Boring bliss

„You're not always easy to be around, you know?", he tells me, eyeing me peculiarly from the side.

"Oh, really?", I respond, dryly, but a smile tugs at my lips.

I'm in quite a good mood today. I don't exactly like it. Recently, he's making me a little too lightheaded.

"Yep."

I shrug. "Well, you're not the easiest person to be around, either, Zuko."

He laughs, quietly. "Good to know. Can you give me an example?"

"You started it.", I challenge, casually. "You go first."

"Hm. Okay.", he comments, gazing at the bottom of his drink.

I don't know what that is, exactly, - his drink,- but the red liquid looks quite nice. I might steal a sip of it sometime soon, if the air in this room stays as hot as it is right now.

I never really enjoyed parties. This one is particularly annoying. I don't really know this friend of Ty Lee, - just like I don't know any of the other blokes that are trying to gain her attention, tonight,- but, for some weird reason she insisted on Zuko, Azula and me joining her, anyway. I think she wants to recreate what happened on Ember island, but in a less frustrating and less emotional sort of way. She wants the four of us to collect some teenage memories together. If it wasn't so annoying to be here, I'd find her eagerness almost... not horrible.

No one in this room knows about Zuko's and Azula's royal heritage, obviously,- we're all "partying incognito", if you want to call it like that. Ty Lee does. It would not really count as a normal teenage experience if everyone started worshipping their royal siblings all night long. So we're wearing a bunch of unusual clothes, travelled a little further, and pretend to have fun, or something. That's Ty Lee's view of the matter. Not mine, I just want to go home. I'm getting tired.

"You are pretty negative", Zuko begins, turning my thoughts back to our present conversation. Well, yeah, obviously, I think, and I can tell that he's got more to say, but wants to watch my reaction first. So I simply raise an eyebrow.

"You're often moody or annoyed at things", he continues, "Even totally unimportant things."

"Interesting", I comment. "And you aren't?"

"Well..."

"I think you are, Zuko.", I mention, casually. "You're often grumpy, too. And sometimes, you've got quite an annoying temper. Skip the "sometimes", you're actually throwing a tantrum every few hours. Well, on some days. Oh, and you can be ridiculously insecure. And jealous.", I add, matter-of-factly.

"Well, at least I'm an open book.", he counters. "You are suppressing your emotions so often, Mai! To an almost unhealthy degree."

"Some people would call it containment, I think. Demureness."

"I wouldn't.", he tells me, shaking his head and gazing at my features. I hadn't really noticed how close we are sitting to each other. It was his idea, really, to hide behind one of the large silk curtains that decorate the house. It's nicer to be away from big crowds, for us both.

"No?", I enquire,

"No... Mai, I... I like seeing you reveal things to me."

"But you think it's not enough?", I ponder, curious. I wonder if he can somehow hear the masked uncomfortableness in my voice as I speak.

He looks confused. His eyes flicker across my face, the scarred one and the other one.

"I think you're happy when you reveal things to me, Mai. That's what I mean.", he explains, softly. "It's probably hard, and scary, but I think you're happy when you're done with it."

"And you want me to be happy.", I conclude, dumbly, still not really seeing his point.

"Er... yes?", he answers, barely refraining from rolling his eyes, it seems. But a smile tugs at his lips.

"Well, maybe, I'm my happiest when I can be as moody and negative as I like." It doesn't sound like a challenge. I'm merely stating a fact.

"I know you kind of are.", Zuko tells me. "That's why I don't really want you to change all that much, I suppose."

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

He laughs, shrugging.

"Don't know. Because I'm bored?"

I hide a grin, and snuggle slightly closer to him. I notice that his eyes turn very soft, as he looks at me...

"I like being bored together with you, Zuko. And you're not as much of an open book as you might think, by the way.", I mutter towards him, quietly.

His hand curls gently around my wrist.

"Good.", he comments, staring at the curtain in front of us again.

The party noise seems to fade even more. And we sigh, in blissful boredom.

Just a little something. Hope it's not entirely OOC.