Chapter 12: Talentless Show

The fall semester had just begun, and for Jet, now considered an upperclassman, that meant he finally got to move out of the dorms and live off-campus. Off-campus housing wasn't cheap, but he was able to scrape together everything he had, along with Sokka and Zuko, and find something affordable. Part of this arrangement meant taking on a part-time job as a barista at the student center café. It was probably about time he found an honest job anyway. He couldn't rely on robin-hooding forever, although, he was feeling pretty smug about being able to sweettalk the landlord down to a better rate.

So Jet, Sokka, and Zuko had a house together. Sure, it wasn't a ton of space, but at least they each got their own bedroom. And since Zuko set up his gaming equipment in the common living room, Jet and Sokka didn't need to steal his games anymore. The house was furnished, well, with the bare essentials. Jet was currently sitting pretty on the sofa between Mai and Katara, watching TV. Azula and Zuko were sitting on a giant beanbag chair that Iroh had generously gifted the house. The fire siblings had certainly grown a lot closer over the summer break, something Jet was happy to see. It was better for everyone when they got along. Ty Lee was the only one up on her feet, taking it upon herself to decorate the house even though she didn't live there. Sokka was out picking up his assignments for his teaching assistant position.

Considering the friend group had texted all through the summer in various group chats and private messages, they didn't need to play the catch-up game. Thus, the house was generally quiet. Well, that was until Sokka came bursting through the door, holding some flyers and clearly excited about something.

"You guys, you guys, you guys!" Sokka said, panting. "You'll never guess who I just ran into."

"Suki," Zuko muttered, eyes glued to his phone.

"Suki!" he grinned.

As if choreographed, the fire siblings both rolled their eyes.

"And she told me that the student council's already planning for the annual talent show!" Sokka pointed enthusiastically to the flyers in his hand.

"So?" Mai asked flatly.

Zuko, looked up at Sokka from the beanbag chair. "Yeah, no offense Sokka, but last year's kinda sucked."

"Kinda?" Jet questioned. "It was an all-out snooze fest."

"A talentless show, if you will," Azula added, smirking.

Ty Lee popped her head into the living room. "Katara and I weren't even there that semester but even we heard how bad it was…"

Katara nodded. "It's true."

"Yes, yes, and I agree with you," Sokka said. "But this year's talent show will be a hit. How do I know this, you ask?"

"No one asked…" Katara teased.

Sokka ignored her. "Because this year I've signed us all up to perform!"

A series of grumbles, groans, and emphatic noes and objections shot out of the group.

"Oh, come on, guys! Suki's hosting it this year and it's really important to her."

"'Suki's hosting it this year and it's really important to her,'" Zuko mocked under his breath before returning his attention to his phone.

Azula snickered.

"It could be fun!" Sokka insisted. "Do you know how much talent we have in this very room?"

Crickets…

"A lot! So get psyched."

"Well," Ty Lee said, joining the rest of the group, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to show off my talent."

Azula's eyebrow furrowed. "Tell me, Ty. Do you actually consider taking photos for social media to be a talent?"

Katara shot her a dirty look.

"What? I genuinely want to know."

"That's not my talent!" Ty Lee urged. "Ugh, don't any of you follow my social media accounts?"

Everyone looked around at each other uncomfortably.

"Wow, seriously?!" She sighed. "Well then, I guess I'll have to give you all a demonstration right here." She stepped out into the middle of the living room, arched her back into a bridge, and stuck her head out from between her legs.

"Wow!" Sokka exclaimed, clapping.

Mai's eyes doubled in size.

Ty Lee jumped into a handstand and then hopped back up onto her feet. "I'm a contortionist!"

"We can see that!" Zuko said, clearly freaked out.

Azula looked equally grossed out.

"Yeah seriously, give us some warning next time you do something like that, will you?" Jet asked.

"Well I think that's very impressive, Ty," Katara smiled.

"Thank you. At least someone appreciates me." Ty Lee walked over to the couch to give her roommate a hug and then proceeded to lie down across Katara's, Jet's, and Mai's laps. She looked up at Mai, wide-eyed. "Ooh, ooh, Mai, you know what you could do? Your neat knife throwing trick! Ooh, I know, I know, and I can be your sexy, dazzling assistant putting her life on the line. You can tie me up to a board and throw knives all around me! It would be so exciting!"

