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31_days2007-12-13 08:52 am
praiseofshadows.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-12-13 08:52 am
[Dec. 13th] [Avatar] The Way Home
Title: The Way Home
Day/Theme: 13. Like toothpaste, smooth and minty
Series: Avatar
Character/Pairing: Zuko/Mai
Rating: PGish
Their first night on the ship, they kiss in her cabin (he’s bunking with the captain as he’s a last minute addition) until dinner. Azula makes snide remarks about how red their mouths are.
The second night, Ty Lee won’t leave them alone, and so they hold hands until Azula decides it’s time for bed.
(The captain doesn’t like rooming with him, and Zuko doesn’t blame him. He thinks – with the sort of perspective he could only have gained over the last few months – that if he were the captain, he wouldn’t like rooming with the royal family either. He resolves to make the experience as painless as possible, and if he were any better with words, he would tell the man so.)
The third night, he pushes her up against the corridor as they exit the stateroom, lifting up his chin so their lips can touch. She tastes like the tea she’s been drinking, and he’s never liked the taste more.
The fourth night he dreams Uncle’s being executed, eyes accusing from his lifeless head, and Zuko wakes to find himself biting the back of his hand to keep from screaming. He leaves the captain’s cabin and makes his way to the deck. On the way, he stops by her cabin. She’s awake, almost as if she knew.
(She’s warm by his side as he stares out at the ocean, and he wants to tell her all the things he can never tell anyone. He doesn’t, of course, but she listens to his silence nonetheless and he thinks this is the closest he’ll ever get to peace.)
The fifth night, she piles his plate high with his favourites, encouraging him to eat, and neither Azula nor Ty Lee even bother to make fun of them. They’re too busy making up a thoroughly scandalous and sordid past for the roguish first mate.
The sixth night Azula calls a war council. There’s a lack of seating, but as prince, he merits a chair. Mai sits on his lap, and he doesn’t hear a word in ten that his sister says.
The seventh night she runs her index finger along the jagged edge of his scar, right where it meets his hairline. It’s the first time anyone’s touched it without remarking the horribleness of it, without saying what a shame it is. Without pity.
“Does it hurt when I do this?” she asks when he can’t quite control his flinch.
“No,” he says, surprising himself. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”
She smiles then, one of those rare smiles she makes when no one’s around to taunt her about it later, and he – hesitantly – smiles back.
Day/Theme: 13. Like toothpaste, smooth and minty
Series: Avatar
Character/Pairing: Zuko/Mai
Rating: PGish
Their first night on the ship, they kiss in her cabin (he’s bunking with the captain as he’s a last minute addition) until dinner. Azula makes snide remarks about how red their mouths are.
The second night, Ty Lee won’t leave them alone, and so they hold hands until Azula decides it’s time for bed.
(The captain doesn’t like rooming with him, and Zuko doesn’t blame him. He thinks – with the sort of perspective he could only have gained over the last few months – that if he were the captain, he wouldn’t like rooming with the royal family either. He resolves to make the experience as painless as possible, and if he were any better with words, he would tell the man so.)
The third night, he pushes her up against the corridor as they exit the stateroom, lifting up his chin so their lips can touch. She tastes like the tea she’s been drinking, and he’s never liked the taste more.
The fourth night he dreams Uncle’s being executed, eyes accusing from his lifeless head, and Zuko wakes to find himself biting the back of his hand to keep from screaming. He leaves the captain’s cabin and makes his way to the deck. On the way, he stops by her cabin. She’s awake, almost as if she knew.
(She’s warm by his side as he stares out at the ocean, and he wants to tell her all the things he can never tell anyone. He doesn’t, of course, but she listens to his silence nonetheless and he thinks this is the closest he’ll ever get to peace.)
The fifth night, she piles his plate high with his favourites, encouraging him to eat, and neither Azula nor Ty Lee even bother to make fun of them. They’re too busy making up a thoroughly scandalous and sordid past for the roguish first mate.
The sixth night Azula calls a war council. There’s a lack of seating, but as prince, he merits a chair. Mai sits on his lap, and he doesn’t hear a word in ten that his sister says.
The seventh night she runs her index finger along the jagged edge of his scar, right where it meets his hairline. It’s the first time anyone’s touched it without remarking the horribleness of it, without saying what a shame it is. Without pity.
“Does it hurt when I do this?” she asks when he can’t quite control his flinch.
“No,” he says, surprising himself. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”
She smiles then, one of those rare smiles she makes when no one’s around to taunt her about it later, and he – hesitantly – smiles back.