Author's Note: Second attempt at writing Maiko, as well as being my first oneshot. This should be interesting. Zuko may be a tad OoC, though, but he's obviously a different character here, since it's a Modern AU.

I hope it's original… I've never read a story like this one before (but mostly because I stay away from Modern AUs), so I wouldn't know. Hope you all like it in either case.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and I am in no way associated with the creators of the show.

First Date

"Okay, I'll come pick you up at eight. Is that okay?"

"Fine."

"Okay… Great! I'll see you then. I guess." He chuckled a little nervously, but smiled, trying to banish those feelings. "Bye, then."

"Bye." And then she hung up. He put the phone back on the receiver too, breathing slowly.

Earlier that morning, he asked out one of the most popular girls in school, one of the coldest, most stoic, and the one who turned other potential dates down the most often.

She was also the best friend of his sister, Azula.

Exhaling one last time, Zuko looked himself over again in the mirror, for the hundredth time since he got home from school, ever since he asked Mai out on a date. For some reason, he was inexplicably nervous about the prospect of a date with her. He had dated a girl or two before, but they all seemed to come to him excitedly. Mai, on the other hand, acted as if she didn't have any interest in him.

But she accepted the date at least, right? It had to be a good sign. That one little fact cheered him up only marginally. He was fairly confident this wasn't all just some clever ploy from his little sister.

…But he wouldn't put it beneath her.

The next hour passed by very quickly, and just five minutes before eight at night, after pacing restlessly in his bedroom, he called to his mother.

"Mom, it's time to go," he told her impatiently, standing by the front door. She was at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea and reading the daily news.

"One minute, honey," she replied, taking another sip.

"But Mom," he moaned, "We're going to be late picking up Mai!" He was old enough to drive, yes, but he was forced, by law, to have a fully licensed driver in the passenger seat, since he was only on his learner's permit.

"Oh, is that what this is about?" she asked, grinning. "I can't wait to meet her!" As she finished her tea, his mother stood up, revealing to him that she was wearing only her crimson bed robes. "Well, let's go!"

"You're not really wearing that out in public, are you?" he groaned. "You're so embarrassing." He dragged his hand down his face. "And besides, Mai comes over all the time."

"Which is why I don't have to dress up nice," his mother replied curtly. "She knows me, it's not like she needs a good first impression, love."

"Whatever, let's go," he said, sighing. He twirled the keys in his hand and went out into the warm, summer night. His mother quickly scurried after him, sitting in the passenger seat of his own red corvette (hey, his dad made a lot of money, and the chicks loved it) while he sat at the wheel.

"Have fun with Mai," a voice teased from behind him in the darkness, causing both Zuko and his mother to jump. "I hope you're not a bad kisser, for Mai's sake."

"Azula, get out of my car!" Zuko yelled to his sister. She had the bad habit of going into his car and driving away with it, even though she was two years too young.

"Young lady, get back in the house, now," Ursa said sternly. The younger girl rolled her eyes but complied.

"Don't bring home any babies, Zuzu," Azula said, making a point to blanch in disgust.

"Azula!" their mother cried, horrified.

Five minutes later, Zuko pulled up in front of Mai's house just in time. Just as Zuko was about to honk loudly on the horn so Mai would come, his mother sternly reprimanded him and ordered him to go to her door.

As he was getting out of the car, his mother stopped him. "Zuko, wait!" And she proceeded to pull him by the sleeve, lick her fingers, and attempt to smooth out his hair.

"Mom!" He fiercely fought back against her, trying to pull out of her iron grip.

"I'm—just trying—to make you look—presentable! Hold still!"

"I'm fine!" Once she finally let go of him, he pulled back fiercely and hit his head hard on the top of the car, eliciting a hiss of pain. At the same time, he ruffled up his hair again, and looked up.

Mai was standing on the sidewalk, calmly waiting for him and his mother to stop whatever they were doing. She had the strangest look on her face, as if she were having second thoughts about accepting going on a date with him.

"Uh… Hi," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Her raven black hair was straight and silky as always, but instead of wearing black, she had a brown shawl wrapped around her bare, creamy shoulders. "You look nice."

"Love, you look like a slob, let me fix your hair – Wait, what are you looking at?" his mother continued, but she poked her head out of the window. "Oh, hello, Mai!" Closing the car window, she opened the door and stepped out to give the girl a hug, which was returned. "It's so nice to see you!"

Zuko glared at his mother for embarrassing him further, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Hi," Mai said plainly. Ursa got back into the car, and after a moment, looked out at Zuko.

"Zuzu, why don't you open the door for her and let her in the car?"

"Uh, right," Zuko mumbled, walking around the car, and opened the door, letting her sit in the back seat. They were made of black leather. He loved his car. He half expected her to compliment it or seem impressed in some way or form, but she did nothing to show any apparent interest in it. He was confused – almost every other girl loved the thing, even his sister. Why not Mai?

