It was hot and muggy. Not the pleasant, dry heat that you got in the Fire Nation, but the sticky humid kind that made your clothes cling and gave you a subtle feeling of being smothered.

Zuko wiped his sleeve against his brow for the umpteenth time in the past hour and grumbled something unpleasant under his breath as he left the kitchen of the Jade Dragon. Moodily dropping the steaming cups of tea in-front of the customers before stalking back to where his uncle was brewing said beverage.

What kind of crazy did you have to beto drink hot tea on a day like this anyway? Zuko just couldn't understand why people wanted to drink something that would make them feel hotter. Not that he was much of a tea drinker at the best of times but that was beside the point.

Dropping the wooden serving tray down with a clatter he leaned against the stone island in the middle of the kitchen, which was cluttered with tea cups and boxes of tea leaves of varying flavours. He'd fold his arms across his chest if it weren't for how utterly gross his sweat damp shirt already felt against his skin.

When darkness, and thus the closing of the shop, came along Zuko thought he would die of relief. Of course even if that were possible he had far too much to do to die now.

Iroh offered to finish tidying up the last few things, seeing how much his nephew seemed to want to escape. The young prince was more than happy to accept that offer and slip out of the back door into the dark evening that, thankfully, made the humidity slightly less suffocating.

He didn't go far, walking a few paces into the small courtyard area - which was really just a wider part of the alleyway between buildings - and bending to shove his head under the large pipe of the water pump as he heaved the handle. He gasped as the cold water poured onto his head and shoulders but it felt so very goodand he didn't even care that he was getting his clothes even wetter.

Then he suddenly had his arms twisted and held behind his back and almost choked on the water that had been so wonderfully blissful just moments before.

'Hey.' The voice was deep and smooth and sounded just in time for the owner to avoid having his face smashed by a backwards headbutt.

'Jet.' Zuko growled, but it was only because the other boy had snuck up on him, again. Zuko feared he was becoming soft in his time in Ba Sing Se, either that or Jet was reallygood at sneaking around.

Their position remained fixed, although with both of his arms behind his back the water had stopped gushing from the pipe. Zuko, bent over at the waist with his hair dripping and his arms held tightly behind his back. Jet, who was holding said youth's arms and leaning over him so their bodies were pressed together. Veryclosely.

'You're being uncharacteristically pliant tonight.' The taller of the two all but purred against the side of Zuko's head.

As if the words had finally woken him from a stupor Zuko twisted his torso to the left and kicked out behind him in a sweeping motion. Jet just dodged, letting him go only long enough so that the prince could stand up straight, and then Zuko found himself shoved hard against the nearest wall. The air was forced from his lungs by an arm across his collar and a body pressing all of its weight against his own.

'Someone might see.' Zuko hissed out quietly, slightly out of breath only from the the proximity of the other youth.

And Jet laughed deep and low and kissedhim.

It had been this way for a couple of weeks now. Starting with a fist fight because Jet just got under his skin and pissed him off. Somehow those irritable blows had turned into them shoving their lips together violently and ever since he'd had visits from the former Freedom Fighter. Almost every other day in-fact.

Jet's lips were dry and chapped, hot and demanding and Zuko almost let himself kiss back. Almost. Instead, after a few moments of indulgence he shoved at the taller boy's shoulders and turned his face to the side.

'I said someone might see!' Slightly louder this time, slightly more irritated. Even though Zuko's cheeks had already started to colour, his eyes were firmly planted on the now dark windows of the tea shop.

'He's already gone.' Jet said, sounding smug. The bastard.

Then his mouth was on Zuko again but this time he felt the scrape of lips and teeth against his neck and shuddered. Both hands grabbed at the cloth covering Jet's shoulders tightly, white knuckled as he bit back a startled moan. And he felt Jet smirk against his throat at that.

'Someone could come and-' But he didn't get to finish because the hand that had previously been resting against the wall was shoved against his mouth and Jet was bitingat his neck now.

Zuko let out another choked sound though this time it was muffled by the hand against his mouth, the arm pressed against his collar bones moving so Jet had a good, firm grip on the banished youth's hip. He could have easily shoved Jet away of course, but there was a part of him that didn't want to.

So he just yanked hard on Jet's shirt and closed his eyes as the bites turned into sucks and he just knew that there would be marks to try and cover up later.

The hand against his mouth shifted and as Zuko took in a deep, thankful breath two fingers - tasting of salt and Jet - were shoved between his lips. He couldn't help biting down on them, hard enough to have the metallic tang of blood smear his tongue and Jet pulled away. Grabbing Zuko's shoulders and shoving him against the wall with a thud and a heated, almost angry look. Except there was hunger there too, hot and wild and dangerous.

