Writer's Note: What do crack pairing discussions and the promise of drawings give birth to? Why, Mai/Sokka smut, of course! Blame Secondlina, okay?

Warning: Occurs post series, as a semi-sequel to "Negotiations", and contains spoilers. Also contains some adult content which should be read with discretion.

Sometimes, when Zuko and Suki were "preoccupied", Sokka and Mai were left in each other's company. Long ago, both had accepted that there was some kind of chemistry between their spouses, and rather than make a fuss over it (since Mai also loved Suki and Sokka also loved Zuko, in their own ways), they just shrugged and found other ways to keep themselves busy.

The first time they were thrown together, it was painfully awkward - at first. Mai sat across from Sokka, the tea table before them. Sokka was busy stuffing his face and alternately taking sips of tea, while Mai sat and watched, fascinated by his ability to do this without choking to death. However, no words were exchanged for a while, until Sokka blurted out, "Hey, did you make this tea?"

Mai blinked slowly, surprised out of her reverie. He looked up at her with wide eyes, one hand holding a fritter, the other pointing at her tea set. "Yes," she agreed, blushing a little. She didn't like to mention her tea-making to many people, since it was part of a past that she wasn't proud of.

"It's great!" he declared, smiling wide. "You should really think about teaming up with Iroh, maybe getting him to sell your blends. I would have bet that he had made this!" He held out the fritter. "Hey, you're not eating. Want?"

Mai blinked again, then reached out and gingerly took the slightly squashed fritter from him. "Thank you," she said.

"Don't sweat over it," he said suddenly, his eyes no longer wide. She looked over at him, and he nodded. "You're thinking about it, right? About the two of them?"

She blushed deeper. "Maybe," she answered, loathe to admit that it had been on her mind more than once.

"Look, they're not stupid. Suki wouldn't risk getting pregnant, and Zuko loves you way more than anyone else in this world. It's just silly, stupid fun." He said this all calmly, in a matter-of-fact that was really surprising. He leaned back and sipped the tea slowly, now taking the time to enjoy it. "Really, you have nothing to worry about. He won't go anywhere."

Mai began tearing into the fritter with her nails, looking down at the floor. "How did you know I was worried?"

"Because I was, too," he admitted easily. "But I trust her. I trust them both."

She looked up again, her eyes falling on his. He smiled at her, and she felt comforted.

"I was totally serious about the tea thing, by the way," he went on. "You could rival Iroh's customer-base any day."

She smiled, biting into the fritter, and Sokka poured her a mug of tea.

After that, they got to know each other better. Sometimes, even when Suki and Zuko weren't busy, Mai would invite Sokka over to the Palace just for company or friendship. She found him easy to talk to, incredibly likable, and while they had very different personalities, there was something refreshing about that.

For Sokka, he enjoyed the visits solely based on whether or not he had managed to get Mai to crawl out of her shell in some form; a smile or small laugh was good, a loud laugh or shout was better. He liked to test her limits, like talking about controversial things that he knew she hated in order to get a rise out of her. She had an eerie sort of icy beauty when she was within her shell, but out of it she was all fire, all passion and outrage and searing wit. The double-nature of her was something he really liked, and soon he looked for excuses to be in the Fire Nation, to find a way into the Palace to just spend time with her.

One evening, when both Zuko and Suki were in actual meetings (and not "meetings"), Mai leaned over the tea table and said, very flatly, "Kiss me."

Sokka almost spat out tea, but luckily had finished swallowing it when she spoke. She had planned it that way, anyway. "Wh-what?"

"What was so hard about that, Sokka? Kiss me."

"Why?"

Mai's cheeks went pink, and he swallowed hard. "Because, you idiot," she answered, the flatness gone. "I'm bored, and you're attractive."

Sokka blinked, then shrugged. "Okay," he said, setting his cup down. He leaned over the table and kissed her. It was awkward, and quick, since they had never kissed before. But it was still pleasant in that new sort of way. Both had kept their eyes open and on each other, so when Sokka said, "Hang on, lemme try again, I'm better than that," she smiled and closed her eyes.

This time he kissed her, and she felt it in her blood. He put a hand to her cheek and pulled her close, pressed his lips to hers, and she felt a slow burn from her gut to her fingertips. His lips were smooth and moist, but not overly wet that would make the kiss gross. She reached up and put a hand to his shoulder, urging him to come closer, but she had forgotten the tea table he stumbled over it, breaking the kiss in order to gain back his balance.

