Author's Note: For people skipping ahead to the endgame ship spoilers, the endgame ships are: Mailee (Mai x Ty Lee), Zukka (Zuko x Sokka), and Jetzula (Jet x Azula).

Chapter 36: Together

Azula was warm beneath him as he kissed her passionately, her body urgently pressing against him in the darkness. Her hands roamed freely up his arms and down his back, eventually settling on his waist to deepen their connection. Every desperate kiss made his entire body thrum with desire. She moaned softly into his ear as his teeth scraped lightly at her neck, his hands lightly tugging at the waistband of her silky pajama bottoms.

"We can't," she whispered as she forced herself to pull away, her breathing ragged.

"I know, I know," he sighed, rolling exasperatedly onto his back next to her on the bed. He mentally cursed himself for getting a little too carried away when they had agreed to wait until they were back on campus before hooking up. Azula understandably did not want her first time with him to be at her mother's house, and while Jet didn't share that same qualm, he definitely felt uncomfortable having sex in the guestroom since it shared a wall with Kiyi's bedroom.

"I'm sorry," she pouted. "I just don't want them to hear anything, and I don't want to be forced to keep quiet either…"

"It's okay," he assured her, laughing quietly. "It's just really hard not to touch you…"

She smirked. "So I've noticed."

He chuckled, pulling her into his arms such that her head was resting against his chest.

"But don't worry. You'll be the very first thing on my to-do list as soon as we return to campus."

"Hey… unrelated question, but have you ever considered joining the mile high club?" he teased, grinning.

"You're out of your damn mind if you think our first time is going to be in some dirty, disgusting airplane bathroom."

"'First time'," he repeated. "Noted."

She laughed before leaning up and kissing him once more.

"Speaking of first times… this is sort of a first for me."

"What do you mean? Being in bed with a girl and not having sex?"

"Yeah, sorta," he chuckled. "But no, I mean, I've never fallen asleep next to anyone before. Well besides during some less-than-ideal living situations where I had to share a bed with some foster siblings. Oh and Haru at that ski resort over winter break. Can't forget that."

"So let me get this straight." She propped herself up onto her elbow. "You've never fallen asleep next to any of the millions of girls you've hooked up with?"

"Okay, my body count is probably not as high as everyone thinks it is… probably. A-Anyway, no, I've never stayed the night, I've always just left right after sex."

"Aww, aren't you sweet," she said sarcastically.

"It'll be different with you," he smiled, placing a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose.

She smiled back.

"Have you ever shared a bed with anyone?"

"Just Mai during sleepovers. And once with Chan, my high school boyfriend…" Her eyes flicked away from his for a moment. "I stayed the night after our first time, because, well you know how society deems it the romantic thing to do, but I just ended up being uncomfortable the whole night. It was strange but… I didn't even really want him to touch me at all after we had sex. I don't think I actually slept at all that night…"

"Do you think you'll have a problem falling asleep next to me?"

"No," she smiled tenderly, shaking her head. "Not at all."

Peering affectionately into her golden eyes, he lifted her chin with his finger. Slowly, he drew her mouth to his. "I love you."

"I love you too."

A soft laugh escaped his lips.

"Why are you laughing?!" she hissed, lightly smacking his chest. "Why would you laugh at that?!"

"No, no, it's not – it's just – " His laughter grew. "It's just funny how I never even officially asked you to be my girlfriend and here we are already sharing bold declarations of love."

"I suppose it is a little backwards," she snickered, cracking a smile. "I just assumed we skipped that step. I mean, we are dating, aren't we?"

"Yeah, yeah," he grinned, "we are." He grazed his thumb across her cheek, gazing softly at her face. "Look, I've… I've never been anyone's boyfriend before, so I'm gonna need you to call me out if I'm ever doing a bad job, okay?"

"Well I've only ever been someone's girlfriend once, and I can't say I was any good at it, so it looks like neither of us really know what we're doing."

"Great," he laughed, "well at least we're in the same boat then." His face softened. "Just know that I… I want to be the best I can be for you…"

"Me too," she smiled, blushing faintly in the dark.

He brushed her long hair aside. "We'll just have to figure it out together."

Finally. Finally the plane landed in the Ba Sing Se airport. They were just one train ride away from being able to enjoy some badly needed alone time. As soon as they got back to campus, Azula was going to pounce on him like a tiger-wolf. Jet had already warned his housemates ahead of time to vacate the house by the time they returned. Azula couldn't wait, she was buzzing with anticipation.

