I have been drawing Jet nonstop instead of writing this, so I finally finished my fourth Jet drawing and started this, and here it is ~ ! If you wanna see the Jets I drew just head on over to tumblr, look up avengersloki-xuko, use the search bar and type all you have is fire it should be the first thing to pop up. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

"Follow me."

And it isn't like Zuko has much of a choice, especially since Jet is holding his wrist in a vice-like grip and already leading the way down the sandy slope of the beach. Confused, and curious, the Prince looks around at the faces of the beachgoers now going about their business, apparently having lost interest when they realized that there would be no fight. Huffing in annoyance at the simplicity of them all, the firebender Prince turns back around and simply lets his friend lead the way – that is, until he realizes that they're leaving the general area of the beach population and going – going where exactly?

"Jet?" Zuko finally speaks up, as far as he knows, there is no designated beach spot where they're heading, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." is all Jet deigns to say, his voice cold and cut off.

Not having what Jet is trying to sell, Zuko digs his heels into the sand and rips his wrist away from Jet – this finally getting his friend to stop and look at him.

Zuko now demands, "Where are we going?"

There's an odd flash in Jet's dark eyes, but it's gone in a second, he reaches out so suddenly that Zuko is honestly surprised that he didn't take a step back from the abruptness of it, hands grasp handfuls of his shirt and yank him roughly forward until a pair of lips smash harshly against his own. It's painful and it takes a stupidly long moment of Zuko staring cross-eyed at Jet to realize that his friend is kissing him – mind aflutter, he settles on closing his eyes and allowing himself to kiss back. Reaching up, he cups Jet's jaw lovingly, the gentle touch making the tension melt from Jet's entire body.

But when the need for air becomes too great, Zuko pulls away, clearly expecting Jet to do the same and not go straight for his tie. Grabbing a hold of Jet's wrists, he pulls them up and keeps them safely between their chests.

"Don't."

"Why?" Jet asks, he looks up to meet Zuko's gaze, there's something dark there, "Is it because of Mai?"

"No." Zuko moves his hands and interlocks them with Jet's own, he loves the differences he sees, "It isn't that. Jet, you still aren't ready."

Jet rips his hands away from Zuko, "You don't get to tell me when I'm ready or not! I've been ready since I first understood that I loved you more than a friend should!" We're better than Mai. "I'm better than Mai will ever be!"

The look of shock that crosses Zuko's face tells Jet that he's said too much, "Is that what this is about!?"

Jet looks away and glares at the tropical vegetation, embarrassed with his outburst, "No!"

"Jet." Zuko growls, he grabs Jet's wrist again, "Look at me."

"No." Jet mumbles.

"Jet." Zuko cups Jet's cheek and guides the taller teen into looking at him, when he's sure he has Jet's full attention, Zuko lets his expression soften, "I'm here with you. Mai is – she's pretty, but I don't, I couldn't ever like her the way I love you. Even she knows that you're more important to me."

Jet frowns, "What are you talking about?"

"When I was leaving, I told her that I was heading for Ember Island – but I don't think she believed me." he presses a kiss to Jet's palm, "After all, she was the one who told me about your bounty posters and was the one who helped me remove the bounty from your head."

"Oh." Jet murmurs, "I didn't know that."

Whether he was talking about the bounty or Mai helping Zuko remove it from him was unclear.

"I love her," Zuko goes on to say, Jet tenses, "But not the way I love you. If I could, I'd marry you right now."

Jet lets out an amused snort, smiling tersely before sighing, "Shit." he lets his head fall onto Zuko's shoulder, "Why am I like this?"

"It isn't your fault." Zuko murmurs, gingerly wrapping his arms around Jet.

Jet rips himself away from Zuko, "It is!" he shuts his eyes and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes, "I indulged those bad habits!" Jet hiccups and a few angry tears slip past his hands, "I had to do so many things I didn't want to! I – I couldn't deal with it in the end! I was weak! And then this – this voice talks me into thinking that it was everyone else's fault! That they deserved whatever I did to them! Zuko, I'm not right! I'm not right – something is wrong! People just don't start hearing voices in their head randomly!"