"W-Will they really let me throw knives on stage?" she asked, slightly red in the cheeks.

Jet already knew Mai was a gifted artist, but he had no idea about this secret talent of hers. Although, he did remember Mai knocking Ty Lee's stalker's phone out of his hand with a rock…

"Well I'm sure we can pull some strings and arrange for your performance to be done in a safe way," Sokka replied, "but there's no way in hell the school will allow you to throw knives at another student. Sorry to disappoint, Ty."

She shrugged. "It's okay!"

"I'll think about it," Mai said.

"Is bending allowed in the talent show?" Katara asked.

"Yes!" Sokka answered promptly. "But you'll have to run your routine by the faculty committee first. What did you have in mind?"

"Well I'm still a novice, but I've been teaching myself how to figure skate. I've learned a few tricks I wouldn't mind sharing. I could even turn the stage into an ice rink and then waterbend it all back like it was never there."

"That sounds amazing!" Ty Lee cheered. "You have to do it!"

"It's not like I have much of a choice since my brother signed us all up to perform against our wills!"

"Sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zones," Sokka said in self-defense. "College is the time to experiment and try new things. You'll all be thanking me once it's over, you'll see."

"Okay, Mr. 'Try New Things', what are you going to do for your talent?" Katara challenged.

"Boomerang tricks?" Zuko guessed.

"No, everyone's already seen my insanely awesome boomerang tricks. I'm gonna do something no one would expect." He paused for dramatic effect. "Slam poetry!"

Jet cocked an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"I didn't know you wrote poetry," Mai said.

Ty Lee pouted. "You've never written me a poem…"

The fire siblings rolled their eyes simultaneously again and then broke out laughing on the beanbag chair.

"I'm serious, you guys!" Sokka swore. "I've been watching some slam poetry competitions online, and it's something I've always wanted to try."

"Well, I have faith in your ability, Sokka," Azula chimed in. "You are the pun master, after all, and being able to create puns on the fly like that requires a certain level of wordsmithery."

"Thank you, Azula," Sokka smiled at her.

She smiled back.

"Jet, what are you going to do?" Katara asked, flashing her big blue eyes at him.

"Nothing," he scoffed. "I don't want to do it."

Sokka scowled. "Oh, come on, Jet. Don't be like that."

"Yeah," Ty Lee agreed. "Believe it or not, you're not 'too cool for school'."

"I never said I was! I just don't have any secret talents."

"That's not true," Mai said. "You cook."

"You're good at videogames," Zuko added.

"Out of everyone in this room, you're the best at annoying me," Azula taunted.

"Yeah, well, it would be hard to do any of those things on stage." Jet sighed. "However… I may have a trick or two up my sleeve after all. Literally." Grinning mischievously, he reached up into his sleeve and pulled out three pieces of jewelry, showing the items to the group.

Ty Lee gasped. "My bracelet!"

"My necklace!" Katara cried.

"My ring." Mai nodded. "Impressive."

"How did you do that?!" Ty Lee begged. "When did you do that?!"

Jet shrugged and nonchalantly handed the jewelry back to the girls on the couch.

"Great, so you're good at stealing things," Azula said derisively.

Zuko crossed his arms. "I told you guys!"

"I'm not going to steal things on stage," Jet chuckled. "I do sleight-of-hand. Magic."

"That's awesome!" Sokka shouted. "I love magic."

"Yeah, me too." Jet smirked. "Especially when I use it on rude customers at the café who don't tip. They may think they're getting the correct amount of change back, but…"

"That's stealing!" Katara chastised.

"Eh."

"And what about you two?" Sokka asked the siblings on the beanbag chair.

"Huh, what?" Zuko asked, startled enough to drop his phone on the floor. "Damn it."

Azula picked it up for him, and he immediately snatched it out of her hand. "Geesh, what's your problem?"

"Nothing."

"And who have you been texting all afternoon? All your friends are right here in this room!"

"N-No one."

Azula scoffed and then looked back up at Sokka. "Well to answer your question, I have no idea. I don't think any of my talents will translate well to a big stage. As much as I'd love to shoot lightning at people as they run terrified from the audience…"

Jet couldn't help but laugh. It was a pretty funny image. Everyone running out of the auditorium afraid for their lives. Hah.

