Day Nine: Hearts and Shells
Title: Hearts and Shells
Rating: PG
Notes: An AU of ridiculousness, because I can.
For: mekosuchinae
The day dawned chill and crisp, and Mai shrugged her way out from under her sheets half-heartedly, awake in the weak winter sunlight of her bedroom. It was still twenty minutes before the alarm went off. The house was silent - her mother and brother were asleep and her father had left for the office hours ago.
Mai smiled, sleepily. She enjoyed the silence.
By the time she showered and dressed it was barely light outside. Ty Lee, and Ty Lee's car, wouldn't be arriving for some time yet. She busied herself with breakfast, pouring a glass of orange juice and filling a bowl with cereal, chewing very slowly. The milk tasted slightly sour and she wondered, briefly, when and if her mother planned to go shopping.
It was another morning like any painfully mundane morning, Mai thought, except that it absolutely wasn't.
Ty Lee honked the horn with piercing intensity and Mai stiffened briefly, but the silence from her mother's bedroom was undisturbed, and she couldn't hear Tom's cries. Closing the door gingerly behind her she was met, vaguely irritated, with Ty Lee's bright pink Beetle parked precariously close to her mother's professionally trimmed hedges.
"Good morning!" Ty Lee called cheerfully, waving. "I brought coffee and donuts!"
Mai slid her way into the passenger seat, depositing her black messenger bag in the slim space behind her. "I already ate."
Ty Lee frowned slightly, starting up the car. "Do you at least want some coffee? Black with two sugars?"
Mai nodded, absently, as Ty Lee handed over the styrofoam cup, one hand precariously perched on the wheel, and inhaled deeply before taking a sip. Lukewarm but tasty enough, she reasoned.
"So," Ty Lee said, grinning a little more broadly than Mai thought was necessary for a Monday morning. "How was your weekend?"
"Cut it out, Ty Lee," Mai replied. "First of all," she finished her coffee in a few swift gulps, "You know how my weekend was because you, Azula, and I spent it together. Second, I know what you want to ask so you might as well just ask it."
"You're no fun. But fine. Are you excited about today?" Ty Lee's mega-watt grin hadn't dimmed but became more bearable as the caffeine began to work its way through Mai's bloodstream.
"No," Mai said, as they pulled into the parking lot of the high school, somehow, as always, about ten minutes after the first bell.
---
The day continued as it would, and when fifth period rolled around Mai found herself practically comatose. Psychology was an elective class, nothing more to Mai than another AP credit to appease her mother.
She spent the first part of class dutifully taking notes and not listening, mind too vague and tired to be distracted, when the door to the classroom slammed suddenly in awkward disharmony with the loud heater and quiet lecture.
Mr. Bumi looked up from the blackboard and raised one eyebrow as the interloper hurried to the nearest empty seat. The seat next to Mai.
"Ahh, Mr. Asou. How nice of you to join us just in time for the most interesting part of our lecture! Make yourself at home and try to learn something." He laughed his familiar snorting laugh and went back to writing, while the rest of the class turned to stare.
He was the same Zuko as ever, the same Zuko as a year ago, but still so different. His hair was short, now, not the shaggy mess she remembered, clean and cropped. His left eye was scarred slightly, red and painful looking against the paleness of his skin.
He didn't smile.
Mai wondered, briefly, about the fire, and unbidden saw the charred remains of the old Asou family mansion, pride and glory of the town in cinders. She could feel herself, feet against the summer asphalt and nightgown blowing in the breeze as the ambulances arrived. As the police cuffed his father. Azula's unnaturally calm stare through it all, wrapped in a blanket beside the squad cars.
Zuko rubbing at his eye, half of his body ashy and the other half clean.
He didn't look at her as he gathered up his books and left, whispers following, and Mai's next class was at the opposite end of the building. Their eyes didn't meet and they said nothing, and Mai wondered why she imagined anything different would have happened.
---
At lunch, Azula was unusually quiet. Ty Lee leaned against her side, cheerfully slurping noodles from her Tupperware, babbling animatedly about cheerleading practice and her cute new lab partner while ignoring Azula's glares and the subject on all of their minds.
Mai ate her sandwich quickly and gathered her things to leave.
"Going so soon, Mai?" Azula asked languidly. "Ty Lee was just going to tell us the latest rumor about that horrible-looking new freshman on the squad, weren't you?" Ty Lee nodded but her smile was nervous and pleading, and Mai found herself at a standstill.
"I have to finish a physics lab," she allowed, impassive. "It's due at the end of the day."
"Honestly," Azula replied. "Doing it yourself? Why don't you just ask one of the Aglukarks? It's not like they have anything better to do, and maybe if you pay them..."
"Sokka is nice," Ty Lee interjected. "You don't have to be so mean, Azula."
"I think I'll do it on my own," Mai said. "But thanks for the suggestion." She walked away before Azula could say another word.
In the library, she selected a chair and a fashion magazine, watching the clock every few minutes or so. Absorbed in an article entitled "Black is the New Black" she didn't hear another chair pull up next to hers.
