Sweet.
Zuko hates fruits tarts.
He can try all he wants but he will always hate them.
Zuko isn't a good liar but he tries, the spirits know it.
He's willing to keep a secret (yes, he is calling it a secret!) just to see her happy.
Because the spirits also know that she isn't an euphoric person.
("So did you like them?" 8 year old Mai asks the next afternoon she comes to visit the palace, her mother is spying by the corner of her eye.
Zuko smiles nervously. "Loved them!"
Mai is happy, so is her mother.)
("Mom, is there a way to tell a girl that her taste in sweets sucks?"
Ursa laughs softly and keeps brushing his hair, he grimaces, he thought she would have stopped by now. "Is it necessary you have to tell her?"
"Well, yeah! So, she can actually start cooking things I actually like!"
"Don't be spoiled and accept a gift, if you really don't like it you can always give it to your sister in secret," Ursa wasn't great at advice, but that didn't mean she didn't try.
Zuko frowns. "I'd rather eat it.")
"Running off during an unimportant meeting in the middle of the earth kingdom only to go to your uncle's teashop and risk getting scolded by grumpy old men who probably have enough visual perception to spot the only dragon alive in modern day history?" Mai sighs. "That's adventurous."
"Danger and safety all at the same time, there's nothing wrong with that." Zuko smiles, eyes closed, against the breeze.
Mai yawns.
Zuko opens one eye, drops his arms altogether and turns around. "Hey, no yawning! We'll have fun!"
Mai rolls her eyes. "Zuko, I think that chasing you around the world has already succeeded all my expectations about what fun is. Right now, my only ambition, is to sleep," She says as she lays against Zuko's dragon.
"Well, wouldn't you want to tell our grandchildren you flew on top of a dragon?"
Mai blushes. "Our?"
Zuko analyzes what he said and turns red from head to toe. "Y-you know wha-t-t I mean." He scratches his back.
"If you say so." Mai smirks and closes her eyes to take a nap.
Zuko was dreading for this day because he knew it would come, he just didn't expect he would be betrayed by his own uncle.
Mai. Cooking. Fruit tarts.
Not a good combination.
Why did his uncle have to suggest it?
"She's going to burn down your Kitchen," Zuko "joked".
"Nonsense, nephew, everyone can learn how to cook. It's better late than never."
"Actually, I might burn everything down. I don't know how to turn on a stove," Mai said monotonously.
Mai. The most skilled knife-thrower in the fire nation. The most threatening girl in the fire nation. Possibly most powerful woman in the fire nation if in the future she decides to become his Firelady instead of dumping him due to having to pretend he was into those awful fruit tarts she loved so much.
She did not know how to something as basic as turning on... a stove?!
Zuko grimaced.
"Stop looking at me with that face." Mai unintentionally pointed at him with the kitchen knife. He gulped.
"Okay, first of all, just because you know how to throw knives, it doesn't mean you know how to hold kitchen knives." He took the knife from her hand and carefully put it in the counter. "and second, I'll turn on the stove for you." Just a tiny flicker from his finger was enough to turn on the oven.
"How was I supposed to do that if I can't bend?" Mai questioned him.
"By asking me, that's what boyfriends are for." He pointed at himself proudly.
"To turn on ovens? That's useful."
"Finally, I am really hungry," Zuko says between pressed teeth; anything to make her happy.
Mai squints and Zuko raises one eyebrow.
"Wait, you actually wanted some?" Mai asks.
"What?" Zuko mutters, "Wait, you didn't make anything for me?"
"Well, I thought you hated them." Mai set down her plate on the table.
"How did you know?! I mean, I never told you!"
Mai blinks. "You seriously can't be asking me that."
"I don't know how to lie." Zuko sighs. "I'm kind of offended but at the same time I am relieved."
Zuko grabs a fruit tart and takes a bite. He makes a face of disgust. "Very relieved."
"I know, they're disgusting. I'm going to give them to your mascot."
"It's a dragon."
"Same difference. Just don't let me near a kitchen again." She takes the plate outside and comes back. "By the way, Iroh is cooking us something, because you don't how to either."
A/N: An AU where Zuko doesn't like fruit tarts basically.