Ba, ba, ba da . . . it's longer!


Glass Half Empty

VII

Walking in to Jet's room after she and Longshot had brought dinner home, Smellerbee hadn't really been expecting to find Jet as he was always off doing Spirits knows what, she also hadn't been expecting to see not only Jet, but Li as well, curled up around one another: Jet curled around Li with one arm bent and used as a pillow while the other lay limp over Li's side, and Li nestled comfortably against Jet, his head nestled underneath Jet's chin with his nose pressed against his skin, his arms sandwiched between their bodies, their legs tangled together. And if it weren't for the lack of lusty musk stinking up the place, she would have thought that Jet had finally made his move and succeeded.

As it was, it was just the pair innocently cuddling.

A large part of her was thankful that it wasn't as sinister as she'd thought as it would have only meant that Li's nails would have been dug deeper into Jet and would take a bit of prying to completely rid his hold in the end. A bit being too generous a term as Jet seemed like he would take offence to an attempt to separate him from Li.

Unsure of what to do with the development before her, she backs out of the room with a care she hadn't had when she'd initially barged in and closes the door. Returning to Longshot in the main room, she watches the silent boy look up from his work of peeling an orange, he raises a questioning brow, one that has her pursing her lips in contemplation.

"I'm . . . worried." she starts hesitantly as she sits opposite of him, "We hardly see Jet anymore. If he isn't at work, then he's with Li or out on the town. It's like . . . we're not even here." Longshot raises his other brow, she sighs. "Maybe I am just jealous." she looks at the wooden surface of their meager table. "Back in the forest, it seemed like we couldn't get away from him, but now that it's just the three of us, he's gone." an outstretched hand holding a peeled orange enters her vision, looking up, she sees Longshot giving her a barely perceptible smile, she reaches out and takes the fruit from him. "You think he likes Li?" she stares at the orange, "I think you may be a bit optimistic here. Jet has never legitimately liked anyone the way you're insinuating before." she takes a bite of the juicy orange fruit. "Not even Katara was able to completely turn him away from his plans, and we all know what happened in the end."

Longshot just stares and Smellerbee sighs, glaring at nothing in particular, she takes a rather violent chunk out of the orange . . . warmth was the first thing he consciously acknowledged. Soothing warmth surrounding him and a heavy weight keeping him anchored. The feeling of contentment filled his chest, calling him to awaken. And what a surprise it was to find that he was pressed against warm skin, warm skin that hid muscle. The only thing he could truly understand or even concentrate upon was the sudden fast pace of his heart beating against his chest, the way his entire body heated up in what he assumes is embarrassment, a prick of fear, and something so traitorously soft. And so he doesn't think as he rips himself away from Jet, his head apparently knocking against Jet's chin and making the other's teeth clack, the sudden motion startling the once slumbering Alpha awake where he spots Li slipping his robe on, at first, Jet is almost confused, almost wonders why Li is here before he remembers earlier.

Relaxing, he watches Li straighten out his outerwear before turning to look back at him, Jet blinks lazily and offers an equally lazy smile, he returns to lying back down, having gotten up when Li had knocked his chin:

"Looks like we slept longer than I thought."

Li just frowns.

"I'll see you around, yeah?"

Li's frown tightens, "Yeah."

Jet just smiles and watches Li leave the room, as soon as he's gone, he sighs and shuts his eyes, apparently they had somehow gravitated towards one another in their sleep and Li obviously hadn't taken too kindly to their sudden closeness. . . the door to his room opens, reopening his eyes, he sees Smellerbee in the doorway and smiles lopsidedly to which the girl responds with a small frown.

"How long were you and Li sleeping?"

Jet decides to humor her, "I'd say a few hours."

"A few hours?" Smellerbee narrows her eyes, "Doesn't Li have work?"

Jet stretches out and proceeds to roll his body on to his side, as he inhales, ready to deliver a smartass retort, one Smellerbee wouldn't appreciate had it actually escaped the confines of his mind if the words hadn't died the second he smelled the tiniest wisp of wood smoke, a smell that brings him back to warm summer nights spent around the campfires, laughing and sharing stories with others he'd almost considered friends. No, they had been his friends, but he'd lost sight of that near the end. Burying his nose into the spot, he's lost in memories. Memories that make him wistful and make him long for days past, and people he'd betrayed, who'd left him.

They were people, not a means to an end.

And they would have died for him.

Have died for him because they believed in him and what he stood for.

And he'd betrayed them, his hate consuming him and blinding him from reality.

"Jet?"

