InsaneJournal

We're a little early to be talking about how great a mother I am.
Who: Mai and Zuko (maiko)
What: Curry delivery and truth speaking. 'Cause they have no choice.
When: Backdated to the truthiness plot.
Where: Zuko's place.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, some really mild medical stuff. A for Awkwardness?
Status: Complete!



Zuko had been reluctant to see any doctor, but he’d finally relented and let himself be seen, at least enough to get ahold of painkillers and a cream. By the time he’d gotten home the worse of the pain had receded and the burn had gone from immediate danger to the state it had been a few weeks after he’d been burned in his dreams. Still agonizing, but tolerable.

He didn’t want Mai to see him like this, with a bandage wrapped around his head, but it was better than Azula. Anything would be better than Azula.

It had been a little strange not going to visit Zuko at the old place they all used to share. Mai knew they'd all moved away, of course, and a house like that had been too nice to be left alone for long. But it added an extra feeling of awkward to everything, and it was already awkward enough.

What did you even bring in a situation like this? Mai wasn't really sure, and she had more than even two motives for showing up. She didn't want to just come empty handed to his door and then start demanding things of him. She'd wavered back and forth between flowers, food, and various kinds of alcohol, but had eventually settled on his favorite: Curry.

She knocked on his door with a big bag of takeout in her hand.

It was a little condo, with just enough room for a man who didn’t care for company. It was well decorated but in a lot of ways looked like a place for someone who was a lot older. Something his father would have decorated. He probably didn’t even realize what it looked like.

Zuko opened the door a moment after Mai had knocked. He’d pulled on jeans, but was still wearing just a tanktop. Half of his face was bandaged, and when he smiled, he winced. “Hey. It’s really good to see you.”

He’d meant to say something else, but it had kind of spilled out.

"I didn't want to leave you here, moping and lonely and thinking you were ugly forever. You're not, you know." Mai wasn't sure that the words coming out of her mouth were the ones she'd meant to say, either, but there was no harm done in speaking the truth.

She held out the bag of Curry like it was a peace offering, "I brought you some of your favorite, if you're hungry. I really wish you weren't wearing a tank top right now."

That last bit was definitely not what she'd meant to say. Her cheeks went a bit pink, and she looked extremely annoyed with herself for a few seconds.

Well, he was ugly forever, but it was nice of her to say he wasn't. He shrugged a shoulder, then took the bag from her and stepped aside to let her in.

His condo was clean, and didn't really seem to suit him. He brought the curry to the kitchen table. Her comment made him flush, which made his scar heat up uncomfortably. "I'm glad you're not, that wrap is distracting enough."

"If you think that's distracting, you should see the bra underneath it." The words came out before Mai could stop them, and she narrowed her eyes a bit at the entire situation. This wasn't what she came here for. Her hormones needed to be put in line, and she needed to stop vomiting words out of her mouth that she didn't want Zuko to hear.

She cleared her throat, "But that's not what I'm here for. Stupid hormones."

But there were hormones and Zuko hoped he didn’t say anything else stupid either. “I really appreciate the curry. I haven’t eaten in two days.” Okay he hadn’t meant to say that part out loud. “It just hurts too much. It’s better than it was for the first few hours, but still tender.”

"You're going to mess your bandage up eating it. We'll have to change it," Mai decided. She wasn't sure if he'd be able to eat much of it, but anything was better than nothing. "You have to eat, your body's going to shut down if you don't. You won't heal."

Everything looked a little too clean, like he didn't really live here. Mai wondered if that had something to do with his upbringing or if he had a maid in, and clamped her mouth shut before the question could be asked. It seemed like speaking the truth could be avoided if you bit your lip hard enough.

But there it was, the second she opened her mouth again, "Do you even live here? It looks like your dad decorated everything."

“Maybe that’s for the best,” he said, despondently. Zuko sank into the chair, and tapped his fingers on the table. His expression soured at Mai’s words. “I live here, I just spend a lot of time elsewhere. What’s the point of living if I’m just going to sleep here.”

He grimaced. “And my father paid someone, yeah.”

Mai rolled her eyes at him, mainly over the fact that he seemed keen on giving up on life. But she guessed it made sense that the place didn't look lived in, if he'd been out and about a lot. Probably with other women. That thought made her cringe a bit, and she turned her back to him while looking for plates and forks.

"I guess you're used to waking up in other women's beds. You must have gotten a lot better at that." She said, while digging some forks out. She immediately regretted it, and sighed, "Great. My mouth officially has no filter."

Zuko started to cough. He grabbed some water to drink it, then his mouth ran off before he could say anything. “A few. I could get you references if you want. I’ve learned a lot.”

Oh. Jesus. Christ.

"What, so that we can have sex again and then you can break up with me when I'm not as into it as you were?" Mai blurted out, then rolled her eyes into her head, "I almost had an emotion there, look what you did."

She handed him a plate for his curry, then tossed the utensils down on the table and sighed, "We should just eat our curry in silence before one of us kills the other."

"It hurt, I thought it was supposed to mean something, I thought I was some kind of failure. We were fucking teenagers and all I wanted was to know that you actually cared." Zuko grabbed the fork and stuffed curry into his mouth, face heating up dangerously.

"It didn't just hurt you," Mai pointed out, with a snort. She pointed at him with her fork and added, "I cared. But it was awkward. It wasn't as fun as I thought it was supposed to be. I thought something was wrong with me. Like my parts didn't work right or something. It was embarrassing. How I felt about it was embarrassing."