"Did you compliment her?" Ursa loudly whispered to Zuko, which was not unheard by Mai.

"Yes," he hissed back. "Just stop talking!"

The car ride to their destination was quiet and awkward, to say the least. Zuko was stiffly concentrating on his driving, mentally using it as an excuse for his lack of conversation. Mai was jadedly staring out the window, bright streetlights occasionally lighting up her face, which he saw through the rearview mirror. Ursa, on the other hand, was fidgeting. She clearly wanted to break the silence.

"So you two are going to the boardwalk, right?" his mother asked conversationally. "Make sure you don't get separated. There are big crowds there this time of year." Neither of the two teenagers answered. "Want me to come in with you and make sure you don't get lost?" She laughed to herself.

"No," Zuko answered flatly.

"I was just kidding, honey," she replied, grinning. After a couple more seconds, she twisted around in her seat to talk to Mai. "Mai, make sure you kiss him at least once. I read in his diary that he likes…"

"Mom!" Zuko nearly screeched. "Stop talking! Now!" His cheeks burning, he didn't notice the brief view of Mai's face in his mirror, in which the corners of her mouth were curved.

"Alright, alright," his mother said, sounding faintly annoyed. "It's just so quiet, though…"

"It's okay. I like the quiet," Mai said monotonously.

"Well, I want to listen to some music," said Ursa, going to press things on the radio. Before he could stop her, his mother had her embarrassing techno music from her younger days,blaring out the open window, right when they were stopped at a red light next to other cars with their windows open. Coincidentally, two guys he knew from school were in one of said cars, and with one look at Zuko, they burst out into laughter. Meanwhile, his mother was dancing in her seat embarrassingly.

Zuko's forehead banged against the steering wheel.

Several agonizing minutes later, the trio arrived at the parking lot of the Ember Island Boardwalk, a place of rides and games along a beach. It was a fun, popular hangout during the summer nights.

Zuko helped Mai out of his corvette, as his mother walked around to take the driver's seat. "Okay, you two lovebirds, I'll come to pick you up at ten."

"Ten?" Zuko groaned. "But that's so early!"

"Yes, but I'd also like to go to bed, so you're going to have to deal with it," Ursa said smugly. She started the car as Zuko and Mai turned to leave. "Have fun! And your sister was right, make sure you use a –"

"Run!" Zuko shouted to Mai, grabbing her by the hand and getting away from his mother as fast as possible.

"– Good kissing technique," Ursa finished lamely, once the two were out of sight.

"These bright lights are disgusting," Mai said, once they were walking along the wooden planks of the boardwalk. The dark waves splashed up against the sandy beach nearby, but the sound was nearly covered by the loud beeps and horns of games and people all around them.

"Yeah," Zuko said, agreeing. His head was shooting in all directions in a feeble attempt to make an interesting conversation topic. "Um… Wanna go on a ride?"

"Roller coasters make me nauseous," she replied. "I hate them."

"Uh… What about the carousel?"

"That's so stupid and pointless."

They were silent again, while the noises continued on around them. They walked with no purpose in mind, but Zuko's thoughts were in turmoil.

Mai didn't seem to like him. This date was a disaster. Maybe he should have brought her somewhere else? A library, perhaps? At least they didn't have to worry about talking there.

"How 'bout some games?" he asked. She shrugged. He took that as a yes.

He approached a wooden stall, one of many overlooking the dark ocean. After paying the loud announcer, Zuko sat at one of the cushioned seats while Mai stood behind him jadedly. The game involved shooting a water gun at a small target, causing pieces to race around the track. Whoever was the most accurate, precise, and constant in their aiming would win the race and get a prize. With a small pop, the water guns were activated and a thin stream of water shot from Zuko's gun.

He was on the target immediately, and his numbered piece (Number Six) lumbered across the racetrack, having gotten a head start since his aim was lined up from the beginning. Unexpectedly, his hand faltered for a moment and the path of the water gun diverted, causing his piece to effectively stop and fall behind. From there, the race was lost.

Groaning, Zuko looked to the winner (Number Four) who was receiving their prize, a large, stuffed animal. The winner also happened to be a six year-old girl, who grinned tauntingly at him. He fumed.

He wanted to win that prize for Mai.

"This isn't a good game," Zuko said finally, standing up and moving right to the next one. Mai sordidly followed after. The next game (after paying some more money) involved throwing a baseball at stacked bottles, but he failed abysmally when there was one bottle left standing. Number Four tried the game after him. She succeeded in knocking them all down.

