Oh my God! This has been a long time coming! I'm so sorry it's been a while! I'm hoping I can keep a steady stream of updates once again! I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender!
They're exiting the cave altogether when Aang manages to spot both Jet and Zuko side by side atop a small sandy mound, the Fire Prince apparently having calmed down enough to let Jet ease into a friendly conversation, if their private smiles were anything to go by – just seeing both Jet and Zuko, two different people, so at ease with each other, knowing that they're friends makes Aang feel oddly tranquil. Tranquil enough that he smiles, even when Jet smiles brilliantly with usually-dark eyes shining bright. Something Katara apparently likes about him. But the feeling of the world being at peace crashes down all around him when movement catches his eye, turning his head, it's apparent that he isn't the only one that spied the two older members of their group – he sees Katara holding a hand to her mouth, covering what must be a beautiful smile, her own eyes shining bright with adoration.
It both hurts and grates his nerves.
He turns away from the waterbender and stares absently at the sand beneath his feet, jealousy rearing its ugly head, plaguing both his heart and mind, leaving him feeling horrible.
"Hey!" Sokka suddenly shouts, snapping Aang from his horrid feelings, "I found them!" beside him, Toph mumbles something about being blind not deaf before Sokka shouts once more, "We're heading into town for some grub! You two coming or what!?"
Jet turns back to Zuko, nudging him with an elbow, when he turns back, it's with a lopsided grin, "Lead the way, Horse-tail!"
Toph snorts obnoxiously loud, Katara stifles a laugh behind her hand, and even Aang has to smile:
"It's not a horse-tail!" Sokka squawks, "It's a wolf-tail!"
Jet chortles for the pure sake of riling Sokka up, Aang notices Zuko tilt his head away from Jet enough so that their eyes meet, he watches Jet look mildly surprised before he offers a sheepish grin. Later, much later, he will learn that Jet had been silently scolded by his unimpressed sweetheart.
oOo
They're wandering the streets of the little town they'd found themselves in when Aang spots a lovesick man buying some pretty flowers for a lady. It's sweet. It's romantic. It leaves Aang shyly toying with the idea of he and Katara in their shoes, he wonders if she'll be embarrassed or thrilled – he turns his head towards his friends, eyes gravitating towards the waterbender whose walking side-by-side with Jet, talking about her home and her Gran-Gran, childhood memories, personal things really, things that should be shared with people who haven't broken her heart in such a horrible way, so when he notices both Jet and Zuko faltering, Zuko turning away and rubbing the back of his head whilst Jet offers a grimace of a smile, Aang soon remembers that both Jet and Zuko had attacked her home, he frowns, mood dampening even more so – he still doesn't see why she's telling Jet any of the things she is.
They come across a noodle-shop that has barely started to bustle, it's pretty standard, the building appears well-kept and stable. It's decent. But that doesn't stop Jet from scanning the area and immediately picking a table that is cozy in the corner, leading the way, and for a moment, Aang wonders why he's moving like someone is holding onto his arm, until his eyes travel down his arm and to his hand where his index finger is linked with Zuko's own – it's odd but the airbender assumes that Jet's instincts as Zuko's guard has kicked in.
In a way, it has.
As they draw closer and closer to the table, he notices Katara angling for a seat next to Jet, so he hurries to snatch the seat next to her, or, where he's sure she'll be. Sitting quietly, the twelve year old subtly sends a quick glance towards Katara, but his eyes get stuck on the sight of Jet pulling out the end chair and gesturing grandiosely towards the seat. A wicked smirk playing on his lips:
"A seat for my Prince ~ ?"
Zuko simply rolls his eyes and takes the offered seat, "You're still not funny."
Jet only chuckles quietly, he pushes Zuko in and pats the firebender's head in a teasing move, "Only because you don't seem to have a sense of humor." the sword-wielder moves to the opposite side of the table and takes his own seat, "It seems things never change ~ ."
