Another update!


Glass Half Empty

VIII

In the small, unimpressive kitchen space, Longshot is watching his tea brew while Smellerbee sits at the table within the main room, her knives spread out all around her, the girl tending to the upkeep of the weapons out of nothing else worth doing, her mood having dropped when Jet had snarled at her all those hours ago.

At first, both assume that their leader is well asleep in his room since he hadn't come out since Smellerbee had, but that notion is blown out of the water when the front door suddenly opens. The two Freedom Fighters immediately think that it's a stranger breaking in, because no one ever really visits, and Li had left and would not be returning, so they ready themselves for a possible fight, until they recognize that the figure in the doorway is none other than Jet himself . . . seeing the way both Jet and Smellerbee's eyes meet, Longshot knows there's going to be a fight anyway.

"Jet?!" Smellerbee exclaims in complete shock, "But I thought . . . !?" she looks from Jet standing in the doorway to Jet's closed bedroom door and back, "What the fuck, Jet!? How the hell did you get out!?"

And Jet has the fucking gall to smirk at her like he knew something she didn't, and his tone didn't help make matters any better, "There's more than one way to get in and out of a building, Bee."

A growl starts to rumble in the back of her throat, until she realizes what Jet is insinuating, "The window?"

"Congratulations." drawls Jet, lazy smirk in place, "You learned something new."

"Oh fuck you very much Jet." she sees him raise an unimpressed brow at her aggression, and it just eats at her frayed nerves even more knowing that her anger to Jet was nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum, "What the hell did you even . . . ?!"

Stupid question.

Stupid fucking question.

Because right now Jet is looking like the cat that got the humming-canary which can only mean one thing, and of course Jet would sneak out to see Li, it always came back to Li with Jet. But why would he feel the need to sneak out? Did it have to do with his earlier outburst? Or those tears Smellerbee was sure she'd seen?

"You were with Li." she hisses.

She really had meant to keep her aggression out of her voice, but she knows that her slip won't be forgotten when she sees the dark cloud over Jet's face the second he hears the way she spits out Li's name. Apparently no one was allowed to think ill of Li around Jet, not even her, and she was with Jet far longer than Li!

"So what if I was?"

And now he's starting to get annoyed because he's standing taller, his shoulders beginning to square and his jaw clenching. There are so many things messed up with this that Smellerbee really can't keep her wits about her, especially with Jet starting to stink up the place with aggressive pheromones, or rather a threat. But the fact that Jet was warning her to watch her tongue when it came to Li upsets her.

"You haven't even known Li for long and you're already choosing him over us!" she gestures between her and Longshot who is starting to look like he would very much like to not be here. "What has he done that's got you hooked on him!? That makes you ignore us!? What is it you think he can give you!? Or isn't giving you!?"

Jet turns livid, "What makes you think I want anything from him!?"

"Because you don't care about anyone unless there's something they can give you!" Smellerbee yells, watching Jet recoil from the words. "You were the same way with everyone back in the forest until you learned that you could trust them! And even then you didn't have full confidence in them! You even used the Avatar and his friend! The Avatar, Jet! That could have gone so much worse for you than it did!" this doesn't seem to bother him, her calling him out like this, and it upsets her even more because Jet isn't taking anything seriously, she wants him mad, she wants him to fight her. "Li, does he even know what you did? Are you even going to tell him?" she sees the way Jet's expression darkens, twisting into a scowl, baring his teeth, and fists flexing as if he were itching to wrap his fingers around something. Almost there. So she decides to take a page out of Jet's book and go straight for the metaphorical gullet. "Are you scared he'll leave? That he won't like what he sees? That he won't like the fact that you tried to kill dozens of innocents?"

"Shut the hell up!" Jet finally roars, his composure cracked, "You don't know him!"

"And neither do you!"

Jet looks like he's going to jump at her, even Longshot can see the idea tumbling around in his head, his jaw working; he looks reminiscent of the days before he tried to blow the dam, haggard and heavy with a twisted sickness. In the end though, Jet lets out a loud snarl and turns on his heel, slamming the door shut behind him and leaving them in a heavy silence. Feeling the fight leave her, she lets out a frustrated growl and presses the heels of her hands to her eyes in an attempt to keep the stinging of her eyes to a minimum.

G-H-E

Something brings him back to wakefulness, at first he's confused, wondering what it was that had woken him, but he hears what he assumes is what woke him and realizes that it's coming from the direction of his window. Frowning, he gets to his feet as quietly as he can, grabs the knife his uncle had given him so long ago, and approaches the window. Throwing it open, he grabs at the dark figure and digs his fingers into fabric, with a powerful yank; he's pulling them ungracefully into the room and onto the floor where he places the knife up against their neck.