"Whatchya thinking about?" Jet sneered.

"Ohh nothing," she said innocently, shrugging.

"It's fine, you don't have to tell me. I already know." He smirked. "I can read your mind."

"Oh yeah? Then tell me, what am I thinking about?"

He lowered his voice. "You're trying to imagine what I look like naked."

"You got me," she smiled, raising her hands in mock defeat.

"You know what I'm thinking about?"

"What?"

He leaned in and whispered directly into her ear. "All the things I'm gonna do to you when we get back."

His words sent shivers up her spine. She bit down on her lip, feeling her cheeks grow hot. All this waiting was killing her.

"I'll check the train schedule," he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and turning it off airplane mode. "Hopefully everything's running on time."

"Good idea." She turned her phone off airplane mode as well.

Seconds later, both their phones started vibrating like crazy as a barrage of text messages flooded their inboxes.

"Oh no," she scowled, quickly scrolling back through all the messages. "This better not screw up our plans."

"Nothing is gonna ruin our plans," he chuckled. "I'll make sure of that."

Ty Lee: CONGRATULATIONS KATARA!

Katara: Thank you! I can't believe it!

Zuko: What happened? What did I miss?

Ty Lee: Are you serious?!

Ty Lee: She WON! She won the whole game!

Mai: Hey that's awesome! Way to go!

Mai: I kinda forgot the game was still going on…

Zuko: Yeah me too.

Zuko: Congrats Katara!

Mai: So who did you have to kill? Anyone we know?

Katara: It was down to me and Kori Morishita, a junior.

Zuko: Oh damn! She's the one who took me out of the game.

Katara: Consider your death avenged!

"Wow, she did it," Jet said, shaking his head with disbelief. "She really freaking did it."

Azula was in a similar state of disbelief. "Good for her."

Sokka: Hey don't forget about me!

Mai: ?

Sokka: I got the highest number of kills!

Sokka: They're giving me a bonus $50 gift card to the same restaurant!

Zuko: We're all very proud of you, you crazy psycho killer you.

Sokka: I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not!

"Damn him!" Azula swore. "I was going for highest number of kills!" She turned sharply to her boyfriend. "This is kinda all your fault…"

"Sorry," he smiled sheepishly. "I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

"Oh, you'll find out very soon…"

Her cheeks flushed once again as a coy smile spread across her face.

Ty Lee: The Water Tribe siblings really cleaned up!

Katara: We're treating everyone to dinner after finals are over : )

Sokka: I never agreed to that!

Sokka: But fine. Dinner at the Wild Papaya is on us.

Katara: So study hard so we can all celebrate!

"Hey, do you think we should tell them we're officially dating…?" Jet asked.

"Hmm…" She thought for a moment. "You know what, let's wait."

Jet cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't want to steal their thunder, but more importantly, I don't want to be stuck answering a bunch of follow-up messages to our big news. Not when I have more pressing matters on my mind…"

He flashed her a mischievous grin and took her hand. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Azula raised her champagne flute, which was filled with sparkling cider as she was not of the legal drinking age yet, at the dinner table. "Here's to Katara for annihilating the competition! A killer way to end a killer school year."

"And to Sokka for getting the most kills!" Zuko quickly added before the friends could clink their glasses together.

"And here's to Azula and Jet for finally admitting what literally everyone else knew all along," Mai grinned, smirking playfully at the new couple. "Cheers – "

"Here's to making it through the semester in one piece!" Sokka cut in.

"I'll drink to that!" Jet raised his glass slightly higher. It had been a brutal school year. He hadn't quite accomplished all his goals, but things were starting to fall into place. Soon he'd be graduating with a degree in economics, and for some reason, the prospect of grad school was just starting to appeal to him. Maybe with a business degree or something, he could figure out a way to provide resources to kids growing up in the foster care system, rather than taking out his frustrations with the system by robin-hooding. Or maybe he could do a little of both. But no matter what he decided to do, he knew he'd have Azula by his side, the most beautiful, brilliant girlfriend he could ever ask for. "Couldn't have done it without you guys."

"To love!" Katara yelled. "To Ty Lee and Mai, to Sokka and Zuko, and to Azula and Jet for finding love and never making me feel like a third – I mean seventh – wheel!"