Deciding to take Jet's initiative of gentlemanliness, Aang awkwardly pulls out the chair next to him and offers a sheepish smile for Katara, the girl wearing a mildly disappointed look as the seat she originally thought Jet was going to sit is taken by Zuko, the Prince seemingly knowing this somehow and scooting away from her a little, in what Aang is sure was supposed to be a subtle move, she only sighs and takes a seat next to Avatar-in-training, offering an awkward smile of her own. The group of kids order their meals, Aang's consisting of noodles and vegetables, Sokka's holding noodles and meat, lots of meat, while the others have a decent variation of both, although Zuko's has added spice to it:
"The last time we were in a restaurant," Toph starts, feet kicked up onto the table, "Jet here scared most of the patrons with his resting murder-face."
Zuko stares disgruntled at her feet on the table, "It happens."
"Especially since most of the Fire Nation believes those ridiculous rumors about me." Jet chimes in.
When their meals arrive, they all waste no time in digging in, until Jet distracts Aang by throwing a chopped up carrot at Zuko, the orange vegetable bouncing harmlessly off of Zuko's fringe covered forehead and into his bowl, Aang can't stop the laugh that escapes at the way Zuko's nose wrinkles up in offense, it's like a confused and angry ferret-fox kit, before grabbing the aforementioned carrot and throwing it back – although Jet manages to catch it in his mouth, even going as far as showing it off by holding it between his teeth and wriggling his eyebrows ridiculously. This gets Katara to giggle.
"So Jet," Sokka starts after finishing most of his meat, "Didn't you have a girlfriend?"
Aang thanks the Spirits for Sokka, even as Katara frowns at the subject.
"Sure did," Jet starts as he begins piling the vegetable on a napkin,
"What are you doing?" Zuko frowns.
"Removing the vegetables."
"Why?"
"Because I don't like them."
"Why didn't you just ask for a bowl without vegetables then?"
"Dunno." Jet shrugs, he smiles at Zuko, "Wasn't thinking at the time."
"What happened to her?" Toph asks, getting them back on track, "Your girlfriend?"
"Well, she's in Ba-Sing-Se and I'm here." Jet says, "I think it's pretty obvious we broke up. I don't think a long distance relationship would work out all that well." he moves the noodles around with the ends of his chopsticks, on the lookout for vegetables, Jet soon looks up, seemingly staring at Zuko, but the adoration and love in his eyes suggests that he's looking past his friend, "She was beautiful though and there was nothing I didn't love about her, she was amazing and she was kind, but the Fire Nation had hurt her – and that left her, jaded." no one notices the red beginning to creep up Zuko's neck, "I told her as much as I could about my past, how much of a monster I really was," Jet smiles softly, looking to the table, "But that didn't stop her from loving me, and Spirits, I would have done anything to keep her safe, to keep her happy."
"Aww." Katara coos, a single hand placed over her heart.
"Wow." Sokka snorts, "You've got it bad man."
"Oh yeah, Sokka." Katara huffs, "I distinctly remember you asking about Suki while we were on Kyoshi Island."
"Katara!" Sokka yelps, "You're not supposed to tell Jet about that!"
Jet only sniggers, "It seems you're as whipped as me, man."
Sokka opens his mouth to retort when Zuko speaks, "Can we – stop talking about relationships?"
"Why?" Sokka asks, "Never had a girlfriend before?"
"It's not that." Zuko snaps before sighing, "All of this talk just – makes me uncomfortable."
"It's making me a little uncomfortable too." Katara admits, Sokka grins impishly and goes to say something until Katara glares at him – Aang knows why, but all of this talk of the older boys having relationships makes him feel a little better, makes him feel like he's getting advice. So he asks anyway:
"Did you have someone?"
"Well - ," Zuko stares across the table at Jet before turning away, "I did – but I broke up with her before coming here, I – she was a childhood friend."
Jet grips his chopsticks with enough force to crack the wood, "Was it Mai?"
