Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Hi guys! Sorry for the late update, unfortunately since school is starting up again I won't be able to update as frequently as I was earlier this summer but I will try to have an update at least once a month but I'm not promising anything.
I'm a little uneasy on how I did on this chapter so bear with me on it and I'm sorry if it seems sloppy.
The ride back to The Jasmine Dragon was awkward to say the least. Neither boy spoke and they seemed to prefer it that way. But all good things come to an end and they finally got to Iroh's cafe around midnight that night. Zuko parked his uncle's car in the alley next to the cafe, "We're here," was all he said as he got out of the car, Jet followed suit.
"What? No mansions? I was expecting something a bit bigger Sozin," Jet said as he followed Zuko to the front of the store. Zuko didn't respond but stopped at the door with a sign that said 'Closed', the raven haired boy pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and fumbled for the right one meanwhile he was just trying to figure out how he could give Jun a heads up about their extra guest.
"Yeah well I'm sorry to disappoint," Zuko said and opened the door he didn't see any sign of Jun anywhere. He could hear Iroh singing from the back room and he saw that Lu Ten was wiping down the front counter. His cousin's head popped up and a smile formed on his face, "Zuko's home guys, now we can all rag on him for missing the dinner rush." Jet stepped out from behind Zuko and Lu Ten's face got a confused look on it. "He's brought company too."
"Well don't be rude Lu Ten, offer the company something to drink and eat," Iroh said coming out of the back room. "How was the party nephew?"
Zuko didn't have time to respond when the one voice he didn't want to hear at the moment rang out. "Wow a party and guests, our little emo boy is growing up," Jun appeared walking down the stairs, her black boots making a loud noise with each step. She froze when she saw just who the company was, Zuko counted in his head 'Five, four, three, two, one...'
"Jun!? What the hell are you doing here?" Jet shouted angrily as he walked swiftly toward her. His eyes were narrowed and his fists were tightly clenched.
Jun placed her hands on her hips and looked straight at Zuko, "I could ask you the same thing."
Jet also turned to look at Zuko with complete fury in his eyes and yelled, "So you've known where she was the whole time?"
"I didn't know she had stopped talking to you," Zuko said calmly but shot a glare a Jun.
"Yeah that's probably because you Sozins took her phone away," Jet accused pointing a finger at Zuko.
"Hey! Don't talk to them that way! Iroh, Lu Ten, and Zuko have been nothing but nice to me while I've been here and you will not disrespect them!" Jun yelled at the angry brown haired teen with a look in her eyes that could rival Medusa's stare.
Jet gripped her by the arms, "Listen to me Jun! They've brainwashed you, it's like Stockholm syndrome. They're not your friends, I'm your family remember?"
Before Jun had the chance to snarl a response back to him Iroh stepped in between them, "I think we should all just settle down and discuss this over some tea. Lu Ten prepare a table."
"No thanks Iroh, I think I better talk to Jet about this alone," Jun said and grabbed Jet's wrist and half dragged him up the stairs to her room leaving the Sozin men alone downstairs. She pointed at the bed, "Sit." He sat down on the bed and she pulled up a chair and sat across from him, she ran a hand through her glossy hair and took a deep breath; Jun wasn't the best at explaining herself and she certainly wasn't any good at apologizing. "It was wrong of me to ignore your calls and texts-"
"Damn straight it was!" he interrupted.
"Hey! Let me do the talkin' okay?" she snapped and Jet silenced himself. "Good, like I said, I'm sorry I ignored you, but that doesn't give you any right to be rude to Iroh, Lu, or Zuko got it? They didn't do anything to you, I did and I'm sorry. Now let me explain; I lost my job at Transcend-"
"Yeah I know, I checked up on you." Jet interrupted again.
