My chapters are getting a little too short for my liking, but I had to put something out there.
Glass Half Empty
V
The second he steps foot within the shared apartment, he feels a heavy gaze pinned on him, looking up from the worn wooden floors and his own musings; he spots both Smellerbee and Longshot sitting at the small wooden table the trio had bought from some random store. The female Alpha has her arms crossed over her chest, the intense stare coming from her, while the male Beta tends to what appears to be a steaming cup of tea . . . Longshot had been inspired by Mushi's tea-making abilities that he himself had decided to try his hand at it, Jet ponders on the idea of having Li talk to his uncle about taking Longshot in as an apprentice, or at least sharing some of his secrets.
Letting the sour look cast upon him roll off his back, he smiles an impish grin and shuts the door behind him, making sure it is secure he starts to make his way towards the kitchen where he knows there will be a kettle of steaming tea, and indeed there is one sitting on the counter. As he starts to fish around in the cabinets for the cups he knew they'd bought the other day at the very same market, he hears and feels someone approach from behind.
The lead Alpha hums, looking the epitome of nonchalant, he finds the cups he's looking and gingerly checks the kettle's surface, "Did you know," he starts, pouring tea into the cup, "that there's a festival tonight?"
"Is that where you were?"
Smellerbee asks, but when she receives no answer from her friend and leader, she grits her teeth and clenches her fists until her knuckles turn white, as much as she would like to force the answers from Jet, she stays her tongue because no good can come from challenging Jet, because not only was he a skilled fighter but he was just as good with his words.
Topping off his cup, he takes a tentative sip, the tea is pretty decent but nowhere near as good as Mushi's, he lifts his eyes and spots Longshot watching him from the table, he lifts his cup in silent praise. Longshot seems content with this and continues sipping at his own tea. Jet's attentions return to Smellerbee and see the girl bristling; he knows he doesn't make her mood any better by widening his grin.
"Worried?"
"And if I say I am?"
"Then don't." Jet waves her off, he turns to face her and rests against the counter, "I was with Li, you know how he gets when I want to do something fun."
The muscle below her left eye twitches, her jaw clenching painfully: Jet being with Li doesn't make it any better in her mind, ever since Jet had recruited Li to help them back on the ferry, he's been obsessing over the strange boy in an almost unhealthy manner. It's unnatural and it sets her on edge because it seems his avid fixation to rid the world of one less Fire Nation soldier had switched gears and settled on Li.
But she doesn't give voice to her objections of Jet being with Li . . . and there's no longer any point in talking with Jet about this if he didn't want to elaborate, one simply couldn't get him to spill anything by brute force or any other means if he didn't want to talk, especially since he could talk circles around the person until they either forget what they came for in the first place or they lost their patience with him and became aggravated, and Smellerbee wasn't looking to be talked circles around, so instead, she lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes, as she turns away, she catches the tiniest hint of Jet's smirk from over the rim of his cup, a smirk he often wore when he got this way . . . she resists the urge to growl and tackle the other Alpha, how she could ever have had a crush on the stubborn boy was a mystery, it was a good thing she awoke to the truth of his nature.
G-H-E
Sitting on the ratty mattress one could call a bed, Zuko has his arms wrapped around himself, his thoughts berating and scornful, because what exactly had gotten in to his fool head that allowed him to think such contact with someone who was practically a stranger was an okay idea?
Especially with someone like Jet?
And not only was it embarrassing, allowing himself to be weak in front of someone like Jet, allowing himself to be weak with someone like Jet, but he could still feel the frustrating lingering sensations of resting against a broad chest, feeling the rise and fall of another's heartbeat, another's breathing, he could still feel the warmth of strong arms holding him . . . it made him want more and knowing this was a kick in the ass, it broke the badly patched dam he'd tried so hard to keep in place to avoid any unnecessary feelings or thoughts.
How long had it been since he'd last fully and consciously consented to letting someone hold him?
What was he doing here?
Where was his mom?
Was she even alive?
Did his father ever love him?
Will he ever go home?
Endless questions.
Each bringing with them an uncomfortable amount of memories and emotions.
Never before had he felt such a cocktail of emotions, he felt vulnerable, splayed open and left bare for all to see, frustration, anger, hurt, his walls cracking piece by piece and crumbling all around him . . . he felt terrible.
G-H-E
Letting his legs carry him down the now familiar streets, he enters the teashop and spots not Li, but Mushi, behind the counter. The old man looking the smallest bit absent from the present. How curious. Approaching the counter, Jet watches Mushi glance up, there's a worried crease between his eyebrows, and that only means one thing: something was wrong with Li.
"Hey," Jet starts amicably, he glances around as if he were looking for someone, "Where's Li?"
"My nephew is . . . ," Mushi pauses, " . . . not feeling well."