Zuko stared down at the bowl, his appetite suddenly gone. Not that it was ever really there to begin with. “I couldn’t face you. I mean I couldn’t even look you in the eye. That’s why I did it that way. Because I’m a coward.”

"Yes, you are." Mai let out a sigh, and put her fork down. Whatever this truth curse was, it could shove it. Literally, "We didn't even talk about it. That isn't just your fault. But you didn't give me much of a chance before you decided it was over."

It was easier to run. Always had been, always will be. Zuko’s face flushed, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Mai. “You kept making this face. I felt…..guilty.”

"It was the face of 'we should talk about this but I could die without ever speaking of it again'," Mai said, snorting a bit. She picked her fork up again and started forcing herself to eat the food, mainly because she hoped Zuko would follow suit. He really did need to eat, even if he was a stupid coward.

He did try to eat. It was slow, and a little painful. Just opening his mouth to chew or talk made his head ache. He knew it would go away or he’d get used to it. “I thought it was the face of ‘I hate you and never want to do anything with you again.’”

"Well it wasn't. You just assumed that I never wanted to be near you again and that I hated you, and you never brought it up. And I never brought it up. We both sucked at handling it. We're bad at this. But I was never going to break up with you over it, you jerk." If she could firebend, she might have had fire spitting out of very eyeballs at that point, but Mai had been brought up to keep her emotions in check. She'd barely raised her voice.

It was enough to give Zuko pause. Mai’s voice had indeed raised just a little, and that was somewhat alarming. He pushed his food away with a disgusted grunt. “Azula broke my nose over it.”

"You need to eat, you idiot." Mai got up and walked over to him, then pushed the curry closer. "I'm glad she broke your nose. She deserved it. But I should probably get over it, since it happened like fifty years ago now."

She loaded up a fork with curry and held it out to him, "Don't make me do my airplane impression."

“I remember you with Tommy,” Zuko pointed out. How old was that kid now? Eight? Nine? “Always kind of thought it was cute. You’d be a good mom. You know, eventually.” Ugh ugh. What time was it? He needed to change his bandage, soon. But he submitted and tried to eat more.

Mai gave him a dry look, and handed him the fork. "We're a little early to be talking about how great a mother I am. We aren't even together, you've got women on boats you're messing with, and I have a lot of work. I'm not sure I'm ready to give that up to stay at home playing airplane with our children."

He was eating again, at least, and she could go back to finishing her own food. And pretending like she didn't care, even though whatever was going on in Orange County was clearly betraying her.

“She’s a friend with benefits, there aren’t any emotions there. I mean, she’s... really enthusiastic benefits. With a really impressive bow and stern. And then her boat is pretty nice too.”

Zuko wanted to shoot himself. “It’s really hard to explain but there’s something missing?”

The way he was talking about Isabela made her want to stab him. One of her hands worked its way into her sleeve and against the knives she kept strapped there, in fact. A sort of reflex of hers that had been acquired over the last few years.

She glared at him, "So you like her benefits, right? You want to keep talking to me about them?"

“Of course I do, I’m not dead.” Pause. “Not yet at least.” Another pause. “I did learn some things that I keep thinking about doing with you.” Damn it. “Can we change the subject?”

A knife blade flicked past his ear and lodged itself into the wall behind him. Mai said nothing else about Isabela or her 'impressive prow' and decided not to touch on the subject of 'things zuko would like to try on her'. Instead, she glared at him for a few minutes, and then mercifully changed the subject.

"I still take dance classes." She said, while poking around at her curry. She was mainly picking out the chicken at this point, "Do you do anything besides run your father's restaurants?"

“Manage some of the warehouses, and we’re expanding into other types of businesses,” he replied, fighting a surge of panic. This was definitely not the kind of conversation he could have. Any more questions and he’d have to come clean about the criminal part of his job. “What about you? What have you been up to?”

Similar panic gripped Mai on her end. She couldn't lie, but she couldn't tell the exact truth either. After all, Ganon would kill her if she composed herself or him. There were real consequences for screwing up, here.

She pursed her lips for a few seconds, then said, "I'm in the market for a new job. My boss is an unforgiving man and I'm not really fond of living in constant fear that I'll fuck up and get fired."

There, that wasn't a lie.

“You’re a personal aide, right?”

"It's a lot of things, but that covers it pretty well. I am good at my job, but my boss is a very independent and capable man. He won't be angry to see me go, and he'd probably give me a good reference. I just think my talents would be better served with someone who needs me a little more." Navigating this conversation had already been a minefield, but now Mai felt like she was trying to walk through one of those laser grids.

"Mmm... You know, I think I know someone who could use a little help." Zuko leaned forward. "Asami Sato. She's tied up with a lot of legal stuff lately, on top of trying to take care of her family company. She could probably use some help. I think she's looking for an assistant. She's a bit stubborn and independent and I don't think I've ever seen her look flustered at work, but I know she's overwhelmed."

"I was actually hoping to ask you about her," Mai admitted, looking a little sheepish. "It wasn't my only reason for coming over, but I wondered if you knew if she was hiring, and I guess I'm hoping you'll put in a good word for me. I can approach her myself, too. But... I didn't want you to think that's all I cared about."

“I’m kind of glad that isn’t all you care about,” Zuko admitted. He rubbed his nose. “I uhm. I’ll put in a good word for you. Can you… can you help me change this.” He gestured at the bandage.

"It's hard to stop caring about you, even when you're being a jerk," Mai admitted, grudingly. Then she nodded her head and got up, "I figured we'd have to do that. And I want to see. You overplayed how bad it looked in the dreams and you're probably doing it here, too."

"Where do we start?"