Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or it's characters.
89
Sullen was the word Mai would have chosen to describe herself at the moment. Sullen. She had been beaten at her own game.
As Iroh cheerfully cleared away the dishes, chattering away in that strangely soothing voice of his, Mai glared across the table at Zuko, who fixed her with a returning smile that was far too smug for her liking.
"Arrogant bastard," she hissed at him.
His smile widened.
"Mai, I'm so glad that you were able to join us this evening," Iroh interrupted as he joined them at the table again. "We get so few visitors."
"That's hard to imagine," Mai said waspishly, "when you have a nephew as lively as Zuko as."
Iroh leaned back in his chair with laughter, his hands going to his belly in mirth.
"Thanks, Uncle," Zuko muttered sarcastically, his grin fading.
"My nephew has a difficult time making new acquaintances," Iroh admitted as the last of his laughter faded away. "But you won't find a more devoted friend."
Mai smiled, a facade of saccharine sweetness. "If you're lucky enough to see that side of him. Most of us see something a bit more... stoic."
"Or, perhaps, dour?" Iroh suggested.
"'Dour'?" Zuko protested.
"It's a family trait," Iroh said. "You should see the rest of us. Family gatherings are a subdued affair."
Zuko scowled. "Until they're not," he muttered under his breath.
"You seem to have escaped with your humor intact," Mai noted to Iroh.
"My good fortune," he said with a winning smile and wink.
She laughed despite herself, and Zuko's scowl deepened. "Alright, Uncle," he said. "Don't you have bingo or something tonight? You said you'd be out late."
"Pickleball," Iroh corrected. He leaned conspiratorially towards Mai. "The prettier ladies play pickleball. Bingo only seems to attract the grumpy ones."
"Maybe you should take Zuko to Bingo Night, then."
Iroh laughed uproariously at that, and Mai couldn't help but smile, a real smile. She could begrudgingly admit to herself that she liked Iroh.
"Well," Iroh said, leaning forward. "I'd better go. You two have a good evening. Don't wait up!" he added with a chuckle.
Sokka stared at his phone with apprehension, his heart thudding in his chest, bile in his throat. His palm itched. He wanted to answer; Spirits, did he want to. But hurt and an ache in his heart stayed his hand.
What else was there to say that hadn't already been said?
Haru muted the TV, turning wary eyes to Sokka and his phone, still vibrating on the end table. "It's late," Haru noted softly. He checked his watch. "It's really late."
"I know," Sokka said.
"You think she's drunk?"
Sokka chewed his lower lip nervously. Drunk-dialing didn't seem like Suki's thing. "What if she's hurt?"
The phone fell silent, sitting there as if nothing had happened at all. "Maybe you should call her back," Haru suggested nervously. "Just to be sure."
And Sokka agreed; he really did. But he had a feeling that she was safe and that this conversation would take more of him than he had to give. That she would take more than he had right now. It didn't matter, though. Good or ill, he had already cleared his passcode, her number dialed, and he was bringing the phone to his ear.
When she picked up, her sigh of relief was audible. "Sokka," she said, her voice spilling from her, soft and breathy, and he felt a stab in his chest.
He waited, but nothing else was coming. "Are you alright?"
"What do you think?" she asked with a humorless laugh, but there was no bite in her voice.
He frowned. "I mean, are you in danger, or something?"
"I'm at home." He could almost hear her apprehension. "Sokka, I'm so sorry about calling. I just... needed to hear your voice."
He sighed. "I know." And he did know. Three days without her, and every passing minute grew harder to not pick up the phone himself.
"I have no right to call- I know," she said in a rush. "I just wanted to hear you. And to say I'm sorry. I'm thinking about the things you said. I really am."
"That's good to hear," he replied cautiously.
Silence hung between them, traveling across the line like ripples from a pond. Then, "Can we talk soon? In person?"
He wanted to scream, 'yes, now'. He wanted to say 'no', hard and firm.
"If you're ready?" she added quietly, almost weakly, and it was nothing like her.
"Are you ready?" he asked instead, because that was the truth of the matter. Sokka would go home to her right now, if he could. If he thought it would make a difference.
But there was silence at the other end of the line again, suffocating them.
"We won't heal, either together or apart, if we don't figure this out," she said finally, and she sounded like herself again. More confident. "So, please, Sokka. I just want to figure this out."
He chewed his lower lip. "We can talk on Monday." That was in two days. Plenty of time to prepare.
Again, she paused, and he could almost hear all the things she wasn't saying. "Monday," she agreed.
"Did you have a good time with my uncle, making jokes at my expense?" Zuko asked sourly, shortly after Iroh left.
"I did, actually," Mai said, surprising even herself. "He seems really nice."
Zuko looked down at his hands, folded together on the table. "He's the best person I know."
"Maybe you should remember that the next time you're fussy that he's making jokes at your expense," she teased.
"He's only ever done that with you."
Mai shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."
"He likes you."
"I like him."
Zuko glanced nervously up at her. "He'll be upset if things don't work out between us."
"How would they not work out? Things only work out for the best when you're doing whatever you want." She stood from her chair and walked around the table, pulling Zuko's chair out to straddle him. She buried her hands in his hair.
"I can't sleep with you tonight," he murmured.
"Can't, or won't?"
"Won't."
She leaned back. "Why not?"
"I like you," he said, and the rasping burr of his voice sent a thrill down her spine. "Maybe too much."
"It takes a special kind of idiot to cock-block himself," Mai grumbled. "If you like me, we should pick up where we left off."
His hands circled her waist, lifting her easily before setting her back on her feet. When he stood, their chests brushed together, and their noses brushed. "I want to date you. That's the caveat. I won't sleep with you until we're dating. If it's just sex you want, you'll have to look somewhere else."