"Hi," Zuko said, softly. When Mai didn't respond he said it again, louder. A few people looked up from their homework or computers and giggled before getting back to work.
"You never called and hardly wrote," Mai replied, without preamble. "I was worried."
"I couldn't," Zuko said. He moved his chair closer and it made a loud, awkward noise on the floor. "There was so much...my mother filed for divorce and met this guy while we were in Japan with her family, Piandao or something..." He paused. "My father is...you know they couldn't prove he started it, but he's somewhere now where they're trying to help him."
"Where are you living?" Mai asked.
"In an apartment above Uncle's teashop. Lu Ten's away at school so I'm in his room."
Mai was silent.
"Say something," Zuko commented, nearly inaudibly. His voice was hoarse.
"Are you alright?" she asked, softly.
"I don't know," Zuko said.
Mai touched his hand and interlaced her fingers with his.
---
Tuesday's psychology lecture found Mai in class earlier than usual, forgoing her hallway loitering with Azula and Ty Lee to grab a seat in the nearly empty classroom.
Feeling slightly ridiculous, she set to work copying the day's outline as the class began to funnel in. Zuko was early too; Mai vaguely remembered his tendency to be overly punctual and smiled a little to herself as he slid into the seat beside her, searching her face with his eyes.
"Good morning," he said.
"Good afternoon, you mean," she replied. "Although it seems like the day isn't nearly over." She sighed, then yawned.
"Would you like to come to the Jasmine Dragon after school?," Zuko asked, so quickly Mai thought she'd misheard. "Uncle wants to see you and if you're not busy maybe you could..."
Bumi called the class to attention as his sentence trailed off, and Mai stifled a small laugh brewing in her throat.
"Your Uncle wants to see me?" she asked. "Well. Then I'll think about it."
Zuko smiled wanly.
"I've got a special announcement for you kids today," Bumi began. "As you know, midterm exams are coming up and we teachers have gotten permission this year to use...unorthodox methods to prepare you, if we so wish."
The class rustled, and some people groaned.
"I thought," he continued cheerfully, "That a project would be in order. It'll count for a good part of your grade, but the exam will be worth less that way. How does that sound to everyone?"
The groans continued.
"You will work in pairs for this project." Mai noticed the obvious choices meet eyes and smile - Aang Tsering and Katara Aglukark practically glowed at each other in anticipation. "Please pick your partners now and we'll get down to business."
Mai and Zuko looked at each other, but Zuko opened his mouth to speak before Mai could open hers.
"Want to be partners?" he asked.
"Might as well. I already know I can stand you."
After a handful of minutes the class was divided into groups of two, Bumi rummaged in his briefcase behind his desk and brought out something small and round. He cupped it delicately in his palm, and it took Mai a few moments to realize what it was, obscured by an ostentatious and somewhat frightening painted face.
"An egg?" Zuko asked, louder than he probably meant to.
"That's right, Mr. Asou! Good work. An egg! My project for you, class, is to raise a baby. But since the hospital was loathe to loan me some of theirs," Bumi sniggered, "You'll have to make due with these." He procured a carton, settling his little egg into a coffee mug filled with tissue.
"Each pair of new parents will be required to keep a journal of their baby's progress for the next few days. Your baby most never be left alone at any time. If you have friends in this class, or parents and siblings who are available, you can ask them to babysit. If your baby breaks," Bumi paused for emphasis. "You fail."
"We fail the class?" Katara asked loudly. Aang's eyes were wide and terrified beside her.
"You fail the class," Bumi agreed.
Mai rolled her eyes and glanced over at Zuko, before realizing she couldn't gauge his expression at all.
Bumi motioned for them to form a line towards his desk as he handed out eggs pair by pair. Various murmurs rose up around Mai in a torrent of laughter and confusion.
She stepped aside and allowed Zuko to choose the egg. Mai peered at it when they sat back down. It was the same as any other.
"Now we have to decorate it," Zuko said, slightly pained. "And name it, I guess."
"Well, I don't want to fail," Mai shrugged, uncapping her pen. She drew a little face, mouth a straight line and eyes black and beady at either side. Pausing, the added a tiny cap of dark hair.
"Now it looks like both of us," Zuko commented, smiling despite himself.
"That was the plan," Mai replied. "Now what are we going to name him?"
"Lee?" Zuko suggested. "I've always liked that name."
"A little boring," Mai said. "But fine. Lee it is." She scrawled the name on the front of the notebook and put down her pen.
They sat in silence for a while, and in a few moments the warning bell rang. Zuko gathered his books and Mai hers, and Lee sat on Mai's desk, watching them.
"Do you want to take him?" Mai asked.
"I guess someone has to," Zuko replied. After a moment's hesitation he tucked the egg into the side of his backpack, stuffing one of his gloves around it protectively.
Lee gazed out at his new parents, disinterested. Mai sighed.
"I guess if we're careful it will be alright," she shrugged, then added, "See you tonight?"
"Sure," Zuko said. "I guess your number's the same?"
