Maiko My End Game - Tumblr Posts
Maiko Headcanon
The “I don’t hate you” “I don’t hate you too” exchange we see in “The Headband” is a relationship in-joke for Zuko and Mai. It starts because they’re both severely emotionally repressed and aren’t sure they’re ready to verbalize their feelings in such a weighted, concrete way as saying “I love you”. Then they find humour in it, aware that they’re both percieved as not really loving anything. It quickly becomes a game between them to find new ways to not-confess: “I don’t particularly dislike you”; “I’m not sick of you yet”; “You’re the least annoying person I know”; “I can stand you”; “You’re my most tolerable friend”. Dancing around it, stepping closer each time. Zuko is habitually active and Mai is habitually quiet; for them, actions have always spoken louder than words. They don’t need to say those three. They both know it, what more would stating it aloud accomplish? That’s what they tell themselves, anyway.
After Zuko leaves, Mai uses this to try to convince herself it wasn’t a real relationship. That he’d never cared about her that much. It was all just wishful thinking. Right?
When she looks Azula straight in the eye and proudly declares, “I love Zuko more than I fear you”, it’s the first time either of them has ever said that they love the other. It’s possibly the first time she’s said that she loves anything or anyone. And it sounds so right, so perfect. That was the moment they both knew that this was far more than a teenage fling.
They could never make me hate Maiko when Mai was willing to die for him and Zuko looks like a dopey puppy every time she is involved and Mai will let her walls down around him and Zuko is the only one who can earnestly make her laugh and Mai threw mud at him when they were kids and Zuko was so ready to jump to her defense when Azula lit a apple on fire on her head and Mai can touch his scar like it’s not even there and Zuko thinks she’s so beautiful when she hates the world and Mai trusts him so implicitly that she’d betray her nation, friends, and family for him and Zukos only regret when leaving the fire nation was also leaving her and Mai tries her hardest to work past her own issues to support him in his struggles and Zuko genuinely loves it when she expresses herself and Mai who doesn’t like hugs will be so cuddly and touchy only with him and Zuko knows she doesn’t need anyone to protect her and Mai loves him more than she fears Azula…
Maiko the ship that you are… they could never make me hate you
Mai and Zuko, by akszirules
Zuko in the comics is like “Baby, stop being mad. Please come back to me.” 🥺🫶🏻
Just thinking about how Zuko really does look at Mai like she is his sun, moon, and his entire universe. It is rare screenshots like this that really show how much the artists put into showing the amount of love Zuko has for Mai.
