Sorry for the lateness! Just so you know, I love you all. You're great, and I haven't given up on this story, I've just been busy and writer's block. But, seriously, you guys are the best. 55 reviews on the last chapter! Think we can beat that this time? Lol.
PLEASE SEE BOTTOM AUTHOR NOTES.
Disclaimer: I still don't own. But I still watch religiously, I swear.
Once Upon a Teashop
The first thing Zuko noticed, upon his mind returning from a completely blank state, was that there was a tongue in his gaping mouth. A tongue that was most fervently not his own, but did not seem to realise that, if the way it was swirling around and exploring like it owned the place was anything to go on. He made a noise of protest, but it was muffled by the extra appendage currently investigating where it avidly did not belong. And, dear Agni, it was touching places in his mouth he didn't know he had. Why was there a foreign tongue in his mouth? Desperate contemplation did not provide an immediate answer, and, as such, the firebender responded accordingly.
"Ow! Fuhk!" Jet exclaimed, yanking his head back. "You bhit me!" The tan-skinned boy was holding his tongue out and desperately fanning the appendage even as he attempted to glare, and if Zuko hadn't been so extremely agitated at the Freedom Fighter's blatant audacity, he might have laughed a little on the inside at how ridiculous Jet looked.
Instead, he punched him.
The taller boy, not expecting the sudden attack, fell back, although his hands moved from his tongue to cup a now-bloody nose. "What the hell, Lhi?"
"What the hell? What the hell? What the hell, you! You kissed me!" The scarred boy shouted.
"Yeah, ahnd?" Jet snapped back, still obviously unhappy with the state parts of his face and mouth were now in. "In case you hadhn't noticed, I khind of lhike you, Lhi! Godh!"
Zuko's lips tightened as he narrowed his eyes, and in a surprising display of levelheadedness for his rage, restrained himself from punching his fellow waiter once more or releasing a cloud fire from his nostrils. Instead, the former prince turned around and stormed back the way they had come, around the giant boulders, past the rabbiroos Sokka so desperately wanted to see, behind the rhinocolions, across from the Sabretooth Moose Lions where Sokka still stood (and, momentarily, he contemplated stopping and punching Sokka, too, just for the hell of it), and out the front gates, back through the city, and into the Upper Rings. By the time he reached his and uncle's small abode, he had calmed down marginally, although he still felt as if he were going to breathe fire at any moment.
"You're back early," Iroh commented lightly the moment Zuko stepped through the door, but the teen ignored his uncle and made sure to slam the sliding door to the bedroom closed as hard as possible. He slipped cross-legged to the ground and took a deep breath. There were no candles in the room (or, for that matter, the apartment, currently) for him to meditate with his bending as little as he could in this city, but the breathing exercises always did wonders for his temper—not to mention what sitting still for large blocks of time did for contemplating his life and existence and the Spirit World and all those fun things.
Letting out the breath he was holding, Zuko forced himself to clear his mind. Meditative breathing without producing fire was hard enough as it was when he was this agitated; focussing on the object of his ire would only serve to make it that much more impossible to calm down. He took another breath.
Granted, listening to Sokka had probably not been the best course of action. The watertribe "warrior", as he called himself, was more than likely not that well adept at dealing with whatever type of situation this currently was. Still, though, he seemed relatively adjusted and normal. And he did have past experience with Jet. He was just…kind of an idiot.
A new idea suddenly dawned on the prince, and he wondered why he hadn't considered it before. A wiser course of action would be to ask someone with actual life experience. While Sokka might be more used to these type of situations (though, come to think of it, when Zuko had attacked the Southern Water Tribe, there hadn't actually seemed to be any other people in their age group there), he was still at least a few months younger. Zuko needed someone older. Someone older who always had his best interested in mind. With a determinedly unhappy frown no his face, the banished prince pushed himself up and walked back out into the living area, taking a seat across from where the old teamaker sat.
"…Uncle," he began hesitantly. "I need your advice."
xXxXxXxXxXx
"What did you do?" Sokka demanded the moment Jet walked back into his vicinity. They were currently near the tigerdillos, which was always a fairly empty part of the park.
"What makes you think I did something?" the taller boy shot back, his usual infuriating smirk on his lips. The watertribe boy took small satisfication from the fact that there was clearly dried blood around Jet's nose, as well as a rather obvious bruise forming.
"Aside from the fact that you clearly got punched, there's also the small detail of seeing Li storm out of here angrily a little while ago." And Sokka had definitely noticed that Zuko had looked like he was going to come and throw fire at him for a second, and that was never okay—especially not when the prince wasn't actively hunting Aang at the moment.
"I didn't do—ow," the Freedom Fighter interrupted himself. As one hand went to his mouth, realisation hit Sokka all at once as the older teen continued. "I didn't do anything."