Eyes flying open in surprise, he feels something hot roll down his cheek, looking at Smellerbee from the corner of his eye, he sees that she's moved to the bedside, her brows creased in worry, her fingers flexing like she wants to reach out to him, but she isn't supposed to worry about him, he doesn't deserve it, not after all he's done and could have done if he hadn't met the Avatar and his friends. He's crying he realizes belatedly. And she's looking at him like she wants to help but isn't quite sure how because they're no longer as close as they had been, she's looking at him like he's a stranger, a stranger she doesn't know how to deal with, and how could she? He'd only ever self-destructed in the safety and privacy of his own tent, away from the others, he had to appear strong, to look like he knew what he was doing when he had no clue what to do except kill in the name of freedom, and had it ever been freedom he was fighting for? Or was it to rid the world of one less Fire Nation soldier?

"Jet?"

Body tensing, he grits his teeth and snarls, loud and threatening, she jumps at this, eyes widening in surprise.

"Get out."

Smellerbee immediately moves to do as asked, her movement stuttering when she realizes what he'd just done, only then does the look of worry melt and give way to annoyance. Back in to safe territory.

Once the door shuts, he wipes away the tears and rubs at the dried tear stains, he curls in on himself, wrapping himself up on the spot where Li had lain. There's something else hidden underneath the smoky front, some kind of spice that reminds him of lazy, warm spring days . . . burying his nose into the fabric once more, he inhales, holds the scent in his lungs until it dies out and repeats the process. Mind swirling with thoughts. Smellerbee wouldn't understand, she would ever only be one of his loyal followers, a once good friend he'd clung to as soon as the others left to keep himself afloat, but Li would understand, he wasn't tied to his past and hadn't seen him at his worst, hadn't seen him wearing a brazen smile in the aftermath of a bloodied battle with the older members of his group. Li was like him, so much like him that Jet didn't understand how Li couldn't see it himself. It was in the way Li was so tense like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, looking like he was hounded by the dark of his past, a past he seemed to want to keep just that, in the dark. Li would understand, and Jet wanted Li.

He wanted Li so much so.

Lying on his back, he rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands and gets up, Li may have just left Spirits knows how long ago, but who's to say that Jet couldn't pop in for a visit and ask Li to accompany him for a night out?

Throwing his shirts back on, he pauses a moment before dropping one of his many pieces of armor, it didn't feel right, he felt soft and an easy target, but he wasn't going to be fighting for survival, he was going to be spending time with a friend. Granted, it was a friend who could most definitely kick his ass. And wasn't that an exciting little tidbit?

Opening the wooden shutters to his room, he doesn't hesitate to jump out the window and land soundlessly upon the ground below. Straightening himself, he dusts his clothes of imaginary dirt and starts making his way towards his intended destination. Ignoring the way several people glance his way or even mutter to one another, besides, they most likely thought that he was a teenager sneaking out from underneath his parents' watchful gaze. Mindless fools who thought his life was better than it really was because there was no war in Ba-Sing-Se.

The skies are starting to bleed midnight blue by the time he reaches Li's place, standing outside the nephew-uncle duo's door. Tapping his knuckles against the wood, he hears Mushi's kindly voice call out to him, telling him to wait a moment. When the door opens, Mushi is wiping his hands off on a cleaning rag and blinking as if surprised by Jet's sudden appearance, or rather, surprised by his appearance.

"Li home?"

"Yes." Mushi seems to get a hold of himself and moves to the side, smiling as friendly as ever, "Come in. We just finished eating dinner actually. There's still some leftover duck and rice if you're interested."

Jet walks into the homely apartment space, behind him he hears the door shut, smiling he says, "It's fine. I was actually hoping to ask Li to join me to take in a bit of the night life."

Mushi lights up, smiling that smile of his that makes you want to tell him every dark deed you've ever done and he would still be there to stand by your side with little judgment. And Jet thinks Li is lucky to have someone like his uncle there for him, it was no wonder the grouchy teenager was intent on staying glued to his uncle's apron.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to join you. Just have to keep him out of trouble, it seems to follow him and he's never been one to not go looking for it when it's presented."

Jet immediately remembers the drunk at the festival harassing Li.

"Sure thing." he says, "I won't let anything happen to him."

Mushi smiles, "I'm so glad he has a friend like you. He's in his room."

"Thanks, I'm glad to have met him actually."

The old man laughs and he's just so lively that it's a mystery on how Li could remain so moody because Mushi's joy was rather infectious, "You would be the first I've ever heard say so. People tend to . . . think my nephew's gruff nature is a tad too much."

Jet laughs, "Their loss."

"That it is~!"

Giving a knock on the wooden doorframe, Jet hears Li's noncommittal grunt and takes it as an okay to enter, so sliding the door open, he's surprised to when he sees Li sitting on the edge of his bedding, managing the very broadswords he'd had with him when they'd first met, his outer robe sitting in a heap at his side. Li looks up and halts the second he realizes that it's Jet standing there and not his uncle, his surprise is wiped clean the second he gets a hold of himself and becomes defensive, he stows his blades back into their sheath.

