before we leave the piano closet, I want to tell you that my brother is gullible and stupid, but his friends aren't. So, you need to be at least slightly plausible. After being very disinterested in him since middle school, you have to come up with a reason."
"I can't just say I've been hiding my feelings?"
"Ooo, I could ask him out and you could get jealous and then ask him out."
"Or we could push you in front of traffic and he could save your life," Azula suggests.
Mai sighs.
At the end of the school day, Mai walks up to Zuko. That girl Katara and the other three kids leave him, the athlete guy cocking an eyebrow at Zuko. So, they know that he is into her. Mai sighs. Everyone probably does.
When Zuko sees that he is alone with Mai, he slams his locker shut. And slams his finger into it. Zuko growls and shouts a few obscenities, as Mai watches, mildly amused. He turns to her, takes a few deep breathes and broadens his shoulders.
"Zuko," says Mai as he struggles to ignore his probably-broken finger. "I want to ask you something. See, I usually don't care what my two best friends do or think or care about, but they're dating, it repulses me, and I want to piss them off by going out with you."
He squints; Mai stands her ground. "So, you are asking me out to mess with my sister?"
"Yes," she says.
Zuko grins wickedly. "I'm all for it."
Mai lets herself smirk.
"Good," she remarks.
Zuko sits on the bleachers with Katara after lacrosse practice. She is still damp from her duties as captain of the swim team, and holding an open biology textbook on her lap. Zuko steals her notes often; he thinks she will be an awesome surgeon one day.
After a brief greeting, she asks about Mai. He blurts out everything, not holding back. She stares at him with those glimmering cobalt eyes and a skeptical twist to her lips.
"Katara, you don't understand how much I love her," he argues halfway through their heated conversation.
"Yes, I do, because you've told me a thousand times." Katara adjusts her backpack strap. "I also have no problem with Mai and her reasons for asking you out. I don't think there's a single person who doesn't want to spite your sister somehow. I do have a problem when your response to me saying that you shouldn't do this because you love her is that I don't understand how much you love her."
"But I love her," he snaps.
Katara rolls her eyes. "Don't go into Angry Jerk Mode with me."
Mai did not know that Azula would even consider spending an evening in a park. Of course, it is a beautiful one that most would consider romantic, but it is not like her best friend. Still, Mai apparently is supposed to have her fateful date here.
Zuko is awkward. Mai is cold.
The night is muggy and the air poisoned by rampant mosquitos. Azula and Ty Lee exist in their own world of Azula saying something cruel and Ty Lee swooning over it. Mai would be annoyed if this were a regular date, but she supposes she needs to get Zuko alone soon.
In conclusion, it is not a stellar situation, but she is his dream girl and he is her unsuspecting target, and so neither complains or regrets their night.
Mai sits with her drink, beside Zuko, as he talks about boring things, and Azula and Ty Lee make out, which Mai considers to be incredibly disgusting.
Zuko sees her scowling at his sister and her girlfriend and points. "Do you want to go do that?"
"Do what?" Mai has no idea what he is talking about.
Zuko stands up and takes Mai's hand. She tears hers away from his, pushing herself to her feet without help; she does not need it. He wipes his palm on his jeans and smiles, trying not to overthink her actions.
"There are batting cages," he says, which sounds terrible.
Mai hates this date.
As she walks inside with Zuko and a hideous helmet, it occurs to Mai that she should probably not get into a batting cage in her condition, but she does it anyway. It is her best chance to get Zuko closer by the end of the night.
"So, you play baseball?" Mai asks.
"Yes," he replies. "Do you like it?"
"No. It's literally the most boring sport ever invented. Not that there are any particularly interesting ones out there," Mai says dryly and Zuko laughs.
"My dad thinks it's an awful sport. He said football and lacrosse are the only ones worth playing. And even though I caved in to playing lacrosse, I decided to play baseball instead of football, so he broke the TV… or maybe it was the window that time. I don't remember."