The older girl looked at him perplexed, "You checked up on me? No, no more interrupting me or I will put you in a world of pain." The boy was quiet and so she continued, "Anyway I lost my job and I knew I couldn't go back home and get you or Bee beat up again. So while I was trying to figure stuff out this guy walks up to me and asks me what's going on, I tried to shake him for a bit but he was so Goddamn persistent that eventually I told him I couldn't go home and that I lost my job. He offered me a place to stay and-"
"And you went with him!? These are Sozins Jun! The same guys you and I made fun of all the time. They're from the same place that those assholes who ruined our other families belonged to! You might think they care about you Jun but they don't," Jet said desperately.
"Oh really?" She growled. "Then why would one of them beat up Long Feng for me if they didn't care?" Jet was stunned by that.
"One of them beat up Long Feng?" he asked quietly while he was staring at her.
Jun relaxed a little bit and leaned back in her chair, "Yup, Lu Ten did now if you would let me get to that part of my story I would appreciate it. Lu brought me back here and Iroh offered me a job which I took. A couple days later Lu and I went back to the house for my things, ol' Fengie was waiting there and he tried to rough me up and said some stuff to me that really pissed off Lu Ten, he got so mad that he punched the bastard right in the face. I'm sure he had a black eye after that if you remember that."
Jet did remember and he looked at her in surprise, "A Sozin beat up Long Feng to defend you? You sure there's no chance they could just be using you?"
Jun gave him an insulted stare, "Jet I would know if they were using me, not much gets past me."
He laughed a little, "I guess that's true." He looked at his surrogate sister: she was smiling and there wasn't the ghost of a bruise or a cut anywhere he could see. She even looked healthier. "You're happy aren't you?" he asked.
Jun's half smile grew a little, "Yeah I am."
"Well I guess if they've kept you out of trouble and beat up Long Feng I'll try to tolerate them," Jet said, some of his light humor returning to his voice.
"Good 'cause I'm staying here even if you don't," she said.
"Whatever Jun, so what's up with you and this guy Lu Ten?" he asked.
Jun narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean what up with me and Lu?"
"Oh come on Jun, I can see that you have a thing for this Lu Ten guy. Even if I am going to be open to them Jun you know it's against the rules to be interested in him," Jet teased.
"So what if I like him, screw society! Besides you shouldn't be talking, Zuko told me that you've been hanging around a girl from the Districts: Katara Kuruk. Even if she's not Ember she's still off limits," she retorted.
"Well you and I never liked rules anyway," Jet said dismissively.
"That's true, so how long have you been interested in this girl?," Jun said letting her feminine side take over for a little bit.
Jet was toying with his fingers with his face down when he responded, "Couple months."
Jun's visible eye bugged out, "You're kidding? You've never been with one girl that long before."
Jet lowered his head to hide the slight blush on his face. "Yeah well Kat's different," he mumbled.
"Aw isn't that just special!" she said sarcastically and then much to Jet's relief added, "Well we better get back down there to show Iroh that we haven't murdered each other." She got up from her spot and started out the door when Jet said, "Hey Jun?"
She turned around, "Yeah?"
"I missed you," Jet said sincerely. Jun smiled, "I missed you too jerk." With that the two walked out and started to walk down the stairs where they had left the Sozin men who were all sitting at one of the tables, Zuko was drinking a coke and Lu Ten had a beer. They seemed to be arguing about something while Iroh sat peacefully drinking his tea.
"You couldn't have sent a text or something? Geez Zuko way to think things through," Lu Ten hissed angrily, something Jun found hilarious by now.
"Oh yeah how would that have gone? "Hi I'm bringing Jun's brother who happens to hate us and isn't too happy with her at the moment home with me." That would definitely been better," Zuko snapped back.
"Now boys that is no way to act when guests are present," Iroh said being the only one who noticed Jun and Jet return from upstairs. The two boys averted their gazes to the two, Lu Ten's angry face melted away but Zuko's stayed.
"You know nephew if you keep looking that way your face might freeze," Iroh said.
"It would be an improvement if you ask me," Jun said casually as she went behind the the counter and grabbed a beer and another coke. Lu Ten smirked at her comment and said, "So I assume things are okay with you two now."
"Yeah we're cool and Jet is going to keep his trap shut," Jun said walking over and pulling up a chair next to Lu Ten.