"Everything's the same," Mai said, gently.
---
Mai arrived a handful of minutes before dinnertime, and Iroh's ribbing had already begun in earnest.
"Don't you think you are a bit young to be caring for a child, Zuko?" he asked.
"It's a school project," Zuko grumbled. "Mr. Bumi is crazy."
"Mr. Bumi is a very intelligent man who you should treat with respect." Iroh paused. "He is crazy, but that is what makes him a good teacher."
Zuko said nothing, poking at Lee with his finger as the egg rocked gently back and forth in its makeshift teacup cradle.
"I have to write in this stupid book. What do I even say? 'The egg hasn't cracked. It's starting to smell funny.'"
Iroh only laughed to himself, untying his apron and checking on the soup boiling on the stovetop.
Mai busied herself gathering silverware to set the table while Zuko watched the egg listlessly.
"It's good to see you again, Mai," Iroh said to her, voice thick with affection. "This past year has been very difficult for Zuko. It's good that he has someone to rely on."
"This past year has been tough," Mai agreed, watching through the doorway. She paused, hearing Iroh clear his throat in preparation to continue.
"After the fire," he began, "We didn't know what would happen. I returned from Ba Sing Se immediately...I had no idea things had gotten so bad. Ozai escaped jail so narrowly."
Mai didn't reply. She had a recollection of a few weeks when Azula stayed with her family, the whispers of court proceedings. That the Asous were unstable, though that much she knew. Everyone did.
"Has Zuko seen his father yet?" Mai asked, taking the soup tureen from Iroh as he followed with the stir-fry.
"No," Iroh said. "When Zuko came to live here he cut out that part of his life, I think."
Mai caught the eyes of the boy in question, and he smiled. Iroh touched Mai's shoulder and she followed him into the kitchen, aware that something in their conversation had ended entirely.
Mai wouldn't call the dinner awkward, exactly. She had seen her fair share of awkward dinners, both formal and non, and the familiarity with which the three of them ate in the empty teashop didn't quite reach the level of discomfort. But there was something in the air, charged and sharp.
Lee sat in his teacup-cradle, and everyone once and a while Mai caught Zuko sneaking a look at him to make sure, she assumed, he hadn't fallen to the ground and shattered. Her amusement was difficult to hide.
"It seems like you're really bonding with our son, Zuko," she said.
"Your first dinner as a family," Iroh commented, taking a sip of tea with an air of amused contentment. "You must be very proud of how well Lee is behaving himself."
Mai stifled a laugh and Zuko blanched before turning red, shouting indignantly at Iroh and promptly being ignored as his uncle turned to ask Mai about the javelin record she had broken the previous spring.
When they were finished, Zuko did dishes and Mai dried while Iroh took care of checking the inventory.
"Your Uncle was nice to invite me over," Mai commented casually. "I would have been eating alone, otherwise."
"You would?" Zuko asked, and Mai was surprised at his surprise. "Wouldn't your parents be at home with your brother?"
"He's at a friend's house," she replied. "And my parents are at a fund-raiser."
"Oh," Zuko said. "I'm glad you could come, then."
Mai contorted her face, slightly, then put down the bowl she was toweling off.
"I missed you," she said. "I don't know if you know that."
She moved beside him, slowly.
Zuko's eyes went wide as she kissed him, pulling him close with slightly damp hands.
"Mai..." Zuko said.
"Nothing's changed, you idiot," she replied, finally, blushing hot despite herself. Her hands felt sticky and she crossed them over her chest, frowning.
"We...we have a kid now," Zuko pointed out, weakly. Lee watched the scene with characteristic eggy disinterest.
"That's a good point," Mai said, hesitating only slightly before resuming the kiss he had broken.
---
Mai woke up blearily, unsure for a brief moment of her surroundings. It wasn't her room - the familiar red walls and black curtains weren't there, and neither was the distant sound of the cars passing below her window. It was stifling and stuffy, and Mai rubbed her eyes, finding her bearings.
She was on a couch, under a blanket, and it took her only a moment to realize just which couch.
"Zuko," she muttered. "Zuko?"
He wasn't anywhere to be seen, as far as Mai could tell, and a small frustrated knot formed in her chest.
"You fell asleep," said a voice.
"Mr. Asou," Mai said. "Sorry." She smoothed back her hair and sat up. The shades were up but it was dark out - she was in the back room of the Jasmine Dragon, in front of a long, polished coffee table cluttered with textbooks and papers.
"Iroh," he gently corrected her. "We are like family, Mai, no matter how long it's been." He smiled. "You were making some progress on your homework before you fell asleep."
She nodded, distracted. "Where's Zuko?"
Iroh gestured to the blankets around her shoulders Mai hadn't noticed. She blushed. "He went to get you some tea."
"That was nice of him," Mai murmured.
"He is not usually this considerate to guests." Iroh raised one eyebrow. "Seeing you again has made him a model host."
"Maybe he was just thirsty," Mai suggested, but she smiled.
