This was written for the Valentine's Day Challenge at Promptbending (link is on my profile). The rules are listed at the end. And, yes, it is shameless Maiko fluff.

Fire Lilies and Ribbons

Flowers. There were flowers everywhere.

Mai curled her lip at the flame-coloured lilies that now decorated every building and archway in great bunches, with some made into wreaths while others just hung from chip-straw baskets. The scent of the flowers was overwhelming, and while the floral, slightly sweet smell was by no means repulsive, it still made her feel like she was choking on too much perfume. She sighed. It looked like the Fire Lily Festival was back for another round of torture.

Her eyes widened as a horrible thought occurred to her. She hoped that Zuko wasn't planning to make her suffer through all that sick-making nonsense just because they were dating. She'd rather bury her head in a bucket of ocean kumquats than participate in those ridiculous traditions the Fire Nation deemed romantic. It was the same every year. Men raced around to hand out fire lilies to claim their sweethearts, women dressed up in their finest red silk and exchanged hair ribbons for flowers to show that they had accepted a man's affections, and then there was dancing and fireworks, and—ugh. It was just so stupid and fake; the kind of obligatory rubbish that made Ty Lee clap her hands with joy and made Mai wish she was dead so that she wouldn't have to suffer the awfulness of it any longer.

Needless to say, when Zuko finally showed up with a fire lily in hand, his girlfriend was not impressed.

"This is for you," he said, holding out the flower to her.

Mai stared at the red petals as if they were poison. "Thanks," she said dryly.

He laughed lightly, perhaps expecting such a reaction. "You know, tradition states you're supposed to give me a ribbon in exchange."

She gave a blasé shrug. "I guess it slipped my mind this morning."

His mouth curved into a smile, which gave Mai pause. Normally, Zuko would be getting flustered and grumpy by now because she wasn't playing along with his attempts to be a 'normal' couple. Instead, he seemed to have expected that she would make things difficult, and now he was stepping behind her, so close that she could feel his breath tickling the sensitive skin on the back of her neck. Her blood stirred in a lazy coil of warmth, reminding her that she was rather attracted to this stupid boy who was determined to follow the Fire Lily Festival traditions. In fact, it was quite the distraction having him so close.

"Well," he murmured, lips brushing her ear, "that problem is easily fixed."

She only just caught on to his plan when his deft fingers snatched the ribbons from her ox-buns, letting her hair unwind from the style and tumble free like black silk. A gasp escaped her lips, and she swung around to retrieve her stolen ribbons, even as he laughed and backed away, holding his prize to his chest. Both of them knew how improper this situation was. It was one thing to offer a hair ribbon in exchange for a flower on the Fire Lily Festival day; it was another to allow one's hair to be completely down while in the company of a male who was not one's husband or family—especially if said unmarried male was the one who had removed the ribbons in the first place.

"Give them back, Zuko," she ordered, folding her arms under her breasts.

"I'll give you back one," he said, and she was disgusted to see a cheeky smile playing on his lips. "Tradition states the other belongs to me now."

Mai's eyes narrowed. Oh, he was in so much trouble.

"How about I just leave you pinned to that wall over there?" she suggested, raising one dark eyebrow. "I could do it, you know."

"I don't doubt it," he said, and then offered her one of the black ribbons. "Or you could just let me have the ribbon and I can take you to the picnic that I've prepared for us."

A flicker of interest glinted in her brown eyes, but her voice was as dry and sarcastic as ever. "What, no dancing and fireworks? And here I thought you'd want to partake in the city festivities, since you seem to be all about following tradition at the moment."

Zuko gave her a look, as if to ask whether they were going to stand here arguing about this all day or whether she was going to let him carry out his little romantic plan. A weary sigh escaped her lips.

"Fine," she said, looking the other way.

He smiled and once again came to stand behind her. She was about to demand what he was doing—because she was not going to let him blindfold her like last time—but instead she felt his fingers slip through her hair, gathering the silky locks into his hands. Her heart gave a funny flutter in her chest, and she stood very still, conscious of every touch as he weaved her hair into a single plait and then tied it in place with the spare ribbon. Did he not realise how intimate his gesture was, or did he just not care?

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her forward. "It's this way."

She wanted to roll her eyes at the animated glint in his irises, but instead she decided to humour her boyfriend and allowed him to lead her to the lookout that overlooked the ocean. There were no masses of fire lilies up here or stupid people acting out a prescribed routine to express their love just because it was the Fire Lily Festival. Instead, there was just a blanket laid out on the ground for two, as well as a basket of food and wine. Mai had to admit that she was impressed.

Zuko pulled her down with him onto the blanket, still keeping his fingers interlocked with hers. "I know we haven't really got the chance to be alone now that I'm Fire Lord," he said quietly, "so I wanted to do something just for us today."

"What about the flower and ribbon?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

His cheeky smile surfaced. "You hate fire lilies so much that I just couldn't resist."

He got a flat glare for that, but Zuko just laughed and somehow—damn him—managed to coax a tiny smile out of her as well. She hated the way he always managed to get under her guard—hated and loved him for it. He made her feel like the world was upside down and like her heart was some unruly drum, beating to a rhythm of his own creation. He made her feel like she had no control at all, and sometimes that was scary, but then there were also times, like now, when it just felt so right. Everything always felt right when they were together.

A more serious glint entered his eyes, and he leaned forward and cupped her cheek with his hand. Her breathing quickened in anticipation, and then he was closing the distance between them and brushing his lips against hers. So soft, so tender. Her eyelashes fluttered shut, and for a moment the world simply ceased to exist. There was only the gentle caress of his hands, the intoxicating taste of his kisses, and the unspoken words whispered in every touch, every shared breath.

I love you.

Her fingers traced their way to the ribbon tied around his wrist, and the faintest of smiles curved her lips. Somehow, the tradition didn't seem so bad now. It did mark him as hers, after all, and that was something she could celebrate. However, no amount of affection would ever get her to put one of those infernal flowers in her hair. One had to draw the line at some point.

Prompt: Write an AtLA or LoK version of Valentine's Day. Bonus points if you can work in different traditions for each of the nations, or, in the case of Republic City in LoK, some kind of blend of the different traditions. Any pairing goes - fanon or canon - or you can feature no pairing at all if you want to go the grumpy "Down With Love" route.

Length: Anything goes.

Deadline: February 14th.

Note: This is actually a revised version, as I realised all too late that I had gone with our own conception of fire lilies (which are orange) instead of AtLA's red fire lilies. The fluff is still the same, though. ;)