"Well that is splendid!" Iroh said, "Mister Jet take off your coat and make yourself at home," Iroh said to the boy standing away from the group. "I will get you a chair while you get comfortable," the old man said getting up from his spot.
Jet looked a little confused, from the experiences he had had with other people from Ember they weren't as personable as this guy. "Uh okay," Jet said sliding his hoodie off forgetting that he had a rather large stain on his shirt but soon remembered.
Lu Ten choked on the beer he was drinking and Jun looked at Jet to see what was wrong. "Holy shit dude! What happened to you?" Lu Ten sputtered, staring at the stain and Jun stiffened next to him and glared at Jet who nodded in response to the question he knew shew was thinking.
"Long Feng happened," Zuko said and immediately his cousin's mood changed. "Oh I see," was all Lu Ten could think to say.
"God Jet what did you do this time?" Jun asked.
He smirked as he sipped his coke, "I just insulted him as usual, oh and I brought you up. You're kind of a sore spot with him now."
"And he got so mad that he decided to stab you? When did it happen?" Jun asked.
"Last weekend, Bee stitched me up but I kinda stressed the stitches today and they broke at Toph's place," Jet said.
Iroh looked at the stain in question, "It must have been a pretty deep cut and no amount of OxyClean will fix that stain. Zuko go get Jet one of your shirts to wear." Zuko got up quietly and disappeared up the stairs.
Jun shook her head at Jet, "You can't go back there Jet."
"I seem to be hearing that a lot, I won't go back this weekend but I have to go back at some point," Jet said.
"Why the hell do you say that?" Jun shouted, under the table Lu Ten grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze; if she had noticed she didn't let on.
Jet shouted back at her, "I have to go back because Long Feng's already pissed as hell that you escaped and look how he's taking that out?" He pointed to the blood stain on his shirt. "If I don't go back then he'll just be twice as mad and take it out on one of the others. Sneers is smart and locks himself up in his room half the time, Longshot's strong enough to handle it but Bee and the Duke aren't and Longshot can't be around all the time to protect the both of them. I can take whatever ol' Feng tries to do, that's why I have to go back."
He was right, and Jun knew it. "Fine, you'll stay here a little while but when you go back no more shit just to make him mad got it?" she said staring directly at him.
"Yes ma'am," Jet replied with a smirk, which made Lu Ten laugh a little. He tried to cover it up as a cough but Jun wasn't fooled and smacked him on the shoulder.
"Ow! What was that for?" Lu Ten whined.
"Don't encourage him," she barked at the raven haired boy. At the same time Zuko walked down the stairs with a red T-shirt in one hand. He tossed the shirt to Jet and mumbled, "Here." Jet caught the shirt and mumbled back, "Thanks."
Lu Ten feeling the awkward situation beginning to set in stretched and yawned, "Well for those of us who actually worked today, I think it would be a good idea to go to bed." He stood up and began to pull out Jun's chair.
"I'm not tired though," she protested somewhat sleepily.
"Ah but you will be when you have to wake up at seven to get the store ready. So come on lets go," Lu Ten said persuasively and Jun got up from her chair.
She groaned in protest, "Why do you always have to make sense? It gets annoying."
Lu Ten laughed as they walked up the stairs and responded by saying, "Aw come on Jun you know it's one of the many things you love about me." Jun argued back but the others left downstairs couldn't hear what she said exactly but they could hear the faint sound of laughter. Iroh smiled, Jet looked disgusted, and Zuko just looked apathetic.
Jet turned to Zuko and with his eyebrows raised asked, "They don't sleep in the same room do they?" He sounded as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
Zuko smiled a little but shook his head, "No Jun sleeps in the guest room and I share with Lu Ten." Jet seemed to relax a bit at this statement but only a little.
"Which reminds me, there's really no room upstairs for young Jet to sleep but I think there is a cot in the basement that is quite comfortable," Iroh said. "Zuko why don't you show him the way down and get him set up? You two have had a long day and will need some rest," the old man finished while sipping his tea.
