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Maikka Week - Demands

"I'm bored. Entertain me."

"I'm hungry. Find me some food."

"I hate this place. Take me somewhere exciting."

Sokka didn't think of himself as an unreasonable person. Katara was the type to expect that the world would conform to her expectations and be peaceful and balanced and fair to women. Sokka, however, was just looking to get through each day with the people he loved safe and his stomach full. Making waves caused trouble, and trouble always seemed to find a way to center on Sokka, whether or not he was the one causing the trouble in the first place. Sure, he had demanded a real answer from Yue before the siege, and forgiveness from Suki on a number of occasions during the war, and Zuko's acceptance after the both the war and Suki, but that was hardly unreasonable. Those demands were designed to cause less trouble.

Mai, however, considered a reasonable attitude to be a sign of weakness.

Maybe it was a Noble thing, or some kind of attitude problem common to the Fire Nation. It wasn't even that she would rattle off demands as they occurred to her, but she couldn't even be bothered to phrase them nicely. The word, "please," simply did not exist in Mai's vocabulary, and her voice just didn't include the capability to shift into soft or endearing tones.

She tossed out demands the way she tossed out sharp metal things- whenever she was bored, in great quantity, and with all her strength.

At first, Sokka had catered to her demands. It wasn't a conscious decision; it was just what boys first falling in love do. After he was able to once again see her faults, he tried twisting her demands back at her to teach her a lesson.

"Get me some fire flakes."

"Say please."

"..."

"I'm not getting you anything until you say it."

"..."

"OW!!!"

That hadn't gone well. So, being an idiot, he decided to escalate the conflict. He'd obligingly do whatever she asked, but somehow poison his offering in hopes of getting his point across. If she wanted fire flakes, she'd get fire gummies. If she wanted entertainment, he'd start quoting Toph's jokes. If she wanted to go somewhere interesting, he'd take her to visit Katara.

Turned out that strategy wasn't any less painful for him.

However, as dangerous as Mai could be, she was just one very effective warrior. Sokka, though? Sokka was an unstoppable military campaign waiting to happen. There wasn't any situation in the world that Sokka couldn't turn to his advantage, given enough time and resources. Fortunately, when it came to Mai, he could work quickly.

He began anticipating her demands.

Boredom? Whenever she was sitting still and not engaging her brain. Food? She was always hungry three hours after every meal. A need to break something? Her fingers would start working in anticipation of fondling her sharp metal things. Alone time? She stopped talking and making eye contact.

It was simple, really, when you paid attention.

At first, Mai had been put off balance. Maybe she relied on her demands as an outlet of some kind? Or maybe she was trying to figure out what Sokka might have done wrong and was trying to make up for. As it went on, though, she grew increasingly more uncomfortable. She started mumbling her thanks afterward. Then came something Sokka wished he could record for all time- a surprised, "You didn't have to do that." He still marveled over that one, at times. The final step was even more shocking.

She reciprocated.

She tried to anticipate his own needs, and address them before he had to tell her. Granted, she wasn't very good at it, at first, but she figured it out eventually. That was one of the things about Mai that he truly felt was worth all her flaws; she could discern a vector, and plot an intercept faster than the human eye could see, so he had never to leave her behind.

"Come on, let's take you shopping."

Yeah, Mai could be a demanding girlfriend, but there was something beneath it all that Sokka truly loved.

END