Mai thinks about the father of her baby and realizes the extent of how fucked up this scheme is. But when he places the bat in her hands, she forces herself to smile at him.
His returned grin is genuine.
When they emerge from the batting cage, they find that Azula and Ty Lee abandoned them both, and so Zuko offers to drive Mai home. He considers it to be the honorable thing to do; Mai considers it her window of opportunity.
"Stop here," Mai says as Zuko is driving.
She has to do this, has to get it over with as fast as possible. He pulls over into a nearly-empty parking lot and finds a spot.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asks, sounding truly concerned.
Mai has never been good with words, so she does what she does best: she does. She takes Zuko's clammy hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. Mai leans forward and kisses Zuko. They pull back and for a moment do not touch, just look at each other. It makes Mai uncomfortable, so she kisses him again and allows their tongues to meet.
The way his hands are so hesitant to touch her makes her wonder if it is his first time. That should make her feel guilty about what she is doing, but she is too desperate to care.
She feels his hardness against her thigh. He does not try to hide it if he notices.
Their lips part, just barely, still hovering so close.
"Keep going," Mai whispers.
He glides his hand underneath the hem of her skirt, holding eye contact as he does it, furrowing his brow as if he is not sure if she is real. His fingers bypass her panties and briefly touches her stomach, which makes her jump.
"Sorry," he hastily says, blushing.
"No, no," says Mai, frustrated at herself for panicking about that. It is an awkward reminder. "Your hands are just cold."
"Sorry," he says, and as she stares at him expectantly, he keeps going.
His hand returns beneath her skirt and goes up towards her breasts. She gasps. His hand, feathery light, touches the swell underneath one nipple. Mai closes her eyes, a faint smile flickering on her lips for a fleeting second.
She slips off her dress, hurrying this along. Zuko looks at her with a reverence Mai has not seen in the eyes of anyone else before. Certainly not in the eyes of his father.
"I've waited forever to do this," he says, and Mai smiles faintly, admittedly flattered.
His hands again return to her breasts, eager to discover them with his fingertips, and, after a moment, with his tongue, tasting and licking. Mai's body bucks against his when he does. She tries not to think.
When Zuko finally comes back up to her face, Mai sees fire in his eyes.
An inferno, as they continue.
"Did you have sex with him?" is the first thing Ty Lee exclaims into the phone.
Mai moves it away from her ear, rubbing her sleepy amber eyes. So much for sleeping in on a Sunday morning. She only just woke up, and she already has Ty Lee preying on the drama of her love life. Or lack thereof.
"Yes, and it wasn't very good," Mai says honestly. Okay, maybe the look in his eyes was sweet and Mai liked that, but it wasn't exactly wonderful sex.
"So, when do you tell him about…?" Ty Lee's eyebrows shoot up.
Mai rolls her eyes. "I can't instantly tell him I'm pregnant. That's not how it works."
"Ugh. I hate waiting!" Ty Lee complains.
Mai does not know how to respond to that.
That same morning, Zuko comes downstairs and sees his father leaning against the counter in the kitchen.
"Are you waiting for me?" asks Zuko, cocking an eyebrow.
"I know you were on a date last night, and I thought I should tell you that you can't date that girl," Ozai growls, almost scaring his son.
"Why?" Zuko inquires, more curious than angry.
Ozai says with confusing and terrifying fervor, "Because I said you can't and my word is law. I'm acting in your best interest. She probably is just setting you up for a devastating humiliation, because she is not just out of your league; she is another damned sport. Go out with that Lenora girl you spend so much time with."
"Katara, and we're just friends. And I don't think she would have slept with me if she was just setting me up for a devastating humiliation."
Zuko has seen his father break countless things in response to his son's statements, but he was not expecting the coffee pot to shatter, showering Zuko's feet in glass and piping hot fluid.
"Repeat that," growls Ozai.