She raised one eyebrow archly. "And what will you do if I do find sex somewhere else?"
"Mope for a while," he answered honestly. "Then, I'd date someone else, I suppose."
The way he stared at her, though; it was like he knew. There wasn't going to be anyone else. "You'll break before I do," she said.
He stepped back, and smiled. "We'll see."
Suki was sprawled out on the couch when Katara got home, huddled under blankets and watching some D-list movie with one of those actresses that you only ever see in D-list movies. She strode over to her friend and sat down beside her, pulling her heels off one by one and tossing them in the corner.
"How was the benefit?" Suki asked, her voice subdued. Her voice was only ever subdued lately.
"I'm not actually sure," Katara said honestly. "I think it was nice- but I was out-maneuvered by Toph, and I don't know whether I want to fight her or kiss her."
Suki laughed weakly. "I'd like to see that."
"Which one?"
"Either."
Katara snorted. "If I tried to do the second one, it'd probably end with the first one."
Suki smiled a little, the first one Katara had seen on her face in days. "So, how did she 'out-maneuver' you?"
"She got me a fucking job- at Kuzon's gym," Katara said almost bitterly.
Suki bolted upright. "What? How?"
"I'm making a lot of assumptions, here, so don't quote me on this," Katara began, "but I think she goaded me into going to that event so that I could meet with her mother's friend who happens to be the Dean of Ba Sing Se University, so that she could tell the Dean that I couldn't get my credits to transfer to the university in the Fire Nation. And, behind all this, she also got Kuzon to offer me a paid internship at his gym- which legitimizes my 'special circumstances' transfer of credits." She recited all of this almost dully. "And then she told the Dean about it. The Dean, who asked me to send an email to her personal email on Monday about it." Katara shook her head in disbelief.
Suki blinked in surprise. "Well... shit. What is she, a mastermind?"
"Or just an asshole."
"What do you mean?" Suki asked, frowning. "I thought this was a good thing."
Katara blew a stray lock of hair from her face. "Aang and I have just made our peace with staying here. Things are going really well for us. And here comes Toph, throwing a wrench in the plan. Like always."
"You might be grateful that she has," Suki began, but Katara cut her off.
"She always does stuff like this, and it's so fucking irritating, and she's so smug about it," Katara burst out. "I mean, what now? Should I tell Aang? I kind of feel like I have to. But it's just, like, the way she does stuff. I'm nervous about telling Aang, but I think he'll be happy over all. But then I'll owe Toph, which I think I'd rather cut off my right arm than owe her a favor."
"That seems dramatic."
Katara snorted indelicately again. "You haven't spent that much time with her. She's so... so... smug." She let out an irritated little laugh. "I hate that I appreciate what she did."
"I think you're going to really come to appreciate after what happened tonight while you were at the benefit," Suki said, eyeing Katara nervously. "Because, well- maybe you didn't enjoy your night, but Aang definitely didn't enjoy his."
A quizzical look crossed Katara's features. "What happened?"
"He got in a fight- with Jet."
There was a beat, an almost cliched dramatic pause. "What? Is he okay? Oh, for Spirit's fucking sake, what is wrong with that guy?" Katara demanded, looking up towards the ceiling as if the Spirits with answers were hovering above her. "How did it happen?"
"I guess Jet goes to his gym now, and they happened to be there at the same time, and Jet goaded him..." Suki shrugged. "I wasn't able to get the full explanation, Aang seems pretty embarrassed of himself-"
"Of himself?" Katara interrupted. "Did he punch first?"
Suki laughed dryly. "Not even close; Jet got two hits in before Aang even swung. So, yea, when you see him, watch out for his jaw and his stomach."
"What the fuck-"
"He's okay," Suki promised. "It's not as bad as all that."
"Where is he?" Katara demanded, standing from the couch.
Suki jerked her head towards Katara's room. "He's in there, passed out. I think he wandered into your room for comfort? Or maybe he was confused, I don't know."
"Because of his injuries?"
"Probably because of all the liquor," Suki admitted. "We got liquor and ice cream. Used the tubs of ice cream to ice his jaw and ribs, and the liquor to help him feel better."
"Liquor is only a pain-killer in movies, Suki," Katara said through gritted teeth. "We have ibuprofen for that."
Suki bit her lip. "It was more for inside injuries than outside injuries."
"What, like, internal bleeding?"
"No," Suki said, waving her hand dismissively. "Emotional wounds. I bought the liquor for me, but it turns out we both needed it."
"For fuck's sake. Suki, we are going to talk about this in the morning," Katara heaved in exasperation. "But for now, I think I need to check in on Aang."
She pushed through the door, eyes adjusting to the darkness of her room, illuminated only by the fairy lights strung across her headboard. Aang was curled in a ball on her bed, legs tangled with the sheets, and even in the darkness, Katara could see the bruises formed on his stomach, blossoming like red and purple flowers under his skin. Her eyes traveled upward, to the matching bruise that wrapped around the sharp angle on the right side of his jaw. She frowned, a little furrow creasing her brow in concern as she shimmied out of her dress and crawled into bed with him.
As soon as she lay down, he pulled her to him, pressing her against the warmth of his chest, even in sleep.
"What a mess we all are," Katara murmured to herself, one hand going up to brush gently against the black and blue skin on his jaw.
"Hmm?" he murmured, still cocooned in drink-induced sleep.
She burrowed closer to him. "It's nothing. We'll talk in the morning. Sleep, now."
He nodded. "Love you."
"I love you, too."
A/N: You guys, I am SO SORRY about this past week. Some things came up- work, family, etc. It never rains but pours, as they say, and A3E had to fall to the wayside for a little bit. Cannot apologize enough. I appreciate your patience, though.