"I knew I heard my uncle talking to someone." Li starts, he levels Jet with an annoyed glare, "But I had assumed it was one of the neighbors coming to thank him for sharing the earlier kettle of tea he'd made."

"What?" Jet smiles a crooked smile. "Would you have preferred a stranger over me?"

Li snorts, his body jerking with the motion. "Yes, because a stranger wouldn't have bothered me."

"Come on, Li~." purrs Jet, he takes a step forward but Li immediately rises to his feet, his entire countenance advertising that he was not only tense, but becoming aggressive. "We're friends, you should be happy to see me. Besides, I came to ask for a bit of your time."

"We nearly spent the entire day together." Li hisses, "Isn't that enough?"

Jet relaxes his body, tries to be as non-aggressive as he could be, and right now, he looks as harmless as a kitten with his missing armor, "Well I can never get enough when it's you, Li."

Li looks like he's been slapped because there's shock written across his face, "What?"

"You heard me." Jet takes a step back, correcting his earlier mistake; this seems to put Li at ease the tiniest bit. "I happen to like you which also means that I also happen to like spending time with you. Now come on, we better get going before it gets any later." he turns to the door, "Unless you want to be sneaking around the Dai-Li."

Li takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and sighs, "All right."

Smirking, Jet leaves the room and shuts the door behind him when he spots Mushi cleaning up the small apartment space, he watches the old man a moment or two: he didn't know Mushi well enough to form a solid opinion on him, but he was the tiniest bit interested in knowing what kind of man Mushi had been before coming to Ba-Sing-Se, he hadn't forgotten what the old man had said back on the ferry about being a different man and the repentant tone which he'd used to say it. Mushi stops in his cleaning to wipe at his brow and bend his back as if it were bothering him, whatever he must have done is in the past as age seems to have caught up.

"Jet," the old man spots Jet soon enough and smiles, "Did my nephew agree to go with you?"

Jet grins, "Yup. Just getting ready."

Mushi blinks, "What was he doing?"

Jet thinks of the scabbard and Li's discarded robe as well as how tense Li had gotten the second Jet took a step closer, by the looks of it, Li had simply been at ease until Jet entered the room. But something didn't sit right with him, such as the sudden aggression.

"Just polishing his blades."

Mushi looks away, seems to think on this before his smile returns, "I see."

Just then, Li leaves the sanctity of his dark room and nearly runs smack dab into Jet who is still standing in front of his door. Li makes a small hissing noise of annoyance and shoves Jet forward, the latter laughing as he stumbles a few steps forward. Mushi is smiling at them, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Well, I hope you two won't get in to too much trouble." he watches the two teenagers walk towards the door, "And try to have a good time, nephew, it won't hurt to let yourself go and it most certainly wouldn't hurt you to smile~!"

Iroh hears his relative's cursory retort and laughs, once the two are out of sight, the old retired war general looks to his nephew's room and wonders just what it was Zuko had been doing.

G-H-E

Approaching the outskirts of the festival grounds, a weight on his shoulder makes him jump whilst the heat of another living person at his side makes him tense:

"Try not to bring attention to yourself."

"It wasn't like I asked to be assaulted by a drunk."

Jet throws his head back and laughs; he pats Zuko's shoulder in an overly friendly manner then moves on ahead, while Zuko finds that the shoulder Jet had touched starts to suddenly feel cold. Growling to himself, he follows after Jet into the crowd of festival goers. Up ahead, Zuko can see that Jet has slowed and seems to be waiting for him to walk at his side . . . this annoys Zuko.

"What do you think is going on over there?"

Looking in the direction Jet had gestured towards, the wayward prince spots a large crowd of people hollering and waving what looks to be pouches of differing sizes in the air. If he were being honest, he wasn't interested in investigating whatever it is that seems to have wholly captured the attention of the simple-minded, but of course he's saddled himself with someone who just loves to be a terrible busybody because Jet turns to look at him with this glint in his eyes that speaks of something potentially interesting on the horizon.

"Come on, Li." the Earth Kingdom male knocks his shoulder against Zuko's own, "Let's go see what it is~."

But Zuko will have none of this, doesn't want any of this, so he crosses his arms over his chest and glares at Jet, daring the taller teenager to touch him again or even attempt to move him, "I don't want to."

"Fine. I'll just go see what it is myself." Jet huffs, then grins at Zuko, "Try not to get lost without me, who knows what kind of person could pick you up. This city happens to house a bunch of creeps."

"And you're one of them."

Jet laughs at him, making Zuko grit his teeth and resist the urge to flip Jet off, because not only is it un-prince like, but it's also childish, and Jet would probably just laugh at him again . . . his uncle hadn't been too happy with the men back on the ship when he'd learnt that Zuko was starting to pick up on some of the sailors' rude language and gestures.

