Making a Deal

"Whew," Sokka exhaled with a satisfied smile, fastening his belt.

"Feeling better?" Jet smirked.

"Much," he chuckled. "Thanks, I-I needed that."

"Any time."

"You mean it? Cause… I'll definitely take you up on that."

Jet laughed. "Well that depends. Even though I technically have your old job, Zuko doesn't seem too eager to kick you out of the palace. Do you think you'll stick around?"

"I don't know." Sokka shook his head. "I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. All my friends seem to have everything all figured out, but no, not me – "

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't spiral. I don't think you're quite ready for round two yet."

Sokka laughed.

"For what it's worth, I think you should stay."

"You do?" he asked, blushing. "And why's that?"

"Could be fun," Jet shrugged, smiling coyly. "Maybe we could do this again sometime."

"What? You give me a handjob next time I'm in distress?"

"That or… maybe more. Or who knows? Maybe next time you'll even return the favor…"

"I'd like that." He smiled. "So… should we head back to the party?"

"Yeah, you go on ahead. It would be strange if we showed up at the same time, right?"

"Oh yeah, good point. Gossip does tend to spread pretty quickly around here…" Sokka stole a quick glance in the mirror to check for any signs of suspicious activity. "Okay then, I'll meet you there."

"See you soon."

They both left Sokka's room, however, only one made it back to the party. The other had a pitstop to make along the way…

Azula had just finished getting ready for bed when she heard someone knocking at her door. Normally a disturbance at this late hour would have annoyed her, since usually it was Zuko making an unwanted appearance, but thinking it to be Sokka leaving the ball early because he missed her, a soft smile spread across her cheeks. She opened the door, caught off guard by the unfamiliar, handsome face on the other side.

"Good evening, Princess."

Azula noted that the young man did not bow to her.

"I hope it's not too late. I wanted to catch you before you went to bed – "

"And you are?"

"Oh, I'm your new bodyguard." He extended his hand. "The name's Jet."

"Oh, so you're the infamous Jet," she said, shaking his hand. "Your reputation precedes you."

He smirked. "I suppose I could say the same about you."

She returned the smirk. "And what exactly are people saying about me these days, hm? That I'm evil? Crazy? Tyrannical, perhaps?"

"I may have heard something along those lines," he shrugged, "but people have said similar things about me too. And I've learned you can't trust everything you hear."

"How sage."

"I've also heard you're a prodigy firebender… and remarkedly beautiful. You're even more beautiful in person, if I may add – "

"And I've heard you're quite the charmer," she cut in.

He laughed. "You're a straightshooter. I like that. So what else have you heard about me?"

"That you hate the Fire Nation, particularly firebenders, which begs the question of why you'd take a post in the Fire Nation royal palace of all places…"

"You've got me there," he said with a chuckle. "Sure, I used to hate the Fire Nation, but that's all water under the bridge now."

She raised an eyebrow.

"That's actually one of the reasons why I'm here, to make amends so to speak. Well that and your brother practically begged me. Guess he felt bad for turning me in to the Dai Li all those years ago and wants to make it up to me. Fancy palace living in exchange for some late nights keeping the fair princess safe? It's not much of a choice if you ask me. Let bygones be bygones, right?"

"Ah, I see. So this was the magnanimous, merciful Fire Lord Zuzu's idea," she groaned, rolling her eyes.

"While I am grateful for the opportunity, I do find it cruel that Zuko wouldn't allow you to attend a party in your own home. Especially when you never even did anything wrong."

Azula opened her mouth, freezing in place. "What did you just say?"

"You never did anything wrong. During the war, you were fighting for your nation, as would be expected of the princess of the Fire Nation. Sometimes you have to do some morally objectionable things when you believe you're fighting for the greater good. I've been there… I nearly sacrificed innocent Earth Kingdom civilians just to take out a few Fire Nation soldiers. And as for the whole Kemurikage thing… you were just trying to dispel the New Ozai Society and set Zuko up to be an effective leader."

She was silent for a moment as she processed his words. "No one's ever said that to me before," she whispered. "Everyone… has always seen the worst in me…"

"I know the feeling." He laughed. "Even to this day, Katara still doesn't trust me. She always thinks I have some ulterior motive for everything I do. All her self-righteousness and moral policing sure gets annoying."

"Katara is annoying! I don't understand why everyone likes her so much."

"Right?"

Azula started laughing. "I like you, Jet. I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

"I like you too, Azula."

Her cheeks reddened.

"I, uh, don't mean to be too forward or cross any boundaries or anything, but… would you care to dance?"

"R-Right now? Right here?" She paused. "With you?"

"Well yeah," he chuckled. "I mean, it would be unfair if everyone else got to enjoy the party while you're stuck here alone in your room, now wouldn't it?"

"I suppose you're right."

"Well then, shall we?" He offered her his hand.