Iroh headed down the stairs to the store, and Mai waited, unable to concentrate, the edges of the blanket coarse and familiar under her fingers.
It was from the old house, and would always smell faintly of smoke. Mai shuddered, suddenly cold despite it, and wrapped it closer.
---
The next day, after track practice, Mai was packing her things in the girl's locker room when a nagging thought hit her, sudden and fierce.
She dug around in her bag for a few minutes, groping around in the soft fabric, and felt her eyes widening in panic despite herself.
"Shit," she said.
Her feet took her off school grounds quickly - Ty Lee, still clad in her cheerleading uniform, was leaning against the side of the gym entrance waiting for her.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Mai supposed, briefly, that her eyes were unusually wide enough for concern.
"The egg is gone." Mai replied.
"Lee?" Ty Lee asked.
"Yeah, sure," she muttered. "Lee. I put him...it, whatever, in a container in my duffel, but I can't find it now."
"So buy a new one," Ty Lee replied, nonchalant. She examined her nails, electric pink and glittering in the late afternoon sunlight. "Where did you see it last?"
Mai pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She wasn't unaware where the habit came from, and the thought made her laugh a little internally. "The Jasmine Dragon, last night. It was on the table when we were eating dinner..."
"You didn't tell me you had a date last night!" Ty Lee exclaimed, "Ooh, Mai, you have to tell me everything about it, what did Zuko..."
"It wasn't a date," Mai snapped. "Mr. Asou was the one who wanted me to come."
"Whatever." Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "You can tell me about it later."
"Tell her about what, later?"
Mai turned her eyes in the direction of the voice. Azula, hair in a tight bun at the nape of her neck.
"Debate's over? Ty Lee asked, hesitant.
"I won, of course," Azula replied, idly. "That Aglukark girl didn't stand a chance. Ty Lee was saying you and Zuko had a date?"
"It wasn't a date," Mai said, her tone tight.
Azula said nothing, only smiled. Mai was slightly disconcerted. She narrowed her eyes.
"I've got to get going. See you later."
"What about your egg?" Ty Lee called, but Mai was already gone, duffel slung across her shoulder, Azula gazing at her back.
---
The afternoon, and then the evening, Mai realized, had turned into the Search for Lee. Zuko had taken an especial interest in the quest. She tightened her sweater around her shoulders and frowned.
"I'm bored," she said, incredulous when Zuko peered under yet another bush in the quad. Mai rolled her eyes. The Jasmine Dragon lacked any eggs but those Iroh had purchased for breakfast, and they had retraced their search of the school at least twice.
The panic she had felt at first subsiding, replaced my irritation. "We can buy a new egg, Zuko. No one will ever know the difference."
"It's the principle of the thing. What if someone stole it or broke it?"
"It's an egg, Zuko!" Mai practically screamed. "From a carton. From the supermarket. It's getting late, let's just head over to Yangchen's Market and get some more, we can make omelets for dinner or something."
"How can you talk about omelets at a time like this?" Zuko asked.
Mai felt the sigh, deep and unamused, rush through her.
"Zuko," she tried again, "there are other things to focus on, Zuko..." she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him forward, forcing him to face her. She kissed him, forceful and then soft, feeling him relax as he leaned into it.
Zuko's hands were on her hair, and she distantly marveled at them, they felt large and strong as the made their way there, from the small of her back to the back of her warm neck. Her loose bun softened. His mouth worked at the corner of her lip in a way she hadn't expected.
The kiss broke when Mai felt something hard and cold against her foot. She bent down.
"Well. You'll never believe this."
Zuko smiled, the first genuine smile Mai had seen on his face in ages.
"It's cracking," he said. The egg was cupped in his palms, and he held it as gently as he had held her.
"You're not serious?"
He was, she realized. The tiny fissures in the surface were widening as Zuko and Mai watched.
"Oh," Mai said.
The chick was tiny and wet, and if Mai was honest with herself, somewhat disgusting. It made a small, newborn sound. Zuko's eyes were wide and, Mai noticed, very bright.
"Maybe we'll get an A?," she mused, finally, grudgingly cradling the baby in her sweater.
---
"You know, I still can't believe we got an A," Mai said. "From Bumi."
"I'm more surprised he let us keep him," Zuko replied. Lee waddled along happily past him. Weeks later, they'd worked out an arrangement - Lee would stay at the Jasmine Dragon, as both Mai and Zuko were aware house pets weren't something the Zhangs ever aimed to have in whatever capacity.
Christmas Break was just beginning, and Mai was enjoying every minute of it.
She ran her fingers down the side of Zuko's face, though his hair. Outside it was snowing, fat flakes that carpeted the ground in white.
"Is it good to be back?" she asked.
Earlier Iroh had discreetly brought them tea and fruit tarts, and Mai nursed a mug in her hands, breathing in the steam. Her fingers were still gloved.
Zuko stroked Lee's downy back and smiled. "It's different," he said.
"I keep trying to tell you," Mai leaned back into his lap, with a small, contented noise. "It's really not."
She kissed him in the weak and fading winter sunlight.