After a few more awkward attempts (Mai discovered that, to her surprise, she was actually taller than Sokka – who knew?), they both decided to just sit on one couch side-by-side and kiss that way. It worked out much better that way, and pretty soon the kisses grew from simple to deeper to intense.

Mai's hands were on Sokka's shoulders, and her grip was firm and intent on keeping him in once place while she kissed him, and he had to admit that he rather liked that. She seemed to know what she wanted, and while he was used to that with Suki, Mai was more intent on displaying it. One thing that threw him was how quiet Mai was – even when she let his hands slide down her sides and she shivered, she didn't utter a sound. He was so used to Suki making noises in response to his actions that he wasn't sure he was doing it right. That is, until he looked at Mai's face, and saw her eyes half-closed, glazed over, her usually pale face flushed pink with her pleasure.

This, he concluded, leaning down and kissing the curve of her neck, was something he could get used to.

After that, it didn't take too long for them to get to more serious things.

Sokka liked a challenge. Mai liked to present herself as a challenge. This led to several encounters that resulted in nothing, but were still just as thrilling as – theoretically – the real event.

"I'm bored."

Sokka grinned and patted the space beside him. "I can entertain you."

She sniffed. "I highly doubt that."

"You just haven't had the chance to try."

"I don't like chances. They're icky, and can go either way. I like definite things."

"I can definitely tell you it's worth your while to come over and sit beside me."

So she would. And they would kiss again. And perhaps touch. Only never too far, not at first. It was too new, and Mai had admitted once, "I like to keep things going slow for a long time. It makes it all tantalizing."

Sokka, who usually rushed head-first into things when it came to love and sex, found this somewhat difficult to deal with. However, eventually, he found himself thinking of ways to get Mai to open up, to get her to make a sound, to get her to reach for him first, and all of a sudden, he was a big fan of slow.

Mai was all sharp angles. She wasn't overly skinny, but she was rather lean, and her curves were modest at best. Sokka found out that she really liked to wear layers and layers - and layers and layers - of loose clothing, mostly because it was comfortable, but also because she didn't want to be oogled at.

"It's okay if you do, though," she said casually, shrugging off the last layer and revealing a white camisole underneath. The bright colour was surprising, since she usually favoured black and dark red. "I get that you're not all about... well..." And here she made a few gestures in the air, suggested generous breasts and buttocks.

"Don't get me wrong," he answered, leaning in close to brush the hair from her bare shoulder - she wore it loose sometimes, and now was one of those times. "I like that stuff. But I also like girls to be strong and tough. You usually don't see a great deal of huge breasts and gigantic butts on athletic girls."

Mai sighed deeply, closing her eyes halfway as he kissed her neck, trailing his lips down her neck slowly. "Now you're just being a pig," she said lightly, reaching up and undoing his wolf-tail with ease.

He looked up and blinked through his bangs in surprise. "I am not!"

"Athletic girls can have curves, idiot."

"Like who?"

"Like Ty Lee!"

"Ohh..." And he went pink, clearly thinking about that. "You're right."

"Hey." She grabbed his chin roughly, and his eyes went back to hers. "Thoughts on me." He nodded, and she let go.

"You don't have to worry," he said, and for once he sounded serious - when together, he didn't usually sound serious - and she listened. "You're pretty sexy for someone who seems to enjoy being gloomy."

She smiled. That was the right thing to say. She tilted her head up and captured his mouth with hers, reaching up and snaking her arms around his naked waist. He complied, his hands gentle over her skin, his fingers always whisper-soft over delicate curves.

Water Tribe men were, Mai discovered, rather intense lovers. For a people raised in freezing temperatures, she would have thought that Sokka would be a slow lover, one that revelled in the sensual rather than the sexual. But Sokka surprised her with his intensity, his need to get there, his want to rush in and just move. It was an intensity she was used to with Zuko, but at the same time, it took her by surprise, since Sokka was - of course - a different man altogether.

For starters, though, he insisted that she choose the position the first time. She thought that was rather odd but she liked it, liked being given some power from the start. She opted for being on top, since both wanted their first time together on the couch, and this would be the best way to do it. It started simple enough; their eyes were locked together, their breath held, and once that distance was closed, there was a sort of mutual sigh of relief, a feeling like an itch finally being scratched.

Mai, at first, set the pace - she was selfish, refused to look at him, and kept her face hidden when she came. He protested that, wanting to look at her, but also knew better than to argue with her - especially since her coming brought a sound from her, which he liked.

