let’s cause a little trouble

Mai sleeps through her alarm, only being woken up by her mother yelling and knocking at her bedroom door insistently. She wouldn’t say that she was ever truly in a good mood, but that occurrence certainly soured her disposition for the day. She goes through the motions of getting ready, putting on her uniform, and deciding to leave her hair undone in favor of eating a quick breakfast.

“Mom?”

She lies through her teeth about her friends inviting her to dinner in the city after cram school. There’s no cram school today, and there was no dinner invitation—not from her friends, at least.

Her mother sighs. “Fine. Don’t make a habit of it. And be home by 10:30.”

“Okay. Thanks, mom.”

After cleaning her plate, she heads off to the entrance and laces on her pair of black combat boots. Calling goodbye to her mother, she rushes out of the house with the paper bag containing her dress in tow. When she reaches the end of the driveway, she turns to walk down the street when she’s greeted by the sight of Zuko in his ever-conspicuous red sports car, his arm hanging out of the window with an almost-finished cigarette between his fingers. His school shirt is unbuttoned, a black t-shirt and a gold chain peeking through.

“Hey, I like your hair.”

Her traitorous brain flashes memories of him from the sports festival—leaning in close, his breath tickling her ear, the rasp in his voice when he had whispered “I’m going to make you mine,” and then his hand on her waistline—

Mai scowls. “Are you stalking me now?”

“I noticed you weren’t with Suki when she came in.” He smiles. “Can’t let you go and stand me up today.”

“So you thought you’d show up at my house,” she states more than she asks. “How did you know where I live?”

“Your friends,” he says simply as a way of explanation. “Come on. You can’t catch the train, you’ll miss first period.”

She looks behind to see if her mother was somehow outside watching them before she begrudgingly gets into the car. “Just hurry up before my mom sees me.”

Zuko takes one last drag, putting out the cigarette in his ashtray before starting the engine.

She wrinkles her nose. “How can you stand smelling like smoke all the time?”

“You get used to it,” he says, but he blows the smoke out of the window and puts them up, and turns on the air conditioning for her anyway. The air quickly becomes light with the comforting scent of sandalwood. Mai lets herself unwind.

At school, Zuko pulls out his cologne and generously spritzes it on his shirt. “Hm. What do you think?”

“Smells… nice, I guess.”

“Good enough for me.”

Before they reach the classroom, she stops them in the empty hallway. “Fix your uniform.”

“Huh?”

Mai rolls her eyes. “You can’t be ten minutes late and walk in looking like that.”

Zuko does as he’s told, looking at her as he drops his chain inside his tee and finishes buttoning up his school shirt as if to say, happy now?

Several pairs of eyes fall on them when he slides the classroom door open. Zuko simply grins sheepishly at the teacher, who shakes his head before going back to scribbling on the board. Mai feels her face turn red when she catches Suki’s sly smile, hurriedly taking her seat.

Like the previous day, Azula is missing at lunch.

Sokka takes her place, apparently having decided that he wanted to sit with “the gloomy girl”, a phrase that made embarrassment flash across Zuko’s face. He talks too loud and is too touchy-feely (he had been nudging her with his elbow every time he cracked a joke, in an attempt to get a reaction out of her) but Mai had to admit, she did find him pretty funny.

“So she hasn’t been going to class?” Suki asks. “Is she sick?”

Ty Lee hums an I don’t know. “I texted her, but she didn’t reply. Maybe she caught a cold from participating in the pool event at the festival.”

“We could visit her after school,” Suki suggests. “Let’s get her a care package. Do you know where she lives?”

“I don’t.” Ty Lee frowns. “Zuko?”

“The girl is the daughter of a multi-millionaire,” Sokka interjects through a mouthful of meatball stolen from his girlfriend’s lunchbox. “What can you give her that she doesn’t have?”

Suki gives him a disapproving look. “It’s not about the material stuff. And here, just take the whole thing—you took all the good bits already. Seriously…” She hands her bento to him before turning to Zuko. “What’s the address?”

He hesitantly gives it to her. “I don’t know, though, I don’t think they like guests showing up unannounced over there…”

Ty Lee frowns. “It’s okay, we’re just dropping by to give it to her.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Ooh, we could get her some hot chocolate mix,” she says.

Suki nods. “That sounds good. We can stop by the grocery—”

“I’m telling you, ladies,” Sokka chimes in. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“No one is asking you to come, Sokka,” Suki says exasperatedly. “And if you interrupt me again, I will cut the nipple parts out of all your shirts. You want to walk around with two holes on all your shirts?” she adds threateningly, eliciting a giggle from Ty Lee and a smile from Mai. Zuko nearly chokes on his drink.

“It was an accident!” Sokka cries defensively. “Man,” he sighs miserably, before turning his attention to Mai and Zuko, wiggling his brows suggestively. “So… you two had some recent developments, huh? Why were you late?”