Zuko's phone buzzed, and Azula's eyes cut over to the screen. "'Mom'?" she questioned, her voice strained.

He clutched the phone against his chest. "Don't look at my phone!"

"You're talking to Mother?" The hurt in her eyes matched the tone of her voice. "I can't believe this." She got up from the beanbag chair. "After everything she's done to us!"

"Azula, I – "

"Just stop. I don't want to hear it." She turned her back toward him and walked out the door.

Oh no. Jet thought the look in her eyes was heartbreaking enough when he didn't kiss her during that stupid game, but the look she had just now… he never wanted to see her like that again. He nudged Ty Lee to get off his lap so he could chase after her and make sure she was okay, but Mai looked at him and shook her head.

"This isn't your battle," Mai said quietly before turning her attention to Zuko. "You. Go after her."

Zuko nodded and scrambled out the door.

"So…" Sokka exhaled, awkwardly clasping his hands together. "I guess they won't be doing the talent show."

"Sokka!" Katara shouted, throwing a pillow at him.

"I was joking, yeesh! Just trying to lighten the mood…"

Azula couldn't believe this. How dare he?! How could he betray her like this?! He was supposed to be on her side. Had he really reconciled with their absentee mother? Had he forgiven her? And why… why hadn't Mother reached out to her? Why Zuko? Why was it always Zuko?

"Azula, Azula! Wait up!"

She ignored him and kept marching through the quad.

"Please! Just talk to me!"

"I have nothing to say to you!"

"Azula, I'm sorry! Please just let me explain."

She stopped walking when he caught up to her. "I don't want to talk to you!"

"I know, but… I really think we should. Come on, let's go to your dorm and talk things over."

"You're really not going to leave me alone, are you?"

"No way."

She thought for a moment. While she really wasn't in the mood to have this conversation, she knew that curiosity would eventually get the better of her and she'd want answers. "Fine. But no talking until we get to my room."

"Understood."

She allowed her brother to escort her in silence to her dorm room. "Okay. Explain yourself. Explain why you're talking to the heartless woman who abandoned us, changed her name, got remarried, and had another kid in a sadistic attempt to forget us entirely."

"Well… she reached out to me and… I just couldn't ignore her. I tried, I really tried, but… she's our mother."

"Zuko, she left us!" Tears welled in her eyes and she hated herself for it. "She left us with him!"

"I know, but… you need to understand." He sighed. "She was young, scared, and trying to flee an abusive relationship."

"She could have taken us with her! She didn't even try!"

"That's not true, Azula. She wanted to take us with her, but Father had powerful connections. His lawyers guaranteed he would get full custody."

"Did she tell you this? How long… how long have you and Mother been talking?"

"Since Father went to prison. She was afraid of certain consequences if she reached out sooner." He paused. "You know what he's capable of."

"I know."

He grew quiet for a moment. "She misses you, you know. She asks about you all the time. She wants you back in her life again – "

"Then why hasn't she reached out to me?" She was fully sobbing at this point but didn't care anymore.

"She just thought it would be easier if – "

"She talked to her favorite child first."

"That's not fair, Azula. She just didn't want to upset you. She didn't want to possibly hurt you more than she already has."

"Have you… forgiven her?"

"Not quite, but I'm working on it. Maybe if I can forgive her and move forward, I won't be so angry all the time…"

"Have you seen her? In person?"

"No, but… she wants to visit us."

"I don't want to see her!"

"I know, I know." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "But maybe you should sleep on it. Just think about it for a bit."

"Are you going to see her?"

"Well… I was thinking about inviting her to the talent show, you know, so she could see us – "

"See us what?! We have no talent, well at least, you have no talent."

"That may be true," he chuckled softly. "But that's why I thought maybe the two of us could do something together."

Suddenly she stopped crying. Perhaps she'd run out of tears. "Like what?"

"I don't know… I thought it might be cool if we performed a traditional fire dragon dance or something."

"I… that sounds kinda lame."

"Just think about it, okay? You don't have to make any rash decisions. About this, about Mother, about anything."

"Okay," she whispered.

"Are you okay now? Can I give you a hug?"

She nodded, and he wrapped his arms around her. Hesitantly, she hugged him back. It felt odd and unfamiliar, but… it was nice. Comforting. Just what she needed.