But Sokka then decided to keep her on her toes, so to speak. She liked it when he kept her guessing, and she should have guessed that going to bed with him would be the same. Instead of moving her to the bottom or making it easier for him to come next, he instead said, very softly, "Can you go again? I like listening to you."

"Uh," she paused, looking up breathlessly. "But I thought, you know... it's your turn?"

"Nah, I'm good," he answered quite seriously. "Can you go again?"

"With help," she admitted with a small smile.

"Awesome." And with that, just like that, he flipped her over on her back and kissed her, pressing close, closer, until he was as close as possible and moving once more. Against her lips, he murmured, "Tell me what's good, and when you're close. I like fast, but it's all good."

"Fast," she agreed. And he complied, to the point of taking her breath away and forcing her to cling to him. This was nothing at all like she had ever felt before; with Zuko, it was familiar, learned, and easy, but with Sokka, everything was like an urgency, a need, and there was nothing familiar about it. She found that she couldn't keep her usual silence, and once Sokka learned that, he pushed and prodded and shifted to get her to make more noise, which, in the end, brought him to climax faster than he anticipated.

And he watched her when she came. She usually was too shy to have anyone see her face when it happened, though Zuko would often coax her once or twice, but Sokka looked every time, so often that she found herself keeping her eyes open when she could, just to prove that she knew he was watching, that she was challenging him to watch her, and that she invited him to take that challenge each time.

It was so easy.

After that first time, things seemed to get even better. Sokka liked to make it a game. Once, out of the blue, for example, he would challenge her to spar.

"Spar," she blinked, her hands on the front of his pants. "What?"

"Yeah, come on," he said excitedly, watching her frown and her eyes narrow. "Let's go spar."

Which would bring her to lead him to the work-out rooms of the Palace, the dojo. With the same frown and her hands hidden in her sleeves, she said, "Okay. Go."

Sokka clapped once, then affected a stance. "Try your best move!" He was pretty confident, after all; he had practised for a good week for this. However, in one throw of her arm, Mai had him pinned to the wall behind him with half a dozen arrows. He shouted, and she smirked, "And that wasn't even my best move."

"Okay, okay," he grunted, wiggling and prising the arrows out of his clothes. "No weapons! No pointy things! Just hand-to-hand combat!"

She sighed. "Sokka, I don't want to fight right now. I'm in a bad mood because Zuko's been in the North for a week and has to stay another week. I want to get laid. Why are you denying me this?"

Sokka smirked this time. "What, afraid that I can dominate you this way, as well as in bed?"

Her face darkened, and inwardly he crowed in success. He knew damn well that he didn't dominate (much) in bed (and the times he did were supposed to "never be mentioned again."). He held himself at a stance again, and this time she came forward, hands out and ready to smack him.

From there, it was a pure grappling match. Mai struck, slapped, and punched her way towards him, and he parried, met, and exchanged a few blows in return. Eventually, he got her talking, which was what he wanted. She started with a few curses, especially when it proved that her forte was not in hand-to-hand, and then it graduated to name-calling. When that had no effect on him, she started taunting, and when that didn't work, she ended up shouting out, finally, "Why are you being such a jerk?"

She coupled this with a wide punch to his shoulder, which he caught easily. He slid his other arm around her waist and pulled her close, smiling in a way that made her eyes blaze, but he took the fire of her rage without flinching.

"Because," he said simply, "You looked like you needed a way to vent."

"That's what sex is for!" she blurted out, embarrassed.

"Nah," he answered. "Sex is for feeling good. Sparring is for getting the bad stuff out. And I bet you feel better, right?"

She sighed, then slumped against him, her hand limp in his grasp. "You're a dick," she mumbled against his shoulder.

"And you feel better," he replied cheerfully, squeezing her into a hug. "Admit it."

A pause. Then, "Sex now?"

"Of course."

And so it went. Mai had thought that she had been pretty friendly with Sokka before, but now - maybe especially because of this - she felt much closer. She loved him in a way that spoke of deep connection, of opposite attraction and respect, of being cheered up in stupid ways and given the chance to laugh at herself. Sokka mutually loved Mai in a way that spoke of surprising tenderness and the chance to realise different things about himself - and how he related to other people.

When the four of them were together, there was a sense of relaxation, of love and devotion, that came from that mutual understanding on all sides. They were all best friends, dear lovers, and husbands and wives - just together.

Suki, however, was always up for something new. "So, how should we pair off next? I guess Sokka, you're with Zuko? And Mai, with me?"

Which led to, unfortunately, various degrees of tea being choked on or spat out.