Lee quacked.
Rating: PG
Notes: An AU of ridiculousness, because I can.
For: mekosuchinae
The day dawned chill and crisp, and Mai shrugged her way out from under her sheets half-heartedly, awake in the weak winter sunlight of her bedroom. It was still twenty minutes before the alarm went off. The house was silent - her mother and brother were asleep and her father had left for the office hours ago.
Mai smiled, sleepily. She enjoyed the silence.
By the time she showered and dressed it was barely light outside. Ty Lee, and Ty Lee's car, wouldn't be arriving for some time yet. She busied herself with breakfast, pouring a glass of orange juice and filling a bowl with cereal, chewing very slowly. The milk tasted slightly sour and she wondered, briefly, when and if her mother planned to go shopping.
It was another morning like any painfully mundane morning, Mai thought, except that it absolutely wasn't.
Ty Lee honked the horn with piercing intensity and Mai stiffened briefly, but the silence from her mother's bedroom was undisturbed, and she couldn't hear Tom's cries. Closing the door gingerly behind her she was met, vaguely irritated, with Ty Lee's bright pink Beetle parked precariously close to her mother's professionally trimmed hedges.
"Good morning!" Ty Lee called cheerfully, waving. "I brought coffee and donuts!"
Mai slid her way into the passenger seat, depositing her black messenger bag in the slim space behind her. "I already ate."
Ty Lee frowned slightly, starting up the car. "Do you at least want some coffee? Black with two sugars?"
Mai nodded, absently, as Ty Lee handed over the styrofoam cup, one hand precariously perched on the wheel, and inhaled deeply before taking a sip. Lukewarm but tasty enough, she reasoned.
"So," Ty Lee said, grinning a little more broadly than Mai thought was necessary for a Monday morning. "How was your weekend?"
"Cut it out, Ty Lee," Mai replied. "First of all," she finished her coffee in a few swift gulps, "You know how my weekend was because you, Azula, and I spent it together. Second, I know what you want to ask so you might as well just ask it."
"You're no fun. But fine. Are you excited about today?" Ty Lee's mega-watt grin hadn't dimmed but became more bearable as the caffeine began to work its way through Mai's bloodstream.
"No," Mai said, as they pulled into the parking lot of the high school, somehow, as always, about ten minutes after the first bell.
---
The day continued as it would, and when fifth period rolled around Mai found herself practically comatose. Psychology was an elective class, nothing more to Mai than another AP credit to appease her mother.
She spent the first part of class dutifully taking notes and not listening, mind too vague and tired to be distracted, when the door to the classroom slammed suddenly in awkward disharmony with the loud heater and quiet lecture.
Mr. Bumi looked up from the blackboard and raised one eyebrow as the interloper hurried to the nearest empty seat. The seat next to Mai.
"Ahh, Mr. Asou. How nice of you to join us just in time for the most interesting part of our lecture! Make yourself at home and try to learn something." He laughed his familiar snorting laugh and went back to writing, while the rest of the class turned to stare.
He was the same Zuko as ever, the same Zuko as a year ago, but still so different. His hair was short, now, not the shaggy mess she remembered, clean and cropped. His left eye was scarred slightly, red and painful looking against the paleness of his skin.
He didn't smile.
Mai wondered, briefly, about the fire, and unbidden saw the charred remains of the old Asou family mansion, pride and glory of the town in cinders. She could feel herself, feet against the summer asphalt and nightgown blowing in the breeze as the ambulances arrived. As the police cuffed his father. Azula's unnaturally calm stare through it all, wrapped in a blanket beside the squad cars.
Zuko rubbing at his eye, half of his body ashy and the other half clean.
He didn't look at her as he gathered up his books and left, whispers following, and Mai's next class was at the opposite end of the building. Their eyes didn't meet and they said nothing, and Mai wondered why she imagined anything different would have happened.
---
At lunch, Azula was unusually quiet. Ty Lee leaned against her side, cheerfully slurping noodles from her Tupperware, babbling animatedly about cheerleading practice and her cute new lab partner while ignoring Azula's glares and the subject on all of their minds.
Mai ate her sandwich quickly and gathered her things to leave.
"Going so soon, Mai?" Azula asked languidly. "Ty Lee was just going to tell us the latest rumor about that horrible-looking new freshman on the squad, weren't you?" Ty Lee nodded but her smile was nervous and pleading, and Mai found herself at a standstill.
"I have to finish a physics lab," she allowed, impassive. "It's due at the end of the day."
"Honestly," Azula replied. "Doing it yourself? Why don't you just ask one of the Aglukarks? It's not like they have anything better to do, and maybe if you pay them..."
"Sokka is nice," Ty Lee interjected. "You don't have to be so mean, Azula."
"I think I'll do it on my own," Mai said. "But thanks for the suggestion." She walked away before Azula could say another word.
In the library, she selected a chair and a fashion magazine, watching the clock every few minutes or so. Absorbed in an article entitled "Black is the New Black" she didn't hear another chair pull up next to hers.
