Submission to Zai Week Day 4

Lipstick

Zuko was fully prepared for a fight when he was pulled into an alcove. Imagine his pleasure when he finds not an assassin's blade (or fire, or water knife, or a really big stick or…I'll stop now) attempting to kill him, but his wife pressing her lips passionately to his. After two seconds processing, he responded in kind. She broke away from his mouth to kiss his cheeks, neck, jaw. He didn't know what was going on with Mai right now, but he wasn't about to complain.

But then, as suddenly as she'd started, she stopped. He stared at her confused and annoyed as she stood before him panting and grinning before she brushed something off of her lips, loosed herself from his grasp and left the alcove.

After he'd recovered from his assault and he remembered where he'd been headed, he went to Sokka's room to ask him about…he didn't remember but he was sure it'd come back to him. He knocked and waited for permission to enter, not wanting a repeat of the last time Sokka had come for a visit with his bride. When he heard Sokka call for him to enter, he crossed the threshold and saw his friend's profile as he went over some documents laid out on the desk he was sitting at that the Mechanist had given him.

"What's up?" Sokka asked absently, still staring at the papers.

"Um…I kind of forgot."

Sokka blinked but still didn't look at the Fire Lord. Instead he turned to another sheet.

"And people think you're so smart. Man, if they only knew what an idiot you really were," he shook his head with a mocking smile, knowing that Zuko wouldn't take offense to his words.

"It's not my fault," Zuko said as he crossed to the desk and sat in the chair opposite Sokka's. "Mai just attacked me for no reason and it slipped my mind. You know how it is."

"Getting attacked by girls? Oh, yeah," Sokka finally looked up at Zuko. He promptly burst out laughing so hard he fell out of his chair and hit the floor even harder.

"Ow," he said then guffawed even louder.

"What is your problem?" Zuko abruptly stood up, eye wide in horror, "You haven't been drinking cactus juice again, have you?"

"N-n-no!" he managed to squeak out. "Your face!" he yelled, pointing.

Zuko glared at him. Anyone who wasn't used to those kinds of glares would have spontaneously combusted under that gaze. But Sokka was immune to glares from the master firebender, his little (master waterbender) sister, and oddly enough, Toph.

Just as Zuko was about to decide whether he should hit him or not because he may not be able to stop, Sokka gasped out,

"Mirror! The mirror…oh, spirits, it hurts! HA!"

Zuko went and stood in front of the mirror hanging on the wall behind Sokka's abandoned chair. He was pink. Not completely, just mostly on his face and neck…where Mai had kissed him.

"She didn't."

"Oh, but she did. Zuko, I gotta tell you, your girl's got a crazy sense of humor," he told Zuko now that the hysterics had mostly stopped. He still giggled everytime he look at him though.

Zuko wiped at the pink (Sokka insisted it was magenta) lipstick off with his sleeve, but that didn't help much.

"You have to use make-up remover," Sokka told him, now mostly calm with only his lip twitching.

Zuko arched a brow and looked at him.

"Why do you know that?"

"Suki," he shrugged.

Zuko smirked evilly at him, and Sokka was struck with how he looked like his sister.

"That's right. She likes for you to cross-dress for her."

"It was for training! And only one time!"

"Of course it was."

A/N: the companion piece to 'Green'. Duh.

You know, there is nothing wrong with reviewing. Shoutout to Elfowlgirl, my first reviewer, and gloomy maiko lover, who reviewed all the chapters. You are both beautiful people.