"Hey," Zuko pulls Jet back into a hug, holding him tighter, he doesn't know what to do about the voice but he does know what he can do to help Jet, "Everything will be alright. You and I will help end this war, we can make up for all the wrong we've done." Zuko reels back to fix Jet's fringe and rest his forehead against the taller boy's, "I'll be there for you, I'll help you and make everything up to you." he softly wipes the tears from his friend's eyes, "Besides," Zuko offers a soft smile, "Something so beautiful shouldn't have a reason to cry."

Jet blinks, wide-eyed and confused, but it gives way to amusement and a laugh startles from him, he hunches over and rests his head upon Zuko's shoulder, body shaking with laughter, "Fuck. You can't do that. You don't get to do that."

Zuko chuckles, "But it's true."

Jet's still laughing when he wraps his arms around Zuko, holding him tight as if to thank him, "Oh fuck ~ can I just, can we be together again?"

Zuko snuggles Jet, "If that's what you want."

"I do." Jet nuzzles Zuko, "I really do."

"Then yes."

"Great."

"Only," Zuko trails off as he pulls away to look Jet in the eyes, "If you can do one thing."

"Uh?" Jet's brows knit, "Sure, what is it?"

Zuko actually grins, "You gotta catch me first."

"Wha - ?"

Then Zuko takes off running, yelling over his shoulder, "Gotta catch me first!"

"Hey!" Jet shouts, running after Zuko, "No fair!"

But it doesn't matter if it's fair or not, Jet is feeling better than he has in a couple of days and is with the person who makes him feel that way – laughing, Zuko looks over his shoulder and sees that Jet is actually beginning to gain on him, pulling out his short swords, he chops a nearby bush down, the tropical vegetation falling onto the path, he hears Jet let out a cheater as he's forced to jump over the thing. Zuko only laughs in retaliation. It goes on like this, Zuko doing little things to stop Jet, that is until he realizes that he's nearing the cave the group had made their home base in and the four kids are outside, now currently staring him with varying degrees of surprise, and then, in Katara and Sokka's case, suspicion, and yeah, the fact that he had just come running out of nowhere with his weapons drawn was a little odd:

"Zuko?" Aang starts, "Why are you - ?"

"Gotcha!"

Zuko yelps as a body slams into his side and he's tackled into the sand, his swords go skittering across the sands from the force, but when he sees Jet's wild and carefree grin, he can't help but laugh despite their audience – Aang and the others had begun to wonder where Jet and Zuko had gone off to when they realized they weren't with the group anymore, and when they returned to the cave to find them still gone, the harmless wondering turned into alarm. But they hadn't been talking about what their choice of action may be when the subjects of their concern appeared in the form of Zuko bursting around the corner of the large rocks with both of his swords in hand, looking a little scruffy with hair a mess and cheeks red from exertion, not to mention the heaving of his chest like he'd just ran around the island:

"Zuko?" Aang begins, "Why are you - ?"

"Gotcha!"

Jet shouts from nowhere and bodily tackles Zuko into the sand, both boys falling onto their sides and kicking up sand, the sudden rough treatment startles all of them into standing up, ready for whatever was going to happen, but when Zuko suddenly starts laughing, a dry and unused sound, their caution gives way to complete and total bafflement. The bafflement soon giving way to something that is just beyond confusion when Jet sits up and throws his hands into the air, a large victorious grin in place and yelling:

"I win!"

Zuko's laugh dies down into a chuckle, "I say that doesn't count."

"Oh?" Jet is still grinning, he's looking lively, that menacing feeling no longer trailing him like a sickness, "And what was all that back there?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zuko sniffs, crossing his arms, but he's still playful and that's just weird.

"Here, let me remind you." Jet says, he begins counting on his fingers, "You were cutting trees and bushes down to block the path, you caused several clouds of steam, and you even burned the leaves of the trees and bushes."

"Tactics."

"Bull."

"Fine. I guess I'll give you the win."

Jet lets out an overdramatic sigh and flops onto his back, landing atop Zuko's belly, the added weight causing Zuko to let out an oof.

"Ugh – now I'm so tired from winning."

"Get off!" Zuko shoves at Jet, the latter refusing to budge, "You're heavy!"

"Don't blame me. Blame gravity."

Zuko snorts.

"Um - ," Katara starts, unsure of what to say.

"Okay!" Sokka throws his hands up, "This is weird!" he points at both Jet and Zuko who are now staring at them, "You guys are weird! I'm going inside where things make sense!"