They glared at each other for a long moment. Tension heavy in the air between them as it usually was whenever they had these meetings. Heated kisses normally lead to a tense kind of irritation that neither could shift lr quite understand and then they would stalk off in separate directions until the next time Jet decided to drop in and suck face.

But this time that didn't happen.

This time Jet let out a colourful curse under his breath and kissed him again. This time he pressed the entire length of their bodies together as he did so. And this time Zuko feltit against his hip. Hot and hard and fuck-

He did kiss back this time. Closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around Jet's neck, threading fingers into messy brown hair and holding it in fistfulls as their tongues met.

There was a quiet groan, though Zuko wasn't entirely sure which of them it had belonged to. And he was painfully aware of the fact his own pants had become tight in response to the excitement he could feel in the others. They shifted, moving to try and get a better angle as they each fought for dominance in the kiss, and Zuko knew that it was him that had made the noise this time as his crotch pressed hard against Jet's thigh.

It had never quite gotten this intensebefore. Until now they had only kissed and grabbed fistfulls of each others clothing. Not to say Zuko hadn't gone back to his room after some of their meetings, and pressed his face against his pillow to muffle his heavy breathing as he touched himself. But this time Jet was grabbing his hips and digging his fingers in hard as he started to grind.

Zuko came undone then. He didn't care if they got caught. He didn't care what happened as long as Jet didn't stop.

'Fuck. Fuck, Li.' The taller boy groaned out in a hoarse kind of voice as their lips parted just enough for him to do so.

Zuko only arched his back in response, letting his head fall back against the wall as he panted softly. Jet rolled his hips again, this time both of them gasped and he felt the other teen press his face to the side of his neck, mouthing sloppy kisses to the bruised skin there.

They continued on in this way for a while. Holding on to each other hard enough to bruise and dry humping with hard needy movements until it became too much because it wasn't enough. Then Zuko felt a violent tugging on his belt and before his desire filled brain could come up with an answer as to why that was, Jet's hand closed around him and squeezed.

The yelp that came out of him sounded strange to his own ears, he squeezed his eyes shut and just frowned in embarrassment as he felt the vibration of Jet silently laughing. Then he couldn't find it in himself to care because Jet's hand moved and he couldn't stop himself from pushing his hips up on the downward stroke.

The taller youth swore again, which somehow made everything seem a lot more arousing. He didn't even realise Jet had pulled his own erection free until it was pressed against his and they were being jerked together.

All the prince could do was yank Jet's hair hard enough that it had to hurt - though he'd heard no complaints and actually it seemed to make the other boy even harder - and smash their mouths together for another kiss, this time clumsy and desperate. Jet's hand didn't miss a beat, keeping a hard steady rhythm as the older teen fucked the space between his palm and Zuko's cock.

It was too much for Zuko. He'd only just recently even started to touch himself, so having Jet do it, hot and clumsy and full of hunger, made it impossible for him to last any real length of time.

He came hard, pulling out of the kiss and shoving his mouth against Jet's shoulder to muffle his shout of release which could or could not have been the other boy's name. His body jerked and then started to tremble violently as Jet continued to pump his hand and hips and then he was cumming as well with a hissed expletive and a gush of heat.

They stood silently for a long few moments. Panting and shaking as they basked in their release and not even caring that they had made somewhat of a mess between them. Then the moment was broken because Jet laughed, again.

'What?' Zuko said, feeling defensive and vulnerable in the wake of his first sexual experience. Enough so that he jerked out of Jet's grasp and hastily redressed himself. refusing to look at the other teen and pretending that he couldn't feel the blush colouring his face.

'I should have done that way sooner.' Was all he said as he righted his own garments without taking his eyes off of Zuko. 'It was great.' And for once his voice sounded serious. Enough that Zuko blinked and actually looked at his face again.

'It... You liked it?' He said, sounding paranoid and insecure in a way that made Jet just want to do it all over again, in-front of a mirror, so that Li could see how fucking sexy he was.

'Yeah.' He wanted to say more but it sounded too goddamn flowery and girly so he left it at that.

'Well, see you around.' And he grinned, grabbed Zuko and pushed their kiss swollen lips together one last time before turning and leaving with a flick of a wave over his shoulder.

Zuko just stood there, frozen to the spot as he watched Jet disappear into the darkness of the alley. It only took a few seconds after that for him to realise what had just happened and who it had happened with. And only a few more, after placing a hand against his stomach which felt like it was flip-flopping, before he realised his shirt was covered in semen and he had to wash it off before it dried or stained the dark green fabric.

With a face the colour of a tomato Zuko took a breath to steady himself and then turned to go back to the home he shared with his Uncle, hoping that the older man was asleep by now so that he could shut himself in the bathroom wash. Himself and his clothes.

He tried not to admit that he actually couldn't wait for his next encounter with Jet.