Author's Note: Some Jetko by request. Quite enjoyable to write.
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Drizzling Day
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001. search
Zuko isn't sure what he's looking for, exactly. Jet's eyes aren't wide and kind like the waterbender's, nor are they narrowed and clever like Mai's. Still, he keeps staring, because there is something, something there, and he needs to figure out what it is.
002. wine
He would never have thought that Jet could be more annoying, but when he spikes his own tea with liquor and throws up all over the teashop floor, Pao makes him clean it up. "As if I'm your keeper or something," he grumbles as he uses his already-filthy apron to scrape the mess off the boards. Jet grins and sips at Uncle's special brew, and it takes all of Zuko's nerve not to light that piece of grass aflame.
003. manure
Jet has a job, though you wouldn't think it based on the hours he keeps. After all, he's constantly flouncing around the teashop as if he lives there, too. But when he decides to show up at their apartment one night after his shift, Zuko and Uncle quickly acquaint him with the basin of soapy dishwater and the window, where he sits sulking for the next two hours while they refuse to let him back in.
004. candle
Zuko learns the truth on one of his breaks spent slouching against the shingles of the teashop - a drizzling day, a day of clouds and nearly slipping off, with only Jet to catch him. "That's why I learned to climb trees," Jet says, as if Zuko is incompetent, as if he needs someone to keep an eye on him, "so that they would have to burn the whole forest down to get to me." Jet's story makes Zuko glad that he'd remembered to put out the candle in his sleeping area before leaving that morning.
005. religion
Kissing Jet is like a religion, a language of its own. The first time it happens is an accident, but the second time it happens is neither accident nor mistake. Zuko knows this, because as Jet turns around into his lips, he's the one who pushes the Freedom Fighter against the nearest table, hook swords and tea tray and pasts forgotten.