It was near midnight when the boat moved, waking up our favorite exiled prince on the ferry to Ba Sing Se. The waves rolled him into his uncle, which made him grunt something about dragons. This woke up young Smellerbee and Longshot, who were laying suspiciously close together. Jet had already been awake, it seemed like he never really slept.
Everyone else drifted back to sleep, but Zuko propped himself up into a sitting position to warm his hands in an inconspicuous way - rubbing them together. Jet glanced at Zuko from where he sat. Zuko nodded. Jet motioned to him to come closer to him, so they could speak without waking anyone up. "Li, come here." He whispered loudly.
Zuko obliged and sat a good two and a half feet away from him. "What?" He said quietly.
Jet leaned forward slightly. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to join the Freedom Fighters. I'm thinking about starting up a revolution in Ba Sing Se, and you'd make a great addition to our team. I've met the Avatar before, and trust me, he needs all the help he can get."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "For the last time, Jet, no! Why would you even want to help the Avatar anyway?"
Jet smirked. "Because. He might want me to join him."
Zuko didn't get it. "But why? He's like ten, and it's not like his companions are much better."
Jet grinned. "Well, I don't know about that..."
Zuko still didn't get it. "What are you talking about?"
"The Water Tribe girl, Katara."
Zuko's eyes widened. "The peas-- Who?"
"Yeah, Katara. I met her, she's real feisty. Maybe if I joined the Avatar, she'd see what she was missing out on."
Zuko scoffed. "What, so she's turned you down before?"
"Well, we had a little... misunderstanding. I ended up letting her go, but I kicked her and that wimp of a brother of her's butts. Sometimes you've just gotta put your foot down and be a man."
Zuko doubted it. "So, you're telling me that you want to join the Avatar to get into his Waterbender's pants?"
"Pretty much."
*End Flashback*
"Zuko! Helloooo! Earth to Zuko!" Toph was yelling in his ear.
"Ow! What?!" Zuko rubbed his now-aching head.
Katara was combing through her hair. "You've been spaced out for like ten minutes. What do you think about Aang's breath of fire, Space Cadet?" Zuko was in the courtyard of his father's summer house, surrounded by his new traveling partners: The irritatingly hilarious Toph, the young, eager Avatar, the young couple Sokka and Suki (who were currently behind a pillar exchanging saliva), and the fair but angry Waterbender, Katara.
Zuko's breath caught in his throat. He tried not to think about her hair. "Ah, um... It needs more work. Ten more hot squats." He grabbed his stuff and headed toward his room in his father's summer house.
Did they really have a thing? They hardly seem like they'd get along. His thoughts kept him from seeing that he had subconsciously walked into - you guessed it - Katara's room. He was about to turn around and leave when he noticed a very strange looking hat on her nightstand. He picked it up. I mean, if she doesn't like my attitude, how could she ever tolerate --
"ZUKO!" A shrill scream came from behind him. "What are you doing with that? Put it down. Now."
Zuko was shocked, so he dropped it onto the floor. "Sorry. Wrong room. I just wondered what it was."
"It's none of your business, so go."
Zuko turned around. He thought he might get an answer from her reaction, so, stupidly, he asked: "Hey, did you ever know a guy named Jet?"
Katara's face went red. The comb in her hand fell onto the floor. "Wh-why? Do you know him?"
"I met him on my ferry to Ba Sing Se. He wanted me to join his "group" but I turned him down. He said he wanted to "help the Avatar" and then he mentioned something about you."
Katara's eyebrows met her hairline. She walked into the room, slammed the door shut and leaped onto her bed. (A.N. Sadly, not like that.) "What did he say, exactly?"
Zuko flushed. His heartbeat sped up from being alone in a room with her, but he sat down next to her.
"W-well," Agni, did I just STUTTER? "He said he knew you, but there was a "misunderstanding" and then he... um... how'd he put it? Oh, right. 'Had to put his foot down and be a man.' Sound familiar?"
He could feel the rage coming off Katara. She spoke through gritted teeth. "He... told people that? He broke my heart and now he told people that?" She was no longer on the bed. "If he weren't dead I would so kill him right now." She turned to Zuko. "I kicked his butt once I found out he was a murderer. I froze him to a tree and left him!"
Zuko shuddered. He knew how it felt to be frozen by Katara, and, even being a Firebender, he had trouble getting out of it. He couldn't imagine not being able to bend and being frozen like that...
Katara was still talking. "Zuko! Snap out of it!"
Zuko looked back up at her. "Oh, and he said he wanted to join the Avatar to give you a second chance."
If Katara were a Firebender, Zuko would be dead.
She opened the door to her bedroom and stormed out. "I'm going to take a bath."
Zuko watched her leave and felt her warmth go with her. He now realized that he and Jet had something in common.