"Alright Uncle," Zuko said getting up. He looked at Jet and motioned for the boy to stand up, "Come on, it's this way." Jet got up and began to follow him but stopped in front of Iroh and said while looking down and ruffling his hair, "Hey um, thanks for letting me stay. And for taking Jun in."
Iroh looked kindly at the boy, "It is my pleasure." Jet nodded and then followed Zuko in the direction of the basement. The raven haired boy walked to the back room where there was white door with a lock on it. Zuko reached up on one of the shelves and grabbed an old looking teapot, he reached inside and pulled out a key. He unlocked the door and placed the teapot back in its place and began to walk down the stairs which creaked under the teenage boys weight. At the bottom of the stairs Zuko flipped a switch and Jet was surprised at what he saw.
He had been expecting a musty storage room but it looked like a training room. Almost exactly identical to Piandao's combat room at school. The floors were carpeted and in the middle of the room was a padded square area.
"The bed's in the corner there, I'll leave you the key so you don't get paranoid about us locking you in down here," Zuko said with some venom in his voice, breaking Jet's train of thought.
"Thanks; nice pictures," Jet said walking over to the opposite wall where pictures were hung. There were a few black and white ones of what Jet guessed was Iroh in his younger days standing with a trophy with a man who looked a lot like Piandao.
"My uncle and Piandao have been friends for a long time. They went to the same martial arts school, The White Lotus Training School," Zuko said quietly noticing Jet looking at the picture.
"That's Piandao?" Jet said in quiet surprise to himself as he looked at the picture.
"I know, hard to believe you could like someone from Ember," Zuko said with the same venomous tone.
"Yeah really," Jet said ignoring Zuko's tone. He looked at another picture of three kids in karate uniforms. Two boys who looked identical except one was taller and a small girl. Jet could only assume that this was Lu Ten and Azula but he couldn't guess who the other boy in the picture was until he looked closer and saw the boy wearing Zuko's half smile. It couldn't be, this boy had no scar on his face though and Jet couldn't imagine Zuko without a scar but he guessed there had to be a time when Zuko did look...normal.
Again Zuko noticed what picture Jet was looking at and growing uncomfortable decided to go upstairs but was stopped by Jet, "Zuko?"
Zuko turned to look at the teen, "Yeah?"
"Lets get things straight, I'm going to be staying here for awhile. I don't like you and you don't like me, I'm going to tolerate you but in order to do that I'm going to have to trust you. For me to trust you, you have to answer some questions," Jet said.
Zuko didn't know what Jet was playing at but decided to indulge him, "Alright." He walked over to the padded part of the floor and sat down, "What do you want to know?"
Jet remained standing with his arms crossed, "Why did your dad kick you out. I've heard rumors but I want to know the real reason."
Zuko sighed quietly trying to think of how to word his answer before he responded, "I'm not proud of a lot of the things my family is responsible for. I spoke out against my father and he said I shouldn't be home by the time he got home from work basically." Zuko was pleased he had answered the question without giving too much information away.
Jet however was not satisfied, "What did you say to your dad exactly?"
That was it, Zuko had no choice but to tell Jet about his family's involvement with the Raiders, he only hoped this conversation wouldn't end with a broken bone. "Like I said, I'm not proud of my family's actions. We're in charge of the Raiders, my dad tells them who to hit and they do as he says. When he ordered Dow's farm to be burned, I spoke out. I told him it wasn't right, he had no reason since he mainly uses the Raiders to get rid of business competitors and we don't do anything with agriculture. When he dismissed the subject I wouldn't let it go and said some things that made him throw me out."
Jet slowly nodded, not seeming surprised at all. "I always knew the Sozins had something to do with the Raiders. Next question: why isn't your uncle in charge of the company. I know that Sozin Corp. is always under the command of the eldest son. I've seen pictures in the paper of your dad and Iroh up there is definitely the older brother."
"That's simple, my father stole it when my grandfather was on his deathbed. My uncle would rather be in charge of the tea shop though," Zuko said.
Jet didn't acknowledge his answer, "How did you get your scar?"