"Hi," Zuko said, softly. When Mai didn't respond he said it again, louder. A few people looked up from their homework or computers and giggled before getting back to work.
"You never called and hardly wrote," Mai replied, without preamble. "I was worried."
"I couldn't," Zuko said. He moved his chair closer and it made a loud, awkward noise on the floor. "There was so much...my mother filed for divorce and met this guy while we were in Japan with her family, Piandao or something..." He paused. "My father is...you know they couldn't prove he started it, but he's somewhere now where they're trying to help him."
"Where are you living?" Mai asked.
"In an apartment above Uncle's teashop. Lu Ten's away at school so I'm in his room."
Mai was silent.
"Say something," Zuko commented, nearly inaudibly. His voice was hoarse.
"Are you alright?" she asked, softly.
"I don't know," Zuko said.
Mai touched his hand and interlaced her fingers with his.
---
Tuesday's psychology lecture found Mai in class earlier than usual, forgoing her hallway loitering with Azula and Ty Lee to grab a seat in the nearly empty classroom.
Feeling slightly ridiculous, she set to work copying the day's outline as the class began to funnel in. Zuko was early too; Mai vaguely remembered his tendency to be overly punctual and smiled a little to herself as he slid into the seat beside her, searching her face with his eyes.
"Good morning," he said.
"Good afternoon, you mean," she replied. "Although it seems like the day isn't nearly over." She sighed, then yawned.
"Would you like to come to the Jasmine Dragon after school?," Zuko asked, so quickly Mai thought she'd misheard. "Uncle wants to see you and if you're not busy maybe you could..."
Bumi called the class to attention as his sentence trailed off, and Mai stifled a small laugh brewing in her throat.
"Your Uncle wants to see me?" she asked. "Well. Then I'll think about it."
Zuko smiled wanly.
"I've got a special announcement for you kids today," Bumi began. "As you know, midterm exams are coming up and we teachers have gotten permission this year to use...unorthodox methods to prepare you, if we so wish."
The class rustled, and some people groaned.
"I thought," he continued cheerfully, "That a project would be in order. It'll count for a good part of your grade, but the exam will be worth less that way. How does that sound to everyone?"
The groans continued.
"You will work in pairs for this project." Mai noticed the obvious choices meet eyes and smile - Aang Tsering and Katara Aglukark practically glowed at each other in anticipation. "Please pick your partners now and we'll get down to business."
Mai and Zuko looked at each other, but Zuko opened his mouth to speak before Mai could open hers.
"Want to be partners?" he asked.
"Might as well. I already know I can stand you."
After a handful of minutes the class was divided into groups of two, Bumi rummaged in his briefcase behind his desk and brought out something small and round. He cupped it delicately in his palm, and it took Mai a few moments to realize what it was, obscured by an ostentatious and somewhat frightening painted face.
"An egg?" Zuko asked, louder than he probably meant to.
"That's right, Mr. Asou! Good work. An egg! My project for you, class, is to raise a baby. But since the hospital was loathe to loan me some of theirs," Bumi sniggered, "You'll have to make due with these." He procured a carton, settling his little egg into a coffee mug filled with tissue.
"Each pair of new parents will be required to keep a journal of their baby's progress for the next few days. Your baby most never be left alone at any time. If you have friends in this class, or parents and siblings who are available, you can ask them to babysit. If your baby breaks," Bumi paused for emphasis. "You fail."
"We fail the class?" Katara asked loudly. Aang's eyes were wide and terrified beside her.
"You fail the class," Bumi agreed.
Mai rolled her eyes and glanced over at Zuko, before realizing she couldn't gauge his expression at all.
Bumi motioned for them to form a line towards his desk as he handed out eggs pair by pair. Various murmurs rose up around Mai in a torrent of laughter and confusion.
She stepped aside and allowed Zuko to choose the egg. Mai peered at it when they sat back down. It was the same as any other.
"Now we have to decorate it," Zuko said, slightly pained. "And name it, I guess."
"Well, I don't want to fail," Mai shrugged, uncapping her pen. She drew a little face, mouth a straight line and eyes black and beady at either side. Pausing, the added a tiny cap of dark hair.
"Now it looks like both of us," Zuko commented, smiling despite himself.
"That was the plan," Mai replied. "Now what are we going to name him?"
"Lee?" Zuko suggested. "I've always liked that name."
"A little boring," Mai said. "But fine. Lee it is." She scrawled the name on the front of the notebook and put down her pen.
They sat in silence for a while, and in a few moments the warning bell rang. Zuko gathered his books and Mai hers, and Lee sat on Mai's desk, watching them.
"Do you want to take him?" Mai asked.
"I guess someone has to," Zuko replied. After a moment's hesitation he tucked the egg into the side of his backpack, stuffing one of his gloves around it protectively.
Lee gazed out at his new parents, disinterested. Mai sighed.
"I guess if we're careful it will be alright," she shrugged, then added, "See you tonight?"
"Sure," Zuko said. "I guess your number's the same?"