Everyone watches the upset Water Tribesmen enter the cave, Jet snorts and cups his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice, he's currently upside down and still lying across Zuko's stomach:

"I can still see you!"

"Shut up!" Sokka's voice echoes from the cave.

Jet snickers, Zuko pokes his arm, "There's a rock digging into my spine."

"Ugh-h-h." Jet whines, shutting his eyes, "But I'm so comfortable!"

"I don't see how." Aang tilts his head to the side, "That looks uncomfortable."

"I will have you know," Jet starts in a matter-of-fact tone, "Zuko is actually very soft."

Zuko rolls his eyes and manages to push himself up into a sitting position, Jet rolling off and falling on his stomach atop Zuko's knees, a weak huff escaping the taller teen, "Unlike you," Zuko starts, reaching behind him and grabbing the rock that was digging into his skin, "I had a - ," he trails off when he sees that it's, in fact, a seashell, "Seashell stabbing me in the back."

"Now I'm uncomfortable." Jet says, "You have very boney knees."

Zuko stuffs the seashell into Jet's shirt, "And now you have a seashell in your shirt."

"Hey!" Jet sits up and begins flapping his shirt.

"What were you guys doing in the first place?" Katara asks.

Zuko opens his mouth but Jet beats him to it, "Racing."

"Huh," Katara hums, "Okay."

Aang smiles, "Sounds like fun."

"It was," Jet says, "But Zuko's a cheater."

"I am not!"

"Well," Toph finally pitches in, "Zuko was technically the first one here."

"Nope." Jet denies, "He didn't make it into the cave."

"Neither did you." she points out.

"But I win because I stopped him from making it into the cave."

"What?"

"Makes sense." Aang offers.

oOo

When Aang wakes up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, he sees a massive lump near the back where Zuko had been lying. Curious, and wondering how the firebender had gotten so many blankets, he approaches as quietly as he can, Momo opening his eyes and lifting his head, Aang presses a finger to his lips and gestures for Momo to be quiet. Silently, he approaches the heap that begins taking form, once he's close enough, he sees that it's not a giant pile of blankets, but Jet who had dragged his sleeping bag towards Zuko's and set it at his side:

Aang lets out a quiet, "Huh."

But not quiet enough for Jet startles awake and soon Aang yelps, finding himself flat on his back with a dagger to his throat, his shout waking the others, Zuko included. When the firebender produces a flame big enough for everyone to see, they all take in the predicament Aang had accidentally gotten himself into.

"What's going on?" Katara asks, mild alarm in her voice and already in a waterbending stance.

Aang watches the cloudiness of sleep disappear from Jet's eyes and return to normal, and soon enough Jet comes to, he blinks a couple of times before he jumps to his feet and away from Aang, stepping closer to Zuko.

"I didn't mean to." Jet says in way of defense, "It just happened."

"Oh really?" Sokka challenges suspiciously, he has his club, "Prove it."

"How?" Jet hisses just as Zuko says, "He's done the same thing to me."

"Really guys," Aang starts, finally getting off the ground, "It was my fault."

"Well, okay - ," Katara relaxes, "If you say so."

Jet frowns, already finding something wrong, "What were you doing over here in the first place?"

"Oh," Aang flushes in embarrassment, "I just – I thought Zuko had found some extra blankets, and thought it wouldn't hurt to take one, but when I got closer – I realized it was you."

Jet narrows his eyes, his fingers toying with the dagger's handle, "Right. Okay."

"Weren't you on the opposite side though?" Toph asks, "What are you doing by Zuko?"

"Sleeping." Jet shrugs easily, "It's just habit to stay at his side, I was his guard after all. Or guard-dog if you ask the Fire Nation."

Zuko is getting back into his sleeping roll, "Certainly acts like one."

"Hey," Jet puffs, turning to look down at Zuko, "I resent that."

Zuko only rolls over, back facing Jet, "Uh-huh."

Huffing, Jet lies back down and hides his dagger underneath his roll where it'd been in the first place, facing the others, he falls asleep – the others following their lead and letting sleep take them as well. Aang, now having forgotten why he'd woken up in the first place goes back to his own spot and settles down for a good night's sleep.

I've kinda been playing with the story a bit, meaning I went back and fixed some of the earlier chapters, I'm hoping to fix all 38 of them. Chapter 8 definitely has some things added to it. REMEMBER: All I need to continue writing this is song recommendations and five reviews ~ !