Suki slaps a hand over her forehead. “Please just use your mouth strictly for eating.”

After school Mai changes into her dress, a short, black velvet cheongsam with no embellishments, save for the three characteristic ribbons by the right shoulder and a vertical slit on the skirt, showing off a sliver of skin on the middle of her thigh.

Looking self-consciously at the mirror, she briefly considers getting back into her school uniform. She isn’t even sure if Zuko is dressing up himself.

She has a fleeting thought questioning why she had decided to buy a new dress, and a short one at that; it’s not a special occasion, after all, is it?

The door opens, and Suki pokes her head in, pulling Mai out of her thoughts. “Hey—oh, wow!”

“Too much?” Mai asks.

“No, definitely not! You look smokin’, girl.”

She laughs. “Please. That’s not what I was going for.”

“Happy accident, then,” Suki says. “You ready? I think they’re in the car. Ty Lee is excited to go to the grocery store.”

Mai wraps her oversized grey cardigan around herself before she and Suki make their way out of the gym to the parking lot, heading out to meet with the group. Zuko leans against his car, his phone in hand. He had taken off his school shirt and left the black school slacks on, the black t-shirt from earlier tucked in and the gold chain hanging out once again. It was simple, but he looks surprisingly good. Mai scolds herself inwardly for having the thought.

“Hey,” he says. She rolls her eyes, noticing him blatantly giving her a once-over.

The doors are open and Ty Lee is seated in the back, Sokka in the front passenger side.

Zuko steps in and tells him to move, to which he says, “What happened to putting your bros first?”

“Sokka, get out of there,” Suki sighs. “You sit in the middle.”

“Why are you bullying me?” he whines, but complies nevertheless, climbing out and gesturing at Mai with both arms, giving away the seat.

“Thanks.”

The three are dropped off at the nearby mall before Zuko initiates conversation.

“You have anything in mind for dinner?” he asks.

“Not really,” she says. “It’s up to you.”

“Yeah, but I wanna know what you like.”

“I’m not picky,” she answers quickly, mumbling, “Thanks for asking, though.”

He beams. “Wanna go to Chiba?”

“Really?” Mai frowns thoughtfully. “It’s a bit of a drive.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Zuko smiles reassuringly. “It’s pretty there at night. I think it’s worth showing you.”

“Okay.”

Mai realises that he wasn’t such bad company. At sunset, he took her to a restaurant by the portside. “You know, my uncle told me unagi is an aphrodisiac for men,” he had said flippantly as they looked at the menu, and laughed when Mai made a disgusted face at him. He continued to crack lame jokes throughout dinner, and she had found herself unable to keep from smiling a few times.

“Wanna go to Disney Resort?” he had asked, to which she thoughtlessly said, “Maybe another time.” His jaw fell slack in surprise before his face lit up in wonder. She had to look away.

Presently, they walk together to the Kimisarazu Tower. Standing in front of it, Mai frowns at the prospect of climbing the flights of stairs.

“Are you a masochist?”

Zuko chuckles. “Come on, the view is great. Don’t girls like pretty lights?”

“I can see the lights fine from here.”

“Okay,” he relents. “See the people at the top?”

Mai looks up, following the line where his finger points towards: two statues arranged at the top, lit up, a man and woman facing each other but separated by the pillars on which they stood.

“You know who they are?” he asks.

“No, actually.”

“They’re lovers,” he tells her. “That’s Yamato Takeru. He was originally Prince Ousu, the son of Emperor Keiko, but an enemy he defeated gave him that title. That woman was his wife, Oto Tachibana-hime. She accompanied him on an expedition, when the prince angered a guardian of the sea. The sea became rough, so their expedition couldn’t go any further. She prayed to the guardian, and sacrificed herself to the water so that the waves would settle and he could make it out safely.”

“That’s… morbid,” she says.

He nods. “It is.”

“Interesting story, though.”

“Yeah. You don’t wanna go up?” he offers again, and she shakes her head. “Come on, then, I know another place we can go.”

“Welcome to the Fuurin Love Hotel.”

Zuko beams proudly at her as they stand in front of the dilapidated building their flashlights were illuminating.

“This is what you wanted to show me?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, I guess it’s cool,” Mai sighs. “Let’s go back.”

“What? No. Come on! I’ll show you the inside,” he says enthusiastically. “I found this while exploring with friends.”

“Are you serious?” Mai frowns. “Doesn’t look like anyone should be going in there. Besides, it’s too dark.”

“Are you scared?” he teases.

“No,” she huffs, although she did find the atmosphere a little creepy. “I’m just saying it could be dangero—”

“Then come on!” Zuko calls over his shoulder before disappearing into the remains of the building.