"Everything's the same," Mai said, gently.
---
Mai arrived a handful of minutes before dinnertime, and Iroh's ribbing had already begun in earnest.
"Don't you think you are a bit young to be caring for a child, Zuko?" he asked.
"It's a school project," Zuko grumbled. "Mr. Bumi is crazy."
"Mr. Bumi is a very intelligent man who you should treat with respect." Iroh paused. "He is crazy, but that is what makes him a good teacher."
Zuko said nothing, poking at Lee with his finger as the egg rocked gently back and forth in its makeshift teacup cradle.
"I have to write in this stupid book. What do I even say? 'The egg hasn't cracked. It's starting to smell funny.'"
Iroh only laughed to himself, untying his apron and checking on the soup boiling on the stovetop.
Mai busied herself gathering silverware to set the table while Zuko watched the egg listlessly.
"It's good to see you again, Mai," Iroh said to her, voice thick with affection. "This past year has been very difficult for Zuko. It's good that he has someone to rely on."
"This past year has been tough," Mai agreed, watching through the doorway. She paused, hearing Iroh clear his throat in preparation to continue.
"After the fire," he began, "We didn't know what would happen. I returned from Ba Sing Se immediately...I had no idea things had gotten so bad. Ozai escaped jail so narrowly."
Mai didn't reply. She had a recollection of a few weeks when Azula stayed with her family, the whispers of court proceedings. That the Asous were unstable, though that much she knew. Everyone did.
"Has Zuko seen his father yet?" Mai asked, taking the soup tureen from Iroh as he followed with the stir-fry.
"No," Iroh said. "When Zuko came to live here he cut out that part of his life, I think."
Mai caught the eyes of the boy in question, and he smiled. Iroh touched Mai's shoulder and she followed him into the kitchen, aware that something in their conversation had ended entirely.
Mai wouldn't call the dinner awkward, exactly. She had seen her fair share of awkward dinners, both formal and non, and the familiarity with which the three of them ate in the empty teashop didn't quite reach the level of discomfort. But there was something in the air, charged and sharp.
Lee sat in his teacup-cradle, and everyone once and a while Mai caught Zuko sneaking a look at him to make sure, she assumed, he hadn't fallen to the ground and shattered. Her amusement was difficult to hide.
"It seems like you're really bonding with our son, Zuko," she said.
"Your first dinner as a family," Iroh commented, taking a sip of tea with an air of amused contentment. "You must be very proud of how well Lee is behaving himself."
Mai stifled a laugh and Zuko blanched before turning red, shouting indignantly at Iroh and promptly being ignored as his uncle turned to ask Mai about the javelin record she had broken the previous spring.
When they were finished, Zuko did dishes and Mai dried while Iroh took care of checking the inventory.
"Your Uncle was nice to invite me over," Mai commented casually. "I would have been eating alone, otherwise."
"You would?" Zuko asked, and Mai was surprised at his surprise. "Wouldn't your parents be at home with your brother?"
"He's at a friend's house," she replied. "And my parents are at a fund-raiser."
"Oh," Zuko said. "I'm glad you could come, then."
Mai contorted her face, slightly, then put down the bowl she was toweling off.
"I missed you," she said. "I don't know if you know that."
She moved beside him, slowly.
Zuko's eyes went wide as she kissed him, pulling him close with slightly damp hands.
"Mai..." Zuko said.
"Nothing's changed, you idiot," she replied, finally, blushing hot despite herself. Her hands felt sticky and she crossed them over her chest, frowning.
"We...we have a kid now," Zuko pointed out, weakly. Lee watched the scene with characteristic eggy disinterest.
"That's a good point," Mai said, hesitating only slightly before resuming the kiss he had broken.
---
Mai woke up blearily, unsure for a brief moment of her surroundings. It wasn't her room - the familiar red walls and black curtains weren't there, and neither was the distant sound of the cars passing below her window. It was stifling and stuffy, and Mai rubbed her eyes, finding her bearings.
She was on a couch, under a blanket, and it took her only a moment to realize just which couch.
"Zuko," she muttered. "Zuko?"
He wasn't anywhere to be seen, as far as Mai could tell, and a small frustrated knot formed in her chest.
"You fell asleep," said a voice.
"Mr. Asou," Mai said. "Sorry." She smoothed back her hair and sat up. The shades were up but it was dark out - she was in the back room of the Jasmine Dragon, in front of a long, polished coffee table cluttered with textbooks and papers.
"Iroh," he gently corrected her. "We are like family, Mai, no matter how long it's been." He smiled. "You were making some progress on your homework before you fell asleep."
She nodded, distracted. "Where's Zuko?"
Iroh gestured to the blankets around her shoulders Mai hadn't noticed. She blushed. "He went to get you some tea."
"That was nice of him," Mai murmured.
"He is not usually this considerate to guests." Iroh raised one eyebrow. "Seeing you again has made him a model host."
"Maybe he was just thirsty," Mai suggested, but she smiled.
Iroh headed down the stairs to the store, and Mai waited, unable to concentrate, the edges of the blanket coarse and familiar under her fingers.