How delightfully enigmatic . . . was Li in heat? Was he simply sick? Was he hurt?
"I hope he gets better." Jet smiles, this earns a small chuckle from Mushi, "I'll have ginseng."
"Coming right up."
Reclining at one of the tables, Jet takes fairly large sips of his drink, with a new destination in mind, he sets the cup down as soon as the drink is gone and waves goodbye to Mushi who returns it . . . out on the streets, he immediately starts heading towards Li's building, even if Li was in heat, he was sure that he would be able to weather it since he's basically been surrounded by Omegas at his workplace. Spotting the building just ahead, he steadies himself and enters the unimpressive complex. Heading upstairs, he stands outside a door that looks like any other, his ears straining to hear anything from the other side that might sound a bit suspicious, when he hears nothing, he raps the door with the back of his hand.
"Li?" he calls out, nothing, Jet rolls his eyes, "Li, I know you're in there. You can either open the door for me or I'm coming in through the window." he hears a sigh and what sounds suspiciously like a curse, the tall boy snorts in amusement. The door soon opens to reveal Li wearing his usual glower and outfit, "See?" Jet starts as Li turns his back on him and the door, Jet steps in to the room and shuts the door behind him, "Was that so hard?"
Li is standing near the table, arms crossed over his chest, "It was." Jet can feel Li's eyes on him as he crosses the room to sit on one of the futons at the table, he wonders how Mushi and Li had gotten their furniture, did it come with the place? "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I heard you weren't feeling good and I figured that I would offer my assistance."
Li frowns, arms tensing, "Assistance?"
"Yeah." Jet cocks his head, grinning up at Li, "Wouldn't be my first time playing nursemaid."
Li rolls his eyes but he takes a seat on the futon closest to him, "As you can so obviously see, I'm not sick."
"I can see that." Jet smirks, "Is working at the teashop really so bad that you're skipping?" Li pulls a face at that and Jet laughs, "My day was fine by the way, thanks for asking."
"I wasn't asking."
"I know. But there was this . . . ,"
Zuko immediately tunes Jet out, he was pretty sure that his expression was relaying as little interest as possible to those who looked upon him, not that Jet seemed to care since his mouth still seemed to be blathering. At least he didn't have that ridiculous grass stalk he seemed to favor chewing on so much in his mouth. Gaze moving upward from Jet's mouth, he settles on his eyes, a deep brown color, just like his hair . . . how could he have such a plain color scheme yet be so eye-catching at the same time?
Perhaps it was because of his seemingly endless charisma?
Or maybe it was that something about Jet that was making Zuko feel things other than anger and frustration . . . well, he had been angry and frustrated with the other when he insisted on loitering around the teashop at the beginning of their so called new lives, but it mellowed out into something akin to acceptance, and last night, their sudden cuddle session left him feeling off kilter because he wanted more, enough so that he was tempted to go to his uncle and demand a hug . . . his pride is what kept him from doing such a thing.
"Hey." Zuko snaps to at the sound of Jet's voice, said teen is eyeing him curiously, "Care to share?"
Zuko blinks, how long had he been staring at Jet?
When did Jet stop talking?
"I just noticed," Zuko starts, and he has noticed this before, "you slouch."
Now Jet blinks but he straightens in his seat, "Yeah? What about it?"
Zuko shrugs, "You'd look a lot taller if you stood straight."
"That's true, but I figured you wouldn't want to be looked down at every time we hang out." Jet grins, Li narrows his eyes, Jet barks out a laugh and reclines on the heels of his hands, "I have bad posture, so what, it's not like it's going to kill me and besides, no one really cares about things like proper etiquette when we have the Fire Nation on our collective asses."
Li returns to staring him down, and once again Jet wonders what's going on through the other's head . . . another thing he noticed about Li was his sudden withdrawal every time Jet so much as mentioned the Fire Nation. And truthfully, Jet was a little concerned that the Fire Nation and Li being an Omega go hand in hand.
Did they do something to him?
Did he put up a fight and they burned him?
And there goes his mind, imagining countless situations which could have led to Li getting that scar and him being ashamed of his own rank . . . it wasn't good for his mental health at all:
"Let's go somewhere."
Jet feels Li's eyes on him as he stands, "Where?"
"I don't know." Jet shrugs, grinning as he turns to look at Li, "But whatever illness you had is gone and the day is pretty good for some quality time between friends."
"We're not friends."
Jet ignores this, "I was thinking about getting something to eat." he starts walking towards the door, behind him, he hears Li sigh followed by the padding of footsteps, he smiles a crooked smile, "I hope you have a sweet tooth, I'm in the mood for something sweet."
"Desserts don't make a lunch."
"Fills you up regardless."
I keep flip-flopping with Jet's character!
