#mai is autistic and her special interests are snakes and knives

[milf-harrington]

if you’re still looking for ideas,, perhaps mai visiting sokka and zuko in the college husbands au? she could also bring ty lee and/or azula with idk but i just think that mai & zukka friendship is So Good

(if you’re not still looking for ideas feel free to disregard this and i hope you have a good rest of your day💞)

*vibrates*

-

"Excuse me?"

The girl she'd approached jumped in surprise, turning around with wide blue eyes and fumbling for her phone when it almost slipped out of her hands. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

Mai blinked in surprise, leaning back a bit and tucking her hand into the pocket of her long cardigan. It was black and breezy, the sleeves just long enough to brush her knuckles the way she liked. "What?"

The girl looked nervous, glancing from Mai and down to her phone a few times, before tucking her hair behind her ear. "Are you- sorry you just kind of look like you might be here to kill me?"

Agni's tits- Mai sighed deeply and moved her sunglasses so they were sitting on her head instead of covering her eyes, shifting her weight onto one leg and listening to the jingle of her hip chains.

"I'm looking for the arts department. My friend told me to meet him there."

Calling Sokka her friend felt weird, even if it was the truth. She'd always been Zuko's friend first in her mind, and had never really had to refer to Sokka as anything but his name. However, the girl visibly relaxed when she realised that no, Mai was not on a mission to commit revenge murder or whatever it was she thought Mai was there for.

"Oh, yeah okay- wait do you know, like, what he's doing? Because there's like a whole arts block and you'll probably be walking around for awhile."

Mai had already been walking around for awhile so she quietly cursed Sokka under her breath and tried to remember what class he said he'd be in. Design something?

"Hey, look, I'm an arts major so maybe I know who you're looking for? I mean, I know it's a big campus but hey sometimes the world is a small place."

Mai resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, keeping her expression carefully neutral. "Sokka Amaruq? He's studying architecture."

The girl's eyes widened, a surprised grin stretching her lips. "Oh actually, he's in my art history class! You're friends with him?"

Now Mai did raise an eyebrow, this time at the disbelief in her voice. "Yes. Since high school actually." Not a total lie.

The girl whistled and Mai narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Damn, I wouldn't have pegged him as the type. He's always getting into it with this emo dude he sits next to-"

"Let me guess, shaggy hair? Big scar?"

"Wait yeah actually, I guess he must complain about him a lot?" The girl laughed, like she was in on some secret joke, and Mai wanted to throttle her.

"They're married." She deadpanned, annoyed. "That emo guy? Has been my best friend since we were kids, I was his best man." But only because Azula had been going nuclear over napkins when Zuko had been trying to pick one.

The girls laughter cut off, eyes wide in surprise and mortification, suddenly looking almost as tense as when she'd first turned around and saw Mai.

The conversation ended pretty quickly after that, Mai finally getting directions to a room she'd already passed a few minutes ago, and stalking off with a little more menace than she'd needed to, black suitcase rattling noisily behind her.

-

Sokka was talking to a few people when Mai finally found him, briefly grateful for the terrible upbringing that gave her the ability to look unbothered by anything, even a 30 minute walk around an unfamiliar campus.

Seeing him after so long was surprisingly exciting, and she took a quick second to catalogue the changes that had occured since she'd moved to Japan for her own arts degree.

He was taller, still a beanpole but broader around the shoulders, and his hair had gotten longer. There were beads in it now, from what she could see, and Mai had to admit she was quietly delighted at the sight of eyeliner.

She somehow managed to make it all the way to his side without him realising, his stream of words fading off when he noticed the way his companions had gone still and wide-eyed.

"Sokka, what did you do?" One of them whispered, and Mai was seriously starting to wonder what was wrong with the people at this college. She hadn't even put effort in today, had just thrown on her leather jeans and a crop top that was probably Azula's.

And, yeah she'd used old fishnet stockings as a shirt and had her dangly knife earrings in but if they were this wary of her now she almost wanted to see what happened if she did put the effort in.

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, alarmed as he followed their gazes and finally realised who was standing next to him.

"Mai!" He cheered, immediately throwing himself at her and dragging her into hug that she had to admit was pretty cozy. She patted his back once, pleased that she was still taller than him, and then extracted herself from his embrace with a small smile.

"Hey there Snoozles." Toph had paid her $50 to say that, and with the way Sokka's expression turned playfully sour, she knew it had been worth it.

"Oh my god, I take it back, I don't want you here anymore, please just go back to the airport."

"Sorry kid, you're stuck with me for the weekend." She reminded airily, casting suspicious looks at the people still gawking at her.

It was Sokka and Zuko's wedding anniversary, and instead of doing something cheesy and romantic with just the two of them, Sokka had spent the past month secretly organising for Mai to come and visit them for the weekend. Apparently Sokka had told Zuko he had their anniversary sorted, so they wouldn't have to worry about ruining anything he had planned, and now Mai was at Ba Sing Se University with sore feet and a growing list of people she wanted to stab.

Luckily Sokka was saying goodbye to his classmates and happily chattering away about how his classes were going and what the university was like and the routines he and Zuko had fallen into as he lead them towards the dorms.

-

Seeing Zuko was like taking a breath she hadn't even known she'd needed, the warmth of his body achingly familiar as they hugged in the hallway like the overly emotional people they weren't.

It had been at least a year and a half since she'd last seen him, and she already knew she'd be savouring every second she got to have him in her life as a physical being.

The three of them hung out in their room for awhile, Mai catching them both up on her arts degree, and the criminology course she was taking as well; while they told her all about how annoying the other one was like they weren't practically sitting on top of eachother.

After a well deserved nap that the three of them managed to fit into the same bed for, Zuko decided to take Mai to their favourite 24 hour noodle place, where he then ordered for her so it would be a surprise.

And then, when they'd all dropped into cheap plastic seats around a small sticky table, Sokka had asked Mai about the snake exhibit she liked to visit after her classes, leaning forward with the genuine interest in her interests that she'd missed.

So, quite happily, she gave them a very detailed report on each of the serpents in the serpent house, explaining the different environmental needs of the different species in between bites of something very spicy and sweet and perfect that she forgot the name of almost immediately after Zuko told her.

Somehow, only a handful of hours into her visit, Mai found herself missing them already.