It was from the old house, and would always smell faintly of smoke. Mai shuddered, suddenly cold despite it, and wrapped it closer.
---
The next day, after track practice, Mai was packing her things in the girl's locker room when a nagging thought hit her, sudden and fierce.
She dug around in her bag for a few minutes, groping around in the soft fabric, and felt her eyes widening in panic despite herself.
"Shit," she said.
Her feet took her off school grounds quickly - Ty Lee, still clad in her cheerleading uniform, was leaning against the side of the gym entrance waiting for her.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Mai supposed, briefly, that her eyes were unusually wide enough for concern.
"The egg is gone." Mai replied.
"Lee?" Ty Lee asked.
"Yeah, sure," she muttered. "Lee. I put him...it, whatever, in a container in my duffel, but I can't find it now."
"So buy a new one," Ty Lee replied, nonchalant. She examined her nails, electric pink and glittering in the late afternoon sunlight. "Where did you see it last?"
Mai pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She wasn't unaware where the habit came from, and the thought made her laugh a little internally. "The Jasmine Dragon, last night. It was on the table when we were eating dinner..."
"You didn't tell me you had a date last night!" Ty Lee exclaimed, "Ooh, Mai, you have to tell me everything about it, what did Zuko..."
"It wasn't a date," Mai snapped. "Mr. Asou was the one who wanted me to come."
"Whatever." Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "You can tell me about it later."
"Tell her about what, later?"
Mai turned her eyes in the direction of the voice. Azula, hair in a tight bun at the nape of her neck.
"Debate's over? Ty Lee asked, hesitant.
"I won, of course," Azula replied, idly. "That Aglukark girl didn't stand a chance. Ty Lee was saying you and Zuko had a date?"
"It wasn't a date," Mai said, her tone tight.
Azula said nothing, only smiled. Mai was slightly disconcerted. She narrowed her eyes.
"I've got to get going. See you later."
"What about your egg?" Ty Lee called, but Mai was already gone, duffel slung across her shoulder, Azula gazing at her back.
---
The afternoon, and then the evening, Mai realized, had turned into the Search for Lee. Zuko had taken an especial interest in the quest. She tightened her sweater around her shoulders and frowned.
"I'm bored," she said, incredulous when Zuko peered under yet another bush in the quad. Mai rolled her eyes. The Jasmine Dragon lacked any eggs but those Iroh had purchased for breakfast, and they had retraced their search of the school at least twice.
The panic she had felt at first subsiding, replaced my irritation. "We can buy a new egg, Zuko. No one will ever know the difference."
"It's the principle of the thing. What if someone stole it or broke it?"
"It's an egg, Zuko!" Mai practically screamed. "From a carton. From the supermarket. It's getting late, let's just head over to Yangchen's Market and get some more, we can make omelets for dinner or something."
"How can you talk about omelets at a time like this?" Zuko asked.
Mai felt the sigh, deep and unamused, rush through her.
"Zuko," she tried again, "there are other things to focus on, Zuko..." she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him forward, forcing him to face her. She kissed him, forceful and then soft, feeling him relax as he leaned into it.
Zuko's hands were on her hair, and she distantly marveled at them, they felt large and strong as the made their way there, from the small of her back to the back of her warm neck. Her loose bun softened. His mouth worked at the corner of her lip in a way she hadn't expected.
The kiss broke when Mai felt something hard and cold against her foot. She bent down.
"Well. You'll never believe this."
Zuko smiled, the first genuine smile Mai had seen on his face in ages.
"It's cracking," he said. The egg was cupped in his palms, and he held it as gently as he had held her.
"You're not serious?"
He was, she realized. The tiny fissures in the surface were widening as Zuko and Mai watched.
"Oh," Mai said.
The chick was tiny and wet, and if Mai was honest with herself, somewhat disgusting. It made a small, newborn sound. Zuko's eyes were wide and, Mai noticed, very bright.
"Maybe we'll get an A?," she mused, finally, grudgingly cradling the baby in her sweater.
---
"You know, I still can't believe we got an A," Mai said. "From Bumi."
"I'm more surprised he let us keep him," Zuko replied. Lee waddled along happily past him. Weeks later, they'd worked out an arrangement - Lee would stay at the Jasmine Dragon, as both Mai and Zuko were aware house pets weren't something the Zhangs ever aimed to have in whatever capacity.
Christmas Break was just beginning, and Mai was enjoying every minute of it.
She ran her fingers down the side of Zuko's face, though his hair. Outside it was snowing, fat flakes that carpeted the ground in white.
"Is it good to be back?" she asked.
Earlier Iroh had discreetly brought them tea and fruit tarts, and Mai nursed a mug in her hands, breathing in the steam. Her fingers were still gloved.
Zuko stroked Lee's downy back and smiled. "It's different," he said.
"I keep trying to tell you," Mai leaned back into his lap, with a small, contented noise. "It's really not."
She kissed him in the weak and fading winter sunlight.
Lee quacked.