Day Nine: The Net
Title: The Net
Rating: PG
For: soleil_de_lune
For Zuko and Mai, love is constant bickering and awkwardness, a steady drone of her hundred thousand complaints from morning to night, and because she never complains about him, he tries, always, to please her.
Being near him is like staying on the beach too long. No matter how much she wears and how wide her umbrella is, she still finds herself gradually warming and slowly turning brown. Just as she secretly loves the way her skin looks when it turns the color of lightly toasted coconut, so too she loves the way he makes her smile a little bit more every day in spite of herself. As much as they bicker and tease, she can't even swat his shoulder without a smirk tugging at her lips.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her as she slid in through his window.
"Shh," she cautioned, covering his mouth with her hand. Then she smiled, and he saw her teeth, and his heart quickened. "By the way? Your guards are terrible."
He laughed as she fell down beside him on the bed without taking her shoes off.
"This isn't appropriate," Zuko reminded her, slipping his arms around her waist.
"We're fine," Mai assured him. "You're a gentleman."
He laughed again, into her hair. He was naked to the waist with his feet bare, she was fully dressed, hairpins and ribbons in place. "You're giving me too much credit."
"Mm." Her hand moved his from just beneath her breast down to her waist. "You're a gentleman, and I'm fully armed."
Zuko nuzzled at her, not to be denied at least a few dozen kisses. "Okay, okay."
Mai doesn't appreciate the fact that firebenders, at least hers, are very affected by sun cycles. She can't think of a better explanation, really. He wakes her up with the dawn every morning. Eventually she adapts herself to going back to sleep afterward, but she only sleeps until he's done training, and by then she's waiting for him in the bath to wash the sweat from his muscles. Scrubbing his hair is as good an excuse as any to press her bare breasts against his back and laugh in his ear.
He did finally get her shoes off, and socks, too. She had, he discovered and marveled, beautiful toes. Even if she didn't get undressed, he explained, she had to take off her socks. That meant she was staying.
When he awoke to find himself wrapped around her, he slowly kissed her into consciousness, and she was bothered when he paused.
"You're smiling," he breathed.
"You need to brush your teeth," she teased, ruffling his hair.
"Do you always wake up smiling?"
"No. Just with you."
"You're killing me, Mai."
"Mm. You still need to brush your teeth."
He growled at her playfully, and started to pin her to his pillows, but the sudden movement made him burp, and he tasted what she'd smelled. Sulfur. Brimstone. "Yikes."
"Is that a firebender problem or a Zuko problem?"
"What?"
"Morning breath," she smirked, and buried herself in his sheets to get comfortable. Mai liked to sleep in. Bed was better than not bed.
"Okay," he sighed, and slid toward the edge of the bed. It was hard to leave a bed with her in it, but she wasn't having any of him until he brushed his teeth, so there wasn't much he could do.
He loves her long hair, long nails and long legs. He kisses her ankles and she laughs at him. He's happy when she smiles. Just the curve of her lips makes his knees feel weak, but at the same time he feels like he could smash down mountains.
"Since when are you so cautious?" She was not happy.
"I just don't want to rush it," he said, frowning into his tea.
"You can't rush something that took five years from the time it was suggested." She glared at him without turning her chin.
"I just worry that I'm too different from how I was," he confessed. "I'm not the boy you had a crush on when you were thirteen, Mai."
"No, you're the jerk I went to prison for," she grumbled and kissed his ear. "And I had a crush on you when I was seven."
"What are you trying to say?" Zuko blushed at her.
"Let's figure this out after the fact," she said. "If everything we went through hasn't changed the way I feel about you, why would betrothal make any difference?"
"I'm the Fire Lord now," he said.
"You were always going to be," she noted. "It was never why I wanted you, but I always knew it."
"How can you be so okay with everything?" he complained, and was startled by her expression when she met his eyes.
She was so steady. Patient. She didn't often talk about her feelings but her devotion was not something he could question.
"I believe in you," she said, and that was all he needed to hear.
He cries in his sleep sometimes. She wraps herself around him in hers. Sometimes they wake up making love and don't remember how it happened. It's so nice, though. Neither of them minds.
His breath on her skin is like sitting by a stove in winter. The more nights they are married, the more snugly he pulls her into his arms, the more time she spends in bed with him, the smaller her nightgowns get. It's too hot. She can have linen and a layer of rapidly drying, sticky sweat, or she can have Zuko and silk sheets. The choice is clear.
"What's your favorite part of being married?"
"It's only been six months," she reminded him.
"Seven months," he corrected her. "Seven months, two weeks and three days."
"I haven't decided yet," she demurred. "What's yours?"
"Being around you every day."
"My parents live across the street," she said. As if there had not been three miserable years in which he hadn't seen her at all.
He scowled at her, blushing. "It was still too far."
"You're corny," she pronounced, and he huffed.