Zuko tensed at this question, the story of how he recieved his scar wasn't exactly a story he liked to tell. "It's kind of a long story," he said.
That didn't bother Jet one bit, "We've got time; how did it happen?"
Zuko looked down at his hands, "A long time ago my mom found out the truth about "the family business", she didn't like it of course and tried to persuade my dad to end it. As you can guess he didn't listen to her and eventually it got so bad that they wanted a divorce. My dad didn't like that she knew so much about the inner workings of the company, so he had a restraining order made, said lies about her to the media and threatened her to go along with those lies. The court granted my father full custody and the restraining order, my mom left town and I haven't seen her since.
You probably wouldn't be surprised to know that it was my mom who was the better parent, my dad was never home and when he was it wasn't good. One night when he was home, our maid Lo had been cooking dinner and he was in the kitchen. Lo had left for some reason and my dad had to finish cooking, things were said that eventually led up to me telling him that I thought he was a bad parent and that I wanted to go live with my mom. He got so angry that he slammed my face onto one of the open burners and held my there until Azula came in to see what was wrong, she had heard me screaming. He ignored me but when Azula shed a few tears he released me and called an ambulance. I was in the hospital for a few weeks after that, my uncle and Lu Ten were my only visitors. Azula told me once that she had wanted to visit but my dad wouldn't let her."
After Zuko had finished his story, Jet walked over and lay down on the padded floor with his hands behind his head and said abruptly, "Okay I trust you."
Zuko raised an eyebrow at him, "Um thanks?" He had been expecting a bit more of a response from Jet.
"You're welcome," Jet said smugly. Then a thought occurred to Zuko..
"Alright Jet you had your questions, now I have something I want to ask you," Zuko said.
Jet sat up, he had not been expecting that, "Why?"
"I have to know if I can trust you," the black haired boy replied.
Jet rolled his eyes, "Fine what do you want to know?" He said crossing his arms again.
"How did you end up at Long Feng's? How did your parents die?" Zuko asked in a calm and even voice.
It was now Jet's turn to tense, he never talked to anyone about his parents. Jun and the other kids at Long Fengs knew as did Suki, he hadn't gotten to tell Katara yet. He almost considered refusing to tell but then he remembered that he had made Zuko tell about his scar so it was only fair, and Jet liked to think of himself as a fair man.
"I was eight years old and went to the public school in Terra. It wasn't far from my house so I usually walked to school and one day when I came home there were police cars and paramedics outside our house. I told the police that I lived there and asked if my parents were okay, no one answered that question until they took me to the station down town. My parents weren't okay, the Raiders had broken into our house and shot my mom and dad. My dad wasn't even supposed to be there but he decided to come home for lunch that day and take the afternoon off, he had gotten a promotion," Jet said.
"What did your dad do for a living?" Zuko asked.
"He was a lawyer and was working on some big case," Jet said dismissively. Zuko felt sympathy for him, he knew what it was like to lose one parent and since his dad was hardly ever around he could relate a little.
"I'm sorry Jet," Zuko said even though he knew that really it wouldn't mean anything.
"Yeah whatever," Jet went back to laying down on the floor and there was a silence for awhile before he spoke again. "You know, I may be judging you too quick and don't tell anyone I said this but, you don't seem like such a bad guy for a Sozin. Your uncle and Lu Ten don't seem too bad either, but your dad and your sister are real jackasses."
"Not all Sozins are the same," Zuko said. "My sister used to be okay, she changed after my mom left though," Zuko trailed off and Jet let that subject drop. He may be almost convinced the Zuko was alright but there was no way anyone was going to change his mind about that crazy girl Azula.
"Well now you know about me and I know about you so, are we friends?" Zuko asked sticking out his hand. Jet looked at it a little warily but shook it with a smirk, "Yeah I guess we can be."
After that Zuko went back up the stairs and into the room he shared with Lu Ten and for the first time in a long time, both Jet and Zuko fell asleep peacefully.
What do you think? Too cheesy? I can't say I'm too proud of it but I'm not sure, let me know what you guys think.