Smiling, she took it, letting him escort her inside her bedroom, firmly kicking the door shut behind them.

The following morning…

"Good morning, sunshine!" Sokka announced like the emcee at Earth Rumble, barging without invitation into Azula's room. He realized he should have probably knocked to give her some warning, but fortunately she didn't seem bothered by his sudden intrusion. To the contrary, the firebender seemed quite content. She was sprawled out on the floor doing some yoga stretches in a sunbeam in the middle of her bedroom.

"Good morning indeed," she smiled.

"You seem well-rested."

"Well, unlike the rest of you delinquents, I wasn't up all night."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "we're all getting a pretty late start this morning. Speaking of… the chefs are preparing brunch for the group. Would you like to join?"

"No thanks." She moved from child's pose up into downward facing dog. "I've already had breakfast."

Realizing he was staring at her ass, he quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. "W-Well you don't have to eat anything, you could just sit with us."

"Sokka, I appreciate the invitation, but your friends don't want me to join them, and I don't want to ruin their good time."

"Aw, come on. How are you ever gonna get them to accept you if you don't even try?"

She sighed.

"And I'll be there to jump to your defense if necessary. You can count on me!"

"You know what?" She stood up from her pose and turned around to face Sokka. "Sure, why not? Let's throw caution to the wind."

"Wow, really? I thought I'd have to do a lot more convincing than that."

"What can I say? I'm in good spirits this morning." She grinned.

"I can see that…" He looked at her suspiciously. "Did… something happen last night? I think I would have known by now if you put laxatives in the food or something – "

She laughed. "Why yes, as a matter of fact, something did happen last night." She took a few steps forward, evidently giddy. "I met someone."

His stomach dropped. "What? H-How? When?!"

"I had a male visitor last night. And we kissed." She smirked slightly as she studied his face.

"Who?! Who was it?!"

"My new bodyguard. Jet. I believe you know him – "

"Yeah, I know him!" His voice quieted. "I know him quite well…"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"W-Well, when did this happen exactly?"

"I don't know, it was pretty late…"

That's when Sokka put it together, the timeline of events. His hands balled into fists. "That bastard!"

"Sokka," Azula said, taken aback by the outburst, "why are you getting so angry? We said we were just going to be friends, right?"

"We are just friends," he snarled.

"Then why are you upset?"

"Because!" He sighed exasperatedly. "I was with Jet last night."

She blinked. "Come again?"

"Jet and I spent some alone time together last night, and well…" He smirked. "…we did a little more than just kiss."

"Slut!" she shouted, livid with rage.

Sokka opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Yeah that's right, I said it. You're a man-slut."

"Now who's the one getting angry?" he taunted. "I thought you said we were 'just friends'."

"We are just friends!"

"And besides, if anyone's the slut here, it's Jet." He gritted his teeth. "That smarmy snake-rat. I know exactly what happened. Ugh, I could wring his neck."

"Care to enlighten me?" she asked bitterly.

"I guess after we were done, well, you know – "

"Actually I don't, but we can skip those details."

"Right… well after we finished, I said we should go back to the party. And he said it would be suspicious if we arrived at the same time so I left without him. He must have gone straight to your room right afterward. I could kill him, I really could – "

"Obviously we need to confront him."

"Yeah!" he initially agreed before thinking about it. "Wait… why would we do that?"

"To show him that he can't play us like this, and…" She smirked slyly. "…to find out which one of us he likes more."

"You can't be serious."

"What, are you scared?" she teased.

"No! Jet made it pretty clear he wanted to see me again," he boasted. "I'm just surprised you're still interested after what he did."

"Well, we really hit it off," she said smugly, trying to rub it in his face. "And who knows? Maybe he changed his mind about you after spending some quality time with me."

"You wanna bet, little missy?" he challenged, getting right up in her face.

She stood up on her tip toes, squaring off with him, glaring directly into his blue eyes. "I'll take that bet."

"You're on!"

For a moment they stood there staring at each other, seething in silence. Azula's heartrate spiked as she realized how close their mouths were to each other. Sokka's eyes flickered from her eyes to her mouth and then back up to her eyes. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't think about kissing her. Just as soon as the dark compulsion inside of him nearly made him follow through with his desire, Azula broke the tension.

"So, what are the terms?"

He exhaled, backing off. "You know what, Azula? I don't want to bet. Instead, I'd like to make a deal."

"I'm listening…"

"Let's make a deal that no matter what happens with Jet, we don't let it ruin our friendship."

Slowly, she nodded. "Deal." She smiled, extending her hand.

"Good." He shook her hand. "I don't want Jet to come between us."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked suggestively.

"Well…" he laughed, feeling heat fill his cheeks.

Azula smirked.

"L-Let's go get brunch," he stuttered, changing the subject. "I heard the cooks are making some delicious hotcakes."

"That sounds lovely."