Disclaimer: No, I don't own the characters, or the world, or anything. But I think they're awesome anyway. :)

Part of an Avatar wedding series I wrote...just a drabble about a certain occurance that really should have happened more than once in canon....

Dresses

"Zuko, I need you to—"

Fire Lord Zuko almost turned around in his chair automatically, before he remembered. He jerked around and slapped both hands over his eyes, shouting as he did so, "Mai! What do you think you're doing?"

"What?" Her voice was genuinely confused for a moment. Then she sighed heavily. "Oh please, Zuko. This is us. You're not going to follow every little custom, are you?"

"I'm not supposed to see you until tonight!" Zuko was still turned away, his eyes firmly covered. "That's just the way it's supposed to be."

"Stop being dumb," Mai told him, her tone exasperated, but affectionate. "Anyway, I need to talk to you about my dress. Turn around."

Zuko turned around, slowly uncovering his eyes. Then he froze, his mouth opening a fraction.

"Is that…?" Zuko trailed off, the complaint about seeing Mai completely forgotten. His fiancee was wearing a long trailing dress, with flowing sleeves and train and a low neckline. But Zuko noticed none of this, because the elaborate gown was a vibrant, almost unbelievable shade of…

"Don't even say it, Zuko, if you value your life." Mai's expression and tone backed up her threat to the utmost.

Zuko gulped, trying not to grin and to think of something to say that didn't involve the dress's color. "It's…interesting, I guess."

"Well, this is what the royal tailors picked out." Mai rolled her eyes. "What do you think…honestly?"

"Well, other than the fact that you despise the color o—" Zuko broke off at the look in Mai's black eyes, and quickly changed what he was saying. "I mean, you'd look beautiful in anything." He went with the answer that seemed safest, and was also true.

Mai raised one curved eyebrow at him.

"Really. You could just as easily marry me in your everyday robe and I wouldn't care at all. But it probably wouldn't go over well with the traditionalists."

Mai looked at one of the sheer sleeves of the dress with an expression between disgust and resignation. Then she looked back at Zuko, her face softening slightly. "You are so lucky you're worth all this, Zuko."

The Fire Lord felt a blush and grin creep over his face inadvertently. Then he became serious. "If you don't like it, I'll make the tailors change it. This is our wedding, and I'm Fire Lord, and you're a few hours away from becoming Fire Lady. They'll do whatever I tell them too."

"Tempting, but no. It'll be more trouble than it's worth. I'll just have to suffer." Mai let the corner of her mouth curve up to take the coldness out of her words. "Although it is nauseatingly ironic that of all the colors…"

"They pick the one you hate most," Zuko finished, unable to hide the small chuckle that rose out of him. Then, softly, he said, "You do look beautiful, you know."

Mai averted her eyes, a slight but noticeable blush coloring her pale cheeks. Then she said, almost shyly, "You want to come for a walk in the courtyard with me? Like we used to?"

Zuko was amazed. Fierce, stubborn Mai wanted to go for a walk with him? He couldn't help voicing his surprise aloud. "You want to…walk?"

Abruptly Mai's eyes narrowed at him. "That is what I said, Zuko. Are you coming?" There was the Mai he knew. For a moment, he considered saying something more about tradition and not seeing her until the wedding, just to tease her a little. But being quietly alone with Mai one last time before the hectic wedding was too tempting of a proposal. He rose from his chair and held out a hand to her. "Sure."

She took it without hesitating, the small half-smile returning. Zuko felt the familiar and welcome shiver down his spine as her cool fingers meshed gently with his.

Luckily, the halls were empty, as everyone was out preparing for the evening's event. The two descended the stone steps into the courtyard, dotted with willows, the old stone fountain, and the turtleduck pond.

"So," Mai said as they walked. "I heard you were going to perform the Dragon Summons during the reception."

Zuko nodded, thinking of the long hours he had spent practicing and perfecting the difficult firebending technique, which involved creating a full sized flying dragon entirely from flame. It was complicated, but the end result was stunning.

Touched by a slight desire to show off a little, Zuko asked hopefully, "Want me to show you?"