Zuko hunches in on himself, the others assume out of shyness, but it was out of shame, "Yeah."
"No offense." Jet begins, voice suddenly filled with malice, "But I never liked her. Or your sister."
"Apparently." Zuko suddenly bristles, "You tried to kill both of them."
Aang notices Katara begin to tense at the mention of Jet's past murder attempts.
"Your sister was asking for it." is all Jet says as he digs around in his bowl.
oOo
They're wandering the markets where a few of the local school kids happen to come up to Aang, talking and laughing with him like they've been friends forever, apparently the Avatar had somehow gotten himself enrolled into the local school system – she was my childhood friend –growling, Jet digs his blunt nails into his scalp. It shouldn't bother him. It really shouldn't. The Prince, Zuko, made his choice, he left her for him. He was the better choice. But the words kept ringing around within his skull, soaking into memory and conjuring up images of both Mai and Zuko cuddled up on some fancy-ass couch while planning out their future, making promises, whispering words of love to one another. It tears his insides up. And it really shouldn't.
But it's there, festering like a wound turning septic, and it won't go away.
His legs carry him towards Zuko, who happens to be looking over some wares that had caught his eye when Jet grabs his wrist and turns him around so they're face to face. People are watching, they know who he is, they know who Jet is supposed to be, they're whispering behind hands, murmuring to one another. Sooner or later, someone will find out that Zuko is the Prince. Swallowing hard, he gives a little tug and gestures for Zuko to follow, he lets go of the Prince's wrist – he's hung up on the idea of Mai and Zuko together after Zuko had tried to kill him.
"When?" he speaks, quiet so no passer-bys will hear.
"What do you mean when?" the corner of Zuko's mouth pulls down a smidge.
"You and Mai," Jet elaborates, he can't stop his mouth from running nor the growl that begins to inject itself into his tone, "When did you two get together?" Zuko's expression sours, "Was it after you tried to kill me?"
"I didn't try to kill you." Zuko hisses, he still doesn't change pace, they're still glued to one another's side, "And what other option did I have? She asked and I couldn't say no, Azula would have found out, she would have - you're the one who left first and I – we weren't together."
"So a replacement then?"
"It isn't like that."
"Oh I think it is." snarls Jet, "And for your information, you shot fire at me when I was literally miles above the ground! If that had hit, do you know that type of fall would have killed me!"
"It isn't like that!" Zuko shouts, finally reaching his boiling point, "And I swear to Agni I wasn't trying to kill you, I just - ! I wasn't thinking! I was panicking!"
"So what?" Jet snaps, "Your answer to something that scares you is to just throw fire at it!?"
Zuko stops, he remembers his Uncle saying something along those lines, but to his Father. Was he starting to become like him? Did he want to be like him?
No – no he didn't.
Looking around, he realizes that they're on the verge of entering the beach, the divider between the town and the sandy shores – and there are people currently watching, talking amongst themselves. He's supposed to be in hiding, there are people who know about Jet as Lion-Heart, and the fact that he's wearing all black doesn't help. Black was known to be Lion-Heart's colors. The color of death.
"Hello?" Jet calls, voice tense.
Looking up, Zuko sees the taller boy is scowling, face marred by anger, eyes filled with pain. All at once, he realizes just how bad the Fire Nation had hurt his friend. How much he has hurt Jet. It didn't matter that they weren't together as a couple, they still hurt each other.
"I'm sorry." Zuko murmurs.
Jet recoils as if he'd been slapped, "What?"
Zuko meets his gaze, "I'm - ,"
A pair of lips collide with his own, the force smashing their lips together unpleasantly, teeth clinking, hands are holding tightly onto the lapels of his outer-shirt – he doesn't get much time to process what's going on when those very same lips pull away, a thin string of saliva keeping them connected, his vision filled with dark brown eyes.
Jet growls, "You don't get to do that."
My love for Jetko will never die! It will always be at the head of the armada! It is what all my ships strive to be!