Mai looks around. She’s completely alone in the desolate dark. With a sigh, she follows him inside.

“Exciting, huh?” his voice echoes along the concrete walls.

“I guess,” she replies candidly. He slows down, letting her catch up with his pace and fall into step with him.

“They say a lot of secret lovers would come here for their illicit affairs,” he says as he leads her inside a medieval-themed room. “Until 20 years ago. It’s been abandoned since then.”

“It’s still pretty well-preserved,” she remarks, noting the thick layer of undisturbed dust on every surface, including the carriage bed.

“Well, yeah,” Zuko shrugs. “I guess people are too scared to mess around. They do say it’s a haunted building.” Mai whirls around, frowning, and he shines his flashlight on her and laughs. “Sorry. Is it getting too scary?”

She eyes the knight statue. “What’s scary is how tacky the décor is.”

“Careful, Mai, you don’t wanna anger any spirits.”

“Oh, shut up.”

A small noise echoes outside at a vague distance. She hopes he didn’t notice her freeze up.

“I hope this place isn’t falling apart on us.”

“It’s not. It’ll be fine.” Zuko nudges her shoulder. “Shall we?”

He leads her to a traditional ryokan room next.

“Well, honey, here we are,” he says playfully in a parody of a middle aged man’s voice.

“Cozy,” she says, walking towards the private onsen densely populated with dead leaves. She decides to play along, craning her neck to look back at him as she lets her cardigan loosely fall off her shoulders.  “Are you coming, darling?”

She thinks she played along too well—he’s staring at her, his expression unreadable, eyes widened slightly.

Mai quickly shrugs the cardigan back on properly, looking behind her. Nothing, thankfully. She turns back to him. “What is it?”

He shakes his head, laughing softly. “Nothing. You looked really good.”

She fails to respond, her brain drawing a blank.

“Can I tell you something?” Zuko asks after a long stretch of silence.

“Yeah.”

“The truth is, I’ve always admired you from afar. Ever since the day I saw you. I was sixteen,” he says, eyes locking with hers. “I mean, you’re beautiful. I think I fell in love then. But I knew you never would have given me the time of day. Still, I was in love with the idea of you. I would spend some nights thinking about what it would be like—the two of us together. I realized there had to be more to it. That you’re not just a girl I saw at school, that there’s more to you than what I could see. So I just had to get to know you.

“Getting to talk to you, even if it’s not much… it just made my feelings grow stronger,” he goes on. “I’ve liked you for a long time, Mai. And now it’s our last year, and I thought: it’s now or never. I just really felt like I had to do something about it… like I can’t let you pass me by. I want to get closer.”

“Zuko…” she breathes, stunned.

“Yeah,” he sighs. “It’s a lot, I know.”

Mai steps towards him, closing the distance between them and taking his hand. She gives it a small squeeze. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

As they walk to the car, she keeps his hand in hers, trying not to let her thoughts overwhelm her. He breaks the silence with an apology.

“Sorry for dropping that bomb on you. If it even made any sense.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, I…” Zuko groans. “I talked too much. I feel like I barely got to know you. So that kind of defeats the purpose of this whole date thing.”

“Well, now you know I don’t like abandoned motels,” Mai offers with a half-smile that he can’t see in the dark. And hey, I got to know you.

He sighs. “Sorry. I thought it would be fun.”

“No, it was,” she says, giving his hand another reassuring squeeze.

“I’ll take you somewhere nicer next time,” he promises as they come across the car again. She lets go of his hand as they put their lights out. He opens the door for her before getting into the driver’s seat.

“Oh, it’s getting late,” Zuko remarks as he starts the car, prompting Mai to look at the clock. It reads 10:43. “I better take you home.”

Shit.

Despite her slight panic, Mai couldn’t help falling asleep on the ride home. Thankfully she comes to before he had to wake her, just as he pulled up along her street. She quickly gets herself together and he stops the car, killing the engine.

“Um… sorry for passing out on you,” Mai says, voice slightly scratchy with sleep. “Thanks for taking me home. And for tonight. I had fun.”

“Oh. Uh, of course.” Zuko smiles. His cheeks are noticeably red in the dim light. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“Yeah.”

“You look really pretty, by the way,” he rambles. “Sorry I didn’t say it earlier.”

“You too,” Mai replies, before her sleep-addled brain registers what she had said. She scowls at his amused laugh, her cheeks burning, and pushes the door open. “Whatever. I’m going.”

“Good night,” he calls after her as she steps onto the curb.

“Night,” she calls back softly. “Let me know when you get home safe.”

He gives her a dorky thumbs-up. The warmth it gives her is short-lived, however, as she walks up to her house, passing her father’s sedan in the driveway. Dread fills her gut as she stands in front of the door. With a steadying breath, she takes her keys out.

She doesn’t hear Zuko’s car start until the door opens.