Were Mai & Zuko together before his banishment?

[u/FlamesOfKaiya]

[u/JackyJoJee]

this is from the end of Return to Omashu.

In the flashback in Zuko Alone, Mai blushes when Zuko walks by, Azula sees this and baits Zuko into jumping into a pool by setting Mai on fire.

We can assume they at least had a crush or something.

[u/MaddysinLeigh → u/JackyJoJee]

Mai on a crush on his since they were little kids.

[u/Loose_Draft_4277]

They definitely had a thing before... You don't just randomly end up in a relationship with the "former banished prince". Didn't Mai mention Zuko in her first appearance episode in s2? I don't remember but I think so.

[u/Kangaroo-Beauty → u/Loose_Draft_4277]

Mai had a crush on him since they were young. It’s not explicitly clear where that crush was reciprocated off the go since Zuko was kind of busy with his sister, but I don’t think that can count as random

[u/AdCompetitive5427]

I'd assume they admitted their feelings, and probably kissed but not together-together. Just because the way Mai kissed him in the first episode of season 3 seemed so natural. They also seem like they know each other pretty well but not together in a sense of saying they love each other yet.

[u/-Haeralis-]

There’s a tie in comic that takes place between season 2 and 3. It shows how Zuko and Mai’s relationship shown at the start of 3 begins in the time when the Fire Nation has started to occupy Ba Sing Se (it is actually partially spurred on by Azula to better manipulate Zuko).

While Mai is shown as having a crush on Zuko in earlier flashbacks, I’m trying to remember the exact details but I think the implication was that them becoming romantic is very much a new development.

[u/chudleycannons914 → u/-Haeralis-]

This is the correct answer. The comic also briefly has the girl who Zuko went on a date with in Tales of Ba Sing Se

[u/raspberriez247 → u/chudleycannons914]

Which comic is this part of? I knew I didn’t imagine it!!!

[u/GraceKatherineTLoV]

They were like... thirteen, so probably not.

[u/Grasher312 → u/GraceKatherineTLoV]

That's... A weird rhetoric.

It's not like the question is "Dem are fukin?"

Even teenagers that young end up in relationships, even if they don't really mean as much as they do in older years.

[u/RMSAMP → u/Grasher312]

Yeah. I'm mystified when people act like 13 year olds have zero interest in relationships. They most certainly were when I was that age. We had tons of relationship drama constantly throughout middle school.

[u/FlamesOfKaiya → u/GraceKatherineTLoV]

Aang was 13 by the end of the series and in a relationship?

[u/MulliganedBrainCells → u/FlamesOfKaiya]

He's the Chadvatar. He doesn't count.

[u/GraceKatherineTLoV → u/FlamesOfKaiya]

Yeah well, he's the protagonist. They were going to have him end up with someone at the end. Also, I can't imagine those socially awkward weirdos (Mai and Zuko - said as lovingly as possible) doing anything about their feelings at that age. They barely managed at sixteen. But I don't ship Maiko in the slightest, so I might be biased

[u/FlamesOfKaiya → u/GraceKatherineTLoV]

Just the way they were suddenly together in the Awakening was super weird. Figured there was history between them outside of a one-sided crush

[u/raspberriez247 → u/FlamesOfKaiya]

This does make sense. Mai definitely had a crush on him. I don’t see anything implying Zuko liked her back (outside of him rescuing her in the fountain incident as kids), but it’s possible they were flirting in that middle-school way rather than being in a relationship.

[u/MaddysinLeigh → u/FlamesOfKaiya]

*113

[u/frootloopsupremacy]

There was a cute little canon comic from Nick Comics some time ago called Going Home Again that delved a little deeper into how they actually got together before the last season’s pilot episode (Azula and Ty Lee might have done all the matchmaking, but it’s implied Zuko and Mai had mutual crushes on each other from their childhood days).

[u/Sure_Measurement1600]

I thought they just crushed on each other at most

[u/My_friends_are_toys]

Iirc, Azula, Mai, and Ty Le had been friends for years. Zuko, pre GAang member was aloof and serious. Im sure that the three always wanted to Zuko to join in but he wouldn't. Mai definitely had an unrequited crush on Zuko..

[u/TicketHead6432]

At those ages i wasnt even thinking about relationships. Actually i still dont at 25,super peaceful

[u/Grasher312 → u/TicketHead6432]

Don't. Love is best when it finds you, not the other way around.

It's worth meeting that one person that will break that state by chance, rather than trying to force relationships.

[u/Mean-Choice-2267]

No I don’t think so and that’s why I also hate the fact that they were just suddenly in a relationship. As emotionally constipated and unsure Zuko was at that time? I don’t buy it.

[u/Sharp_Mathematician6]

Yeah they were

[u/Midnight1899]

They had a crush, but I don’t think they actually were together.

[u/angrysheep55]

I always assumed so

[u/pranthlar]

No, but mai had a crush on him when they were kids

[u/thequestforthought]

Yes they were together. However they were on and off and it was nothing serious.