"You kissed him!" he declared in surprise, jabbing his finger out accusingly. The few people in the area looked over at the two of them oddly at the announcement before suddenly the tigerdillo viewing paths were suddenly even more empty than before.
"Yeah? And?"
"Oh my—I can't even—You kissed Katara with that mouth!" The mental images flooding into Sokka's mind were too much for him to handle, as he stared at the taller boy with the wheat stalk in his mouth. The mouth that had just kissed Zuko. The mouth that had kissed his little sister. There were mental lines, and one had definitely been crossed, and the result was a word vomit that even the usually talkative boy could not have prepared himself for.
"You know, if you want him to like you, you're going about it completely the wrong way! I don't even know what's worse; the way you were with Katara, or the way you seem determined to get Li not to like you while being as creepy and pushy along the way as possible! I mean, you know he asked me to help get rid of you, right? He doesn't even like me, but he still likes me entirely more than he likes you, and that's saying something. Although, maybe not really because I don't think he likes anyone other than his uncle—and he seemed to like that Jin girl before we ruined that—but that's not the point! The point is that your creepy, stalker ways do not need to be letting anyone else kiss my little sister indirectly, especially not him! Just, no! That's gross!"
Sokka paused as Jet blinked in uncertainty for a second before asking, "He really doesn't like me?"
The facepalm was one of Sokka's closest friends, but he hadn't wanted to use it this much since the Cave of Two Lovers. He gave in to the urge. "No, he doesn't like you. You invade his privacy, invade his personal space, accuse him and Mushi of serious crimes with no evidence, attack him, steal stuff from him, and then don't apologize for any of it, and then you expect him to like you? I knew you were a jerk, but, as much as it pains me to say this, I didn't think you were that much of an idiot, what with how you manipulated Aang and Katara so easily and tried to get rid of me back when we first met."
Jet sighed and plopped down on the ground, leaning back against the dirt wall to the tigerdillo enclosure, and somehow the brown-haired boomerang-wielder found himself sitting next to his adversary. "I don't know. It's weird. With Katara, it was so easy to get her to, you know, 'like' me—no offense—but with Li it's, like—maybe that whole false accusation thing? I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I open my mouth to say the right thing, and something else comes out. Or I do something that works with other people—like that kissing thing definitely worked on your sister—and he reacts all wrong."
"First of all, offense is taken at you mentioning Katara. Second of all, Li is nothing like Katara. Third of all, didn't I already tell you that it won't ever work out between you guys? You're too…different, I'll say. But if it makes you feel better, it's like I said: I don't think he really likes anyone. But in this case it's probably not so much a matter of him liking you as him not trusting you within a two mile radius of his person. And, really, have you even done anything to try and convince him otherwise?"
Jet brooded for a moment, the wheat stalk between his lips twitching up and down, before he grinned, slapped one hand on his knee, and then stood up. "Thanks, Sokka. You know? You're right. I really am going about this all wrong."
"Um. You're welcome, I guess." Blue eyes blinked as they watched the earth kingdom native stride off, the expression in them reflecting the dumbfoundedness the blue-clad boy currently felt wash over him. 'Did I just give Jet relationship advice?' And then, 'Well, if Zuko didn't want me dead before…'
Shaking his head, Sokka jumped to his feet, heading in the direction of the exit to leave this weird day at the zoo behind him. It took entirely too long to get back to the upper ring, and by the time he arrived back to his temporary home, the dark-haired boy was more than ready to spill his feelings to anyone he came across. 'I can't believe I just gave Jet relationship advice!' he exclaimed mentally, as he stepped through the threshold. 'With Zuko! I mean, even if it weren't Zuko, the most advice I should be giving him is stay away from people.'
Luckily enough, the first person he saw upon entering the building was Katara, who made a point to glare at him, and then ignore him, emphasizing the fact that she was still not speaking to him, before then shouting, "Aang! Let's go put up more flyers!" and storming outside of the beautifully decorated stone house to wait. Aang came rushing out of one of the rooms a few seconds later, flyers in hand, with a quick call of, "Hi, Sokka! Bye, Sokka!" before he was out the door to wait on Katara's every want or need. That just left…
"Hey, Snoozles," the earthbender greeted. She was spread out in her usual haunt on one of the floor pillows she had set up for herself. "You look like you could use someone to talk to."
"Ha ha, very funny, Toph. You know, sight jokes only take you so far."
"Nope, they never get old. So, what's up? Angry fire princes, ex-Freedom Fighters, Mushi?"
"Toph! Don't talk about that stuff here like this; you know the Dai Li are watching us."
"See, that's the thing about a city made entirely out of stone. I can tell when there's not a single person around, and the Dai Li agents watching us took off after Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen."
"Oh. Well, in that case," and Sokka took a seat next to his faithful audience as he began to relate the events of the day.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"As much as it lightens my heart to finally see you make a friend," Iroh began gently, pushing a cup of tea over towards his grumpy nephew, "I don't think you really need my advice right now."