The person beneath him speaks, "Hi Li."

Zuko blinks, then frowns, "Jet?" he gets to his feet, "What are you doing here?"

"I . . . ," Jet lets out a low growl that startles Zuko, the fire prince having not heard any kind of aggressive sound from the other since he's met him, "I got into a fight with Smellerbee . . . I'm not particularly looking to go back."

"Oh." mutters Zuko, and then realizing something. "But why are you here?"

"I need a place to stay." Jet throws an arm over his eyes and sighs, weary, "Would you mind if I stayed for a while?"

Jet? Stay here?

There were so many cons against letting Jet stay with him, but looking down at Jet lying on his back, knees bent, arm hiding his eyes from view, and looking beaten and defeated had his thoughts stuttering. Surely there was no harm done in letting him stay for a few days.

"Okay."

"Thanks." he hears Jet sigh, "Mind helping me up?"

Reaching out, he grabs a firm hold on Jet's hand and lifts the other to his feet, and once Jet is on his feet; Zuko realizes that Jet is actually standing straight for once seconds before he feels a hand cup his cheek, thumb brushing against his skin, the scarred side. It makes him tense, makes his heart beat faster out of irrational fear. No one's ever touched his scar. No one wanted to. Sometimes not even he himself wanted to.

But Jet is saying something and Zuko tunes in right when he hears Jet say:

"I mean it."

"I . . . ,"

Zuko's words die immediately upon feeling Jet press his lips against his, at first, Zuko wonders why Jet is kissing him of all people, then wonders why he isn't pulling away, only to realize in the end that he's got his arms wrapped around Jet, his body returning the kiss. A kiss which was becoming less virtuous and more fervent with Jet leading them towards Zuko's bedding and laying him out on his back, nipping and sucking, growling and hissing.

When Jet pulls away for air, because that's a thing, they end up staring at one another.

Now Jet knew Li was awkward when it came to social situations, but the fact that he had literally kissed Li breathless, he had thought that Li would have at least been a little more eloquent, or attuned to the current happenings, rather than looking at him with those eyes of his and finally saying something, that something not being what Jet was expecting to hear.

Although since it was Li, he probably should have expected something of the sort.

"Um . . . thanks?"

Jet blinks a couple of times before snorting in amusement, resisting the strong urge to clap a hand to his forehead, he rolls off of Li to lay at his side. And Li, the romantic, seems to think that's that since he rolls over and curls in on himself to sleep. And it's a little odd that Jet is the one expecting more from the other person, but the irony is pushed to the side because he can still hear Smellerbee's questions ringing around in his head and it was driving him crazy.

But he knew Li enough to know that the other . . . did he really know him though?

Jet could have made a mistake, it's happened before.

"There's . . . something I want to tell you."

At his side he feels Li tense before grumbling, "I thought you were asleep."

How charming.

"It's important for you to hear if we're going to do this."

Li is silent a moment before he rolls on to his back, "Does it have to do with the fight with your friend?"

Jet continues staring at the dark wooden ceiling, "Kind of, but not really."

When Li speaks, he sounds awkward, "All right."

"Back on the ferry, when I told you and your uncle that I was coming to Ba-Sing-Se to start over . . . ," Jet pauses, can feel the memories from his last few days in the forest begin to surface, wrapping their gnarled fingers around his throat, " . . . the reason I'm here . . . in the forest where I lived, there was a small town nearby, Gaipan." he shuts his eyes tight and tries to concentrate on getting air to his lungs, "I tried . . . I tried to drown the entire village and everyone in it by using a nearby dam, just to kill some of the Fire Nation people who'd lived there. I'd . . . I met the Avatar."

Li immediately sits up at this and looks down at him, his expression suddenly twisted into something Jet couldn't quite identify as it was muddled with several different emotions, "The Avatar?"

"Yeah. I convinced him and his waterbender friend to help me fill the dam where I had some of my Freedom Fighters help me set up some barrels of explosive jelly . . . the Avatar and his friend didn't know what I was planning until it was too late, until I'd signaled for Longshot to shoot the barrels." he can feel Li looking at him, but he doesn't want to look, "The people survived, as it turned out, Sokka had escaped from Smellerbee and Pipsqueak to warn the people. I was . . . so angry with him. In the end, they left me frozen to a tree. My people found out what I had really been trying to do and left me. They didn't trust me anymore."

"Everyone left you?"