Approaching the group of people catcalling and whistling, Jet starts to realize that these people are currently high off of pheromones and that the air is humid and thick with hormones, just as he stops and makes to turn and walk back to Li, he hears his name called out. Closing his eyes, he curses under his breath seconds before he's flanked by two people.

Siyu and Yunxu.

Yunxu looks legitimately happy to see him; then again it was no secret at the brothel that the guy was sweet on Jet after he'd been saved by him. "How are you~?"

Jet offers one of his best smiles and subtly attempts to free his arms, "What are you two doing here?"

Yunxu smiles sweetly up at Jet, "The Mistress decided to take us all out to the festival."

Jet feels his spine stiffen, "The . . . rest of you are here?"

"Yup~." Siyu purrs, "Off the clock. But who's to say we can't bring someone home~?"

Yunxu starts to tug on Jet's arm, wanting to lead him into the core of the crowd, "Why don't you come and say hi?"

"I'll have to take a rain check." he manages to remove his arm from Siyu and starts slipping out of Yunxu's hold, "I've got to go meet up with my friend and I'd rather not keep him waiting."

Siyu immediately frowns, "Is it that Li guy you were hanging out with earlier?"

"The same."

"Well," Yunxu smiles, "He can come and say hi too."

Jet frowns, "That's not a good idea."

Yunxu's smile falls, "Why not?"

Siyu huffs, "His friend doesn't like Omegas."

"Oh."

"Right. If you'll excuse me."

Starting to become annoyed with how long it was taking Jet, when in reality it was no longer than a handful of minutes, Zuko is about to leave in search of something to drink when he spots Jet walking out of the crowd. Narrowing his eyes, he opens his mouth ready to voice his irritation when he just so happens to inhale a lungful of something sweet. Choking on the sudden smell, he barely registers Jet grabbing him by the arm and leading him away from the crowd . . . a crowd which Zuko realized had gathered for impure reasons.

They stop at a noodle stand where Jet orders for the both of them and while Zuko would find it weird that Jet knows what he likes, he isn't bothered because what's really bothering him is in the center of a large crowd filled with horny morons. Another whiff of that sickeningly sweet smell brings his attention back to Jet.

"What in Spirits' name is that smell?"

Jet pays the stall owners and lets out a long sigh, "Some of my coworkers are here."

Zuko's nose wrinkles because some?

"Here."

A bowl is pushed into his hands along with a jar of spice to make his food hotter, he holds on to the items as an arm moves around him and starts guiding him towards several tables where other patrons sit, either eating, talking, or resting. Jet leads him towards a table that sits furthest from the stall and closest to the dark of the rest of the city. Staring at the food in his hands, he feels his heart start to beat faster at the mere fact that there were other Omegas around. Actual Omegas.

It's stupid to fear, he realizes.

"Li." Zuko startles and stares at Jet, Jet gesturing to the spot beside him. "Sit with me."

Zuko hesitates but does as asked because he can't quite get a grip on reality at the moment, finally seated, he takes to staring at his food a moment longer then deciding that he may as well eat, then leave, barely acknowledging Jet shifting. As he starts to add the acceptable amount of spice to his food, he starts to feel just the tiniest bit crowded. Looking up from his bowl, he sees that Jet is angled towards him, like he were trying to hide him, or rather, hide the others from his sight, he catches on to the fact that not only had Jet shifted closer to him, but they were sitting close enough that their hips and thighs were pressed together. Any closer, Zuko thinks, and one of them would be sitting in the other's lap.

The firebender narrows his eyes but spots something over Jet's shoulder, in the distance, the crowd seems to have thinned and Zuko can see several people dressed rather . . . showy. Several of the courtesans move their bodies so smoothly that it looks almost unnatural, but it's an act, an act that gets them several little gifts from the people in the crowd. Did the people not understand that the workers basically had them eating out of the palms of their hands, wrapped around their fingers? Or did they not care?

A hand cups the right side of his face and guides him into looking back at Jet, the touch startles him at first, but he finds that he really can't find it in himself to mind all that much. Especially when it does a spectacular job of distracting him.

"Don't worry about them."

Looking back to the crowd, Zuko pulls himself away from Jet's touch and takes to glowering at his food, he felt so small and so vulnerable, like everyone could see through him and see his failures. Hunching in on himself, he's surprised when an arm wraps around him and pulls him close . . . Jet rests his chin upon the back of Li's neck, rubbing his arm. At first, Li is tense, but seems to relax into his hold enough that he's able to eat. Pulling back, Jet keeps one arm around Li and attempts to eat his own food with one hand, until Li speaks.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"All right."

It happens to be a pleasant surprise that as soon as he removes his arm that Li seems to lean into his side.


I was so annoyed!