Thirty years later, the answer remained the same.
Rating: PG
For: soleil_de_lune
For Zuko and Mai, love is constant bickering and awkwardness, a steady drone of her hundred thousand complaints from morning to night, and because she never complains about him, he tries, always, to please her.
Being near him is like staying on the beach too long. No matter how much she wears and how wide her umbrella is, she still finds herself gradually warming and slowly turning brown. Just as she secretly loves the way her skin looks when it turns the color of lightly toasted coconut, so too she loves the way he makes her smile a little bit more every day in spite of herself. As much as they bicker and tease, she can't even swat his shoulder without a smirk tugging at her lips.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her as she slid in through his window.
"Shh," she cautioned, covering his mouth with her hand. Then she smiled, and he saw her teeth, and his heart quickened. "By the way? Your guards are terrible."
He laughed as she fell down beside him on the bed without taking her shoes off.
"This isn't appropriate," Zuko reminded her, slipping his arms around her waist.
"We're fine," Mai assured him. "You're a gentleman."
He laughed again, into her hair. He was naked to the waist with his feet bare, she was fully dressed, hairpins and ribbons in place. "You're giving me too much credit."
"Mm." Her hand moved his from just beneath her breast down to her waist. "You're a gentleman, and I'm fully armed."
Zuko nuzzled at her, not to be denied at least a few dozen kisses. "Okay, okay."
Mai doesn't appreciate the fact that firebenders, at least hers, are very affected by sun cycles. She can't think of a better explanation, really. He wakes her up with the dawn every morning. Eventually she adapts herself to going back to sleep afterward, but she only sleeps until he's done training, and by then she's waiting for him in the bath to wash the sweat from his muscles. Scrubbing his hair is as good an excuse as any to press her bare breasts against his back and laugh in his ear.
He did finally get her shoes off, and socks, too. She had, he discovered and marveled, beautiful toes. Even if she didn't get undressed, he explained, she had to take off her socks. That meant she was staying.
When he awoke to find himself wrapped around her, he slowly kissed her into consciousness, and she was bothered when he paused.
"You're smiling," he breathed.
"You need to brush your teeth," she teased, ruffling his hair.
"Do you always wake up smiling?"
"No. Just with you."
"You're killing me, Mai."
"Mm. You still need to brush your teeth."
He growled at her playfully, and started to pin her to his pillows, but the sudden movement made him burp, and he tasted what she'd smelled. Sulfur. Brimstone. "Yikes."
"Is that a firebender problem or a Zuko problem?"
"What?"
"Morning breath," she smirked, and buried herself in his sheets to get comfortable. Mai liked to sleep in. Bed was better than not bed.
"Okay," he sighed, and slid toward the edge of the bed. It was hard to leave a bed with her in it, but she wasn't having any of him until he brushed his teeth, so there wasn't much he could do.
He loves her long hair, long nails and long legs. He kisses her ankles and she laughs at him. He's happy when she smiles. Just the curve of her lips makes his knees feel weak, but at the same time he feels like he could smash down mountains.
"Since when are you so cautious?" She was not happy.
"I just don't want to rush it," he said, frowning into his tea.
"You can't rush something that took five years from the time it was suggested." She glared at him without turning her chin.
"I just worry that I'm too different from how I was," he confessed. "I'm not the boy you had a crush on when you were thirteen, Mai."
"No, you're the jerk I went to prison for," she grumbled and kissed his ear. "And I had a crush on you when I was seven."
"What are you trying to say?" Zuko blushed at her.
"Let's figure this out after the fact," she said. "If everything we went through hasn't changed the way I feel about you, why would betrothal make any difference?"
"I'm the Fire Lord now," he said.
"You were always going to be," she noted. "It was never why I wanted you, but I always knew it."
"How can you be so okay with everything?" he complained, and was startled by her expression when she met his eyes.
She was so steady. Patient. She didn't often talk about her feelings but her devotion was not something he could question.
"I believe in you," she said, and that was all he needed to hear.
He cries in his sleep sometimes. She wraps herself around him in hers. Sometimes they wake up making love and don't remember how it happened. It's so nice, though. Neither of them minds.
His breath on her skin is like sitting by a stove in winter. The more nights they are married, the more snugly he pulls her into his arms, the more time she spends in bed with him, the smaller her nightgowns get. It's too hot. She can have linen and a layer of rapidly drying, sticky sweat, or she can have Zuko and silk sheets. The choice is clear.
"What's your favorite part of being married?"
"It's only been six months," she reminded him.
"Seven months," he corrected her. "Seven months, two weeks and three days."
"I haven't decided yet," she demurred. "What's yours?"
"Being around you every day."
"My parents live across the street," she said. As if there had not been three miserable years in which he hadn't seen her at all.
He scowled at her, blushing. "It was still too far."
"You're corny," she pronounced, and he huffed.
Thirty years later, the answer remained the same.