"What are you talking about?" Zuko snapped. "Of course I need your advice! I don't know what to do!"
"Quite to the contrary, nephew. You know exactly what you must do," the old man responded, taking a nice, long sip of his perfectly hot ginseng tea. "It's like I always say: 'You must look within yourself to—'"
"I don't want any of your stupid proverbs, Uncle!" the prince interrupted, a deep growl in his throat. Frustration coloured his voice as he crossed his arms to shoot a steady glare at his uncle. "I want you to tell me what I should do! I just…I'm so confused right now. I don't know what to do!"
Iroh sighed, resting his cup back down onto the plate he had brought for it. "The way I see it, Jet is a very nice young man, but he has some severe issues with the Fire Nation. It is nice that you are making friends, nephew, but you know that pursuing anything further with Jet would be unfair to both yourself and Jet, and it would be built entirely under false pretences."
"Yeah, but it's not like I'm not already lying to him, even if I were to consider even being his friend. And—and I don't even want to do anything with him, anyway!" the prince announced, cheek red and face flustered. "I just want him to go away!"
"Whatever you say, nephew," Iroh said with a small grin plastered across his face. "Now, taste my new blend. I'm thinking it will our new house special! We can call it 'Springtime Romance'!"
Zuko huffed and sipped at the tea reluctantly. 'Why did I ever think it was a good idea to ask Uncle for advice?'
"Don't worry, Li," the old firebender began, and if hearing his false name come out of his uncle's mouth in the privacy of their own home didn't bother Zuko on an intrinsic level at the moment, he didn't know what did. "Things will sort themselves out for the best; of that, I am sure. I also know that you know what you must do."
The gold-eyed teen just glared as he finished the tea, responded to questions about the flavor with a thrown out, "I'm fine" and headed to the bedroom for sleep. Lying in bed, thinking about what the next day might bring, the black-haired firebender found sleep a long time coming. But, finally, his eyes shut and his breath levelled out, and before he knew it, it was the next morning, and Zuko was walking into the Jasmine Dragon, apron already tied onto his chest.
"Li!" he was greeted almost as soon as he walked in. Jet stood right in front of him, what stalk gone from his mouth, with possibly the most serious look Zuko had ever seen on the other boy's face. His nose and eye were badly bruised, and it left the banished firebender with a sense of satisfaction that was most likely what made him more malleable to the darker-skinned teen's next question. "Can I talk to you for a second in back?"
Contemplating his options, the younger teen realised that by arriving before anyone working or ordering anything, Jet had pretty much just monopolized his time this morning. "Fine," he agreed reluctantly and allowed himself to be pulled by the arm into the back room. Jet let go, and then moved to stand in front of him, a slight shuffle to his feet that spoke of nerves.
"Look, Li, I—I got to talking with Sokka yesterday after you left, and I realised some things—some things you tried to tell me the other night, but I was kind of an ass and didn't realise. So I just, I wanted to apologize. For real, this time. I'm sorry for accusing you of being Fire Nation, and I'm sorry for attacking you, and I'm sorry for acting really weird around you, and for betting on your love life with Sokka, and ruining your first date, and invading your privacy and personal space, and for kissing you at the zoo yesterday, even though you've only ever done nice things for me. But the truth is, I really like you, and it's been throwing off how I act with you. I kind of wish things between us could go back to how they were back when we first met—you know, on the boat to the city. So, what do you think? Think we could start over?"
Zuko blinked. He…really hadn't been expecting that. His good eye narrowed as he assessed the boy in front of him. Jet seemed nervous enough that it might be true, but, still, the shorter teen couldn't be sure. As he opened up his mouth to respond, Jet cut him off, however.
"Look, you don't have to forgive me now or anything. I know I've been kind of an ass to you. But even if you don't want to, I think we should at least try to be friends, seeing as we're going to be working together for while and all. So, there's this festival in the middle ring next week that I was wondering if you wanted to go to with me…and Sokka, too, of course. I promise I won't try to kiss you again."
"You're right; you have been an ass, and I don't forgive you…but, fine, I'll go with you." Somewhere deep inside, Zuko felt like he was making a bad decision as he said that, but that feeling tended to accompany most decisions in his life, so he had just learned to ignore it.
"Great!" Jet enthused. "Okay! Next week. I guess we should open the shop soon, then?"
The firebender shot him with a look that clearly read, 'You think?'
TBC…
Okay, everyone, once again: sorry for the lateness. In other news: Korra! Korra kicked my muse back in enough for me to churn out this chapter after months of writer's block and writing and rewriting. Now for questions of the hour.
1. Is Jet being sincere, or manipulative?
2. Should this story end in Jetko or Zukka, because I have multiple endings planned, and a sequel that could work with either one.