ch: boundary.
characters: jet, zuko.
tumblr prompt: jetko week.
…
There are just some places Zuko will never be able to reach.
…
Exasperation settles in his bones with such density that even Jet traipsing into the teashop doesn't send that flicker of nervous relief blazing across the bottom of his stomach, even with that lopsided smirk of his turned right in Zuko's direction. Their eyes lock for a moment and Jet starts to mouth something, but he turns on his heel so hard that his head spins with the recoil, and if the door wasn't revolving he'd have slammed it behind him.
He braces his hands on the counter until his knuckles blot red and white, pulses with deep, even breaths until his patience starts to shift again, but when he ducks back from behind the door with a tray of cakes—and maybe they're a little old, just so he has an excuse to give them to Jet, and just so he has an excuse to watch Jet fuss over it—his armored back is retreating through the entrance.
Something tastes stale in the corners of his mouth at the sight.
…
"Hey," his head tips down as he sees Jet with his knees pulled up to his chest, fingernails biting into the stalk of wheatgrass wet at the tip, "I didn't know you—"
"I just waited up to tell you," he says as he stands, flicking the piece of grass into the stones between his feet, his eyes laid at a point just over Zuko's shoulder that makes him uneasy for a reason, "I have errands, you know, to start doing."
"Right," he answers quietly.
"I mean, 'Bee's got a job and she already gets on me about not doing my share. So, I don't think I'll be around much." His fingers scratch at the back of his head and he tilts his chin out, eyes raised and thoughtful but never making complete eye contact.
"That's, er, fine, I guess."
"Good," he nods, swivels on his heels, marches steadily, "'Night."
Zuko is too exhausted to read into it, but he knows it will mean something to regret in the morning.
…
He regrets it when he slides under his blankets, itchy and uncomfortable and blistering with heat with no one beside him to keep his thoughts at bay.
He gets an hour of sleep, tops.
…
When he walks into Pao's, Jet is chewing on a teacake with crumbs littered across the counter, his friends flanked beside him.
Zuko walks by him and pretends he can't remember the group of them; he hears that girl, Smellerbee, lean in to whisper to Jet and he can feel their eyes on him as he disappears into the back.
Deep, even pulses of breath.
He grits his teeth as he walks out and even though Jet's eyes track him as he walks behind the counter, he doesn't speak.
Zuko doesn't stop holding his breath until they're laughing their way out of the shop.
…
Jet's mouth is always rough in some way, he kisses too hard or his lips are too chapped or his teeth are nipping soft, sensitive spots, and it isn't different now; Zuko makes a noise that only gets swallowed up into Jet's throat, squirms and anticipates his toned arms pinning him down, but he only gets a surge of fresh air and the swollen pucker of Jet's lips as he stares and then purses them.
"I'm going," he announces abruptly, and Zuko huffs petulantly, because when does he ever leave?
(When Zuko doesn't want him to, that's the answer, because he always tries to push him away and is never successful, not in the least.)
"Maybe I'll be back."
Zuko knows better than to hinge on that.
…
Zuko sees Smellerbee wandering outside the teashop with a dark look in her eyes; it narrows when she sees him.
He pretends not to know it's her.
…
When Jet shows up with his swords out, Zuko fights back the knot in his chest at the sight of him, angry and feral and out for blood, and if he wants this, then I'll give it to him gladly, I'll give him a fucking show.
He can feel the aggression rolling off of him and he wants to admit how nice it feels to use his swords, even if it's against Jet, but he should have known better, he should have known there were just some things he could never have.
Their swords cross and he hisses between them, "Like steel to rust," and he's sure it carries some weight, a virtue of his past taught to him by someone important, but all it means for them now is that things are deteriorating the way they were always meant to.
…
Zuko watches them carry him away. He was never supposed to get this close anyway.