Furious, and ravenously trying to win a prize for his angry girlfriend, Zuko continued to spend all of his money on various games, losing every one. On the other hand, Number Four's amount of prizes kept growing and growing, until he only recognized her as a mass of giant stuffed animals trailing after her parents, who were also loaded with them.

He tried games based on luck (which seemed to be down today), skill (where he had to throw a ring around a bottleneck – much tougher than it sounded), patience (at a crane game), and strength (with his attempt at a Strong Man contest). He failed each and every one.

After giving a long, bored sigh, Mai took her cell phone out of her purse and started typing away in a text message to someone. Zuko frowned – was she that uninterested in him? Why couldn't she just tell him and go home instead of ignoring him like this?

"Who are you talking to?" he asked casually.

"A friend," she replied, her slim fingers pressing buttons. Well, that was a good sign – she wasn't talking to her parents to beg them to pick her up. 'A friend' either meant Ty Lee or Azula.

He felt a familiar niggling in the back of his mind that usually came whenever his sister was planning something at his expense. Alarm bells started going off a moment later when he spotted Ty Lee in the crowd, similarly sending text messages to people on her own bright pink cell phone.

"Ty Lee!" Zuko shouted to her. The wide-eyed girl looked up at him after hearing her name, and smiled in greeting, bounding over to them. "What are you doing here?" he asked a little harshly. Was she spying on him? Were they both relaying messages to Azula, back at home?

"Just chillin' with some friends," she replied, grinning innocently. "How's your date going?"

Zuko and Mai glanced at each other, and the sudden weightlessness of Zuko's wallet didn't make anything better. He wouldn't even be able to buy her an ice cream, of all things! "Fine," they said together. And Mai went back to her cell phone.

And something just occurred to Zuko.

If Ty Lee was right here, and Mai was still typing away, then…

"Azula put you up to this, didn't she?" Zuko asked Mai, glaring at her. "You, too!" he yelled at Ty Lee. "It was just another one of her clever plans to make me look stupid, isn't it?"

"Zuko, wait –" Ty Lee tried to stop him, waving her arms, but he didn't listen.

"You don't really care," he continued to Mai, "You don't want to be here. All you've done is whine and complain. Azula just wants to make me look like an idiot." The rage and stress of the past day poured off of him as he ranted. Mai stood stiffly as Ty Lee winced with his every word. "And you were sent to spy on us, I know it. Agh! How come I didn't see this earlier? This date reeks of Azula!"

"Ugh," Mai said disgustedly, "Why did I even bother?" And she turned around and stormed off.

"What did you do that for, Zuko?!" Ty Lee exclaimed, smacking him on the side of the head. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"What…?"

"Azula had nothing to do with this!" Ty Lee said angrily. "Mai really wanted to go out with you, but you just ruined it!"

"But both of you have been texting Azula all night…" he said feebly.

"We weren't talking to Azula! We were talking to each other. Mai was nervous and kept asking me stuff to do, and I kept giving her advice, because she really wanted it to go well…"

Zuko's stomach dropped. "How can I be this stupid?" he asked himself, slapping his forehead.

"You're asking me!" Ty Lee responded. After a moment, while he stood there pathetically, Ty Lee swatted him on the head again. "Well, go after her!"

"Wait, Mai!" he shouted, pushing his way through the crowds of people. He spotted her tall, slim form wading through the sea of people, but she didn't appear to hear him. Instead, she stopped at another game stall and paid to play one herself. Once he stopped, he spoke to her back as she examined the darts in her hand. Where did she get those? It was then that he noticed the game she chose to play – one that involved throwing darts at balloons, tacked to a wall, with the intent of popping them. "Mai, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I was being so stupid and I should've appreciated the fact that you came on the date with me in the first place. I'm really sorry that it was a disaster and that I said those bad things to you…"

Mai paused for a moment, but he hoped that she was contemplating his words. Then she held up one of her darts, and Zuko feared for a moment that she'd try to impale him with it. Then, she placed the three darts in between her fingers, and swung her arm.

Each dart left her hand at the exact same time, and they each deftly popped different balloons. Mai was immediately proclaimed the winner of the game, and she was handed a large, stuffed bison.

Zuko was gaping in shock.

"How did – how did you do that?" he managed to say when Mai turned around, smirking smugly.

"It's simple enough. Everyone is too stupid to pinpoint the exact angle and strength to throw them in order to pop the balloons," she replied simply, as if forgetting her anger towards him. Most of the time, the darts just bounced off the balloons, and it was considered lucky to even pop one, but Mai hit all three at the same time.

"You know," Mai continued slyly, "I really did enjoy this date all along. I didn't have a dismal time, which is a good thing." Coming closer to him, she ran a finger across his chest. "I'd like to do it again."

She laughed lightly at Zuko's wide eyes, and thrust the stuffed bison into his arms. "Here, I won a prize for you."