"As long as you don't set anything on fire, sure." Mai kept her face smooth, but Zuko saw curiosity in her eyes.

Zuko let go of his fiancee's hand, and stepped a few paces away. Drawing a meditative breath, he swept his hands into the opening sequence, conjuring the whirl of fire that would become the dragon. He let his body slide through the motions, so well-practiced that he hardly had to think about what he was doing. As the fire twisted into a serpentine shape above his head, he couldn't help sneaking a look at Mai, watching from the side. She looked entranced in spite of herself.

Zuko whipped the twist of fire around himself, molding the head of the fire dragon with flexes of his fingers. The tail of the flame-creature whipped out behind it. Full of the dizzying power that came from wielding the flame, compounded with his joy at having Mai standing there and watching, Zuko spun around, moving his arms in more complicated patterns. If he could add a few flourishes to the routine…

That was when he turned and saw where he went wrong.

Just one missed flicker of his fingers, and the tail of the fire dragon swept the wrong way, the tip just barely touching the hem of Mai's dress. She didn't notice, but Zuko saw the tongue of flame lick up the fabric, small…and possibly deadly.

He didn't think, he didn't plan. He let the half-finished dragon dissolve into nothing, and lunged.

Mai had time for only one short gasp of surprise as Zuko crashed into her, sending the two of them backward in a flying tangle. The next thing he was aware of, there was a colossal splash, a chilly wetness all around him, and the hiss of extinguished fire.

Zuko flipped soaking wet hair out of his eyes, breathing hard with the remnants of the adrenaline that had possessed him. A steady trickle of water was splashing onto his back.

He was sprawled full-length in the old courtyard fountain, Mai half-pinned beneath him. Both of them were completely soaked, their garments hanging in wet folds, their hair loose and dripping. It took Zuko a few moments to realize the full implications of the situation. And another few moments to start forming coherent words.

"The fire…Mai…it was on your dress…had to…put it out…I am so sorry…I didn't mean…I mean, I didn't think…" Zuko looked desperately down at her face, trying to read the level of anger in it, his eyes wide with apology.

Mai raised one dripping orange dress sleeve slowly and looked at it with no expression. "Wow, I think the dress is ruined."

Zuko felt a wave of remorse and guilt flood through him. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, knowing another string of babbling apologies would only flood out. He hung his head, feeling utterly miserable.

"Is it just me, or is this strangely familiar?" Mai said, with a kind of detached interest. But there was a droll, amused undertone to her voice.

Zuko's head came up. He looked down at Mai, and then at the burbling streams of water cascading down around them. And then he remembered.

"Oh yeah." He was so startled by the memory that he grinned in spite of himself. It was so long ago, and in such a different context. But oddly enough, it had been brought about by the same circumstances.

Then Zuko realized with horror that he was smiling, and quickly wiped the expression from his face. But then he looked down and Mai and realized that she was smiling too. And then he felt confused.

"Wait…you're not mad at me? But…I ruined your dress! And almost set you on fire! And tackled you into a fountain!" Zuko's amber eyes grew wider with each misdeed.

Mai leaned back into a somewhat more comfortable position propped on her elbows, and looked sardonically at him, a crooked smile still on her face. "And called me a 'big blah', and dropped ice cream on me, and dumped me with a letter, and locked me in a prison. Don't you get it Zuko?"

She reached up and brushed her hand along his scarred cheek in a surprisingly tender gesture. "I'm still here. Like I said, you're worth it." She looked again at the ruined dress. "And I hated this dress. Thanks."

Zuko felt his grin returning, relief trickling over him like the steady flow of the water. Then the full implications of being sprawled in a fountain with his fiancée in full view of anyone who happened to pass through the courtyard dawned on him. He started to shift to climb out, when he was stopped, amazingly, by Mai's arm hooking around his neck.

"Uh, Mai, someone might—"

He was silenced by Mai pulling his head down enough so that she could reach him for a kiss. Surprise gave way to pleasure, and he realized that he no longer cared much that he was lying in a fountain with half of his body underwater.

He decided that climbing out and getting Mai a new, non-orange dress could definitely wait.