"No." Jet's heart is thudding heavy in his chest, "Some were still loyal, like Smellerbee and Longshot, but I couldn't bring myself to look at them without feeling sick to my stomach."

Silence.

"Oh."

Now Jet sits up and stares at Li, "That's it?"

Li frowns at him, "What do you want me to say? The people got out didn't they?"

"Seriously Li." Jet feels like he's becoming hysterical, "That's all you have to say?"

"I've got nothing to say!" Li snaps, "I . . . ," he falls silent, looking to be in thought, "I . . . understand, in a way." he meets Jet's gaze with his own steady one, "You were just trying to achieve your goal."

He flat out glares at Li now, "There were kids there and I tried to kill them!" Li looked uncomfortable at this, but he didn't seem to change his mind, "You should be telling me that I'm a monster! That I was wrong!"

"I'm not saying anything."

Jet's heart is pounding harder, but for a completely different reason now, "Fuck you, Li."

Zuko turns, ready to snap at Jet for that comment when he's tackled back onto the futon, lips attached to his once more, lips that start to glide across his skin, heading straight for the crook of his neck where he feels something wet brush against the unused scent gland there over and over, Zuko realizing that it's Jet's tongue seconds before lips nip at the skin. It feels weird. It makes him feel weird, especially when Jet breathes right in his ear, hands heavy on his waist, his voice breathy as he says:

"I like you Li, I like you a lot."

The banished prince blinks, watching as Jet pulls back to look down at him, like he were expecting him to say something in return to that proclamation, so Zuko does because he's confused at the moment, the entire nature of the moment flying right over his head.

"Um . . . I like you too."

Jet growls and presses a rough kiss to his lips . . . it never crossing Zuko's mind that Jet like-liked him.

"We should go to bed now." he says, nearly breathless, "Unlike you I have work in the morning."

"Yeah." Jet breathes against his skin, "Okay."

When morning comes, Zuko starts to feel like someone were looking at him, the gaze heavy enough that it has him opening his eyes. At first, he finds that he's being held by Jet, but that he's asleep, his gaze then slides towards the direction of the door where he sees his uncle staring wide-eyed, and frankly, shocked. Realizing what it must have looked like from his uncle's point of view, he feels his entire face flush with embarrassment and immediately pulls away from Jet, subsequently waking the other, and storming out of the room to start his morning routine.

"Nephew," Iroh starts as they're on their way to work. "Is there something I need to know about you and Jet?"

Once more, Zuko feels his face heat up, "N-no!" he ducks his head when his outburst catches the attention of several people, "It wasn't what it looked like . . . Jet just, had a fight with his friends and needed a place to stay."

Iroh arches his brow and watches his nephew for a moment before saying, "Is that so?" when he sees his nephew bob his head in affirmation, he hums happily, "Well then, I hope they work things out. It's always sad to lose a friend."

G-H-E

Getting closer and closer to lunch, Iroh immediately spots Jet walking in to the shop with that usual swagger of his, several patrons of the shop turning to watch him with Jet returning their looks with a charming smile. Just like the first time they'd met, Iroh realizes that Jet is quite the charismatic young man.

A complete contrast to his nephew.

The two interact with each other like usual, until Iroh catches the way Jet looks at his nephew, like he were precious, and it's only then does the old firebender realize that while his nephew may think of Jet as nothing more than an acquaintance/friend, Jet saw him in a different light, Jet liked his nephew as more than a friend. And while Iroh wouldn't have minded if Jet chose to pursue his nephew romantically, he knew that it couldn't happen because of the hatred the Earth Kingdom boy held for the Fire Nation, which is exactly what his nephew was in every way possible . . . he couldn't allow it, it would be both unfair and painful for both of them.

"I'm taking my break." his nephew says, throwing the apron onto one of the hooks haphazardly.

"All right~." Iroh smiles, "Have fun~."

Zuko just grunts.

Out on the streets and making their way towards one of the restaurants that had outdoor seating, Jet wraps his arms around Li and rests his head on top of Li's, at first, Li tenses then seems to become flushed with embarrassment if the sudden heat coming from him was anything to go by.

"Where do you want to sit?" Jet purrs into Li's scarred ear,

Li makes a choked noise so Jet pushes further and gives the tiniest nip, a nip that seems to have been too much for Li since he rips himself out of Jet's hold and turns to look at him with wide, accusatory eyes, his face beet red. Jet laughs and gets a punch to the gut for his trouble, the air knocked out of him.


Apparently neither Jet nor Zuko are on the same wavelength. Zuko, dear sweet precious baby Zuko, no.