Everyone laughed.

"Wouldn't be wise to make the person treating us to dinner feel like a seventh wheel…" Jet teased.

"Anything you want to add, Ty?" Mai asked her girlfriend. "You've been scarily quiet."

Ty Lee raised her glass and inhaled sharply as if to make a bold statement, but the pitch died on her lips. "I can't do it." She sighed. "I… I'm trying to put on a brave face and be happy, but the truth is… I'm really sad, you guys!"

Calls of "Why?", "How come?", and "What happened?" shot out from the rest of the table.

"Because the year is over and we're all going our separate ways for the summer! Katara and Sokka are going back to the Southern Water Tribe, Jet's going to the Western Earth Kingdom to spend time with his foster siblings, Mai and I are going to the Fire Nation but different cities, and Azula and Zuko are staying here in Ba Sing Se to work at Iroh's teashop – "

"Well I did promise Mother we'd visit her in the Fire Nation at some point too this summer," Azula noted.

"Yeah but even if we're far away, we'll still keep in touch," Sokka assured her. "You know you can't stop me from sending funny memes every day."

"Yes…" Mai shifted her eyes. "'Funny'…"

Sokka's mouth opened as he feigned being offended.

"And then we'll all be back on campus together next fall," Katara smiled.

"I know, I know, but…" Ty Lee sulked. "…it won't be the same."

Mai placed a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Jet, Sokka, and Zuko are going to be seniors next year!" she continued, tearing up. "They're going to be busy applying to jobs or grad school, going to interviews, and doing all the nonsense paperwork for graduation. And the rest of us will be busy doing all the things the guys were stressed out about during their junior year – it's not going to be the same! It's going to be so much harder to find time to do things together. Everything's changing and moving too quickly, and I love being in this group, I love being friends with you guys, and I don't want things to change!" She turned to cry into Mai's embrace.

"Change is scary," Katara said softly, "but it doesn't have to be a bad thing. It just means we're all moving forward – "

"Yeah, we're just leveling up," Sokka added, grinning.

" – and we can all move forward together."

Zuko nodded. "No man left behind."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry but, is anyone else finding it strange that Ty Lee is the one stressing out about things changing while Katara is actively embracing it?" Azula asked, a gentle smirk playing on her lips.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Katara questioned.

"You hate change," Sokka answered. "Everyone knows that."

"Yeah, seriously," Jet laughed. "Do we have a body swap situation on our hands?"

"Spirits, I hope not," Mai muttered.

Ty Lee pulled away from her girlfriend and wiped her eyes. "Katara's just excited because of her new lover boy."

"Lover boy?" Sokka wrinkled his nose. "Gross."

"Who?" Zuko asked.

"Katara's been texting with the Avatar," Ty Lee answered for her, starting to smile. "He's going to be a freshman here next year."

"Ooooh," the group chorused.

"You guys weren't there when they first met. I got to witness the magic firsthand," Jet said. "It was seriously love at first sight. Well, more like love at first collision, but you get the point."

A dreamy, far-off look washed over Katara's face as she smiled. "I'm feeling hopeful about next year, what can I say?"

"We're safe, everyone. They haven't swapped bodies," Azula joked.

Zuko laughed. "No, that's definitely Katara."

"Anyway, the point is…" Katara said, snapping back to reality, "…yes, things are going to change, we're all going to change, but the one thing that will stay the same is that we'll always be friends."

"You promise?" Ty Lee asked weakly.

"Yes!" the rest of the group said emphatically.

"Now let's try this again so we can get back to eating." Sokka raised his glass. "To friendship!"

"To friendship!"

They all clinked their glasses clumsily together, some of the champagne and cider spilling out of the flutes and onto their hands.

Jet couldn't help but be reminded of the first time he'd met Azula at the end of his sophomore year. The stray frisbee. The spilled coffee. Their scheme to set each other up with their respective roommates. Well, they had undoubtedly failed at that.

Jet reached for Azula's hand under the table. They shared a private, longing look as she gave his hand a squeeze.

Love was certainly messy. But it was so, so worth it.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! It means so much to me that you would take the time out of your busy life to read my writing. I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it! If you did, please consider leaving me a review and/or favoriting this story. I'd really appreciate it! Thanks again, and much love!