Prompt: Window
Clandestine
Sometimes, unable to sleep, he would visit Mai at night, long after the city itself had gone to bed. Slipping out of the palace was easy. With a cloak thrown over his sleep clothes, hood pulled up, and his stealth experience, no one even noticed him. Heh, it wasn't as though his father really cared anyway. There were no special 'Zuko' guards, as there were Azula ones. His coming and going was of little consequence to anyone but Mai.
He knew several 'secret' ways in and out of the palace so could avoid the main gate. Once out on the streets of Capitol City he slunk along quickly, sticking to the shadows and making his way across the cobblestones to Mai's house. She seemed to know when he was restless, or maybe she was restless too. Standing at the large window of her bedroom, the flickering light of a few candles she had lit combining with the darkness outside to make a breathtaking silhouette, Mai would wait for her lover, giving him the slightest of waves, letting him know that she was aware of his presence.
The prince had his own key to the house and every time he used it, Mai thrilled at the idea of her parents' outrage. If they had any clue about her nighttime activities (or daytime ones for that matter) both would keel over from shock and shame. But Mai really didn't care. What she and Zuko did, they did because they loved each other and she could see nothing wrong with that. Love had been scarce in her life and now she took all that was given, soaking it up greedily, all while maintaining that Mai outer calm.
"You looked beautiful, standing there in the window," Zuko whispered softly as he entered her room, took Mai in his arms and nuzzled her neck. "But, you always look beautiful," he added shyly.
Mai said nothing, but the prince's sentiments moved her more than she could ever hope to express with mere words. She ran fingers through his hair, then let her hands move downward, caressing first his shoulders, then his back and finally his behind.
Excited now, Zuko lifted his head and kissed her, touching the luxurious, soft length of her hair; and so began the back and forth, the give and take of loving, the one thing pure in each of their lives.