Zuko had been fighting as the Blue Spirit for about six weeks with Jet. His first fight, he had felt nervous, but as soon as the fight started, it wasn't even a competition. All his years of training clearly showed in fluid movements, and controlled strength. It was all a faceless crowd shouting until he saw Jet, arms crossed, sitting back in a chair, smoking and smiling, and with one well aimed punch, his first opponent was on the ground, alive but bleeding out his nose and mouth, and panting like a wild dog. The adrenaline ran through Zuko's hot blood and when he stepped out, people cheered for him like he was a beloved king. Warmth spread over him, and he felt strangely content.

Since then, he and Jet'd been able to go a little further, but not much. When they'd gotten to the point where they'd taken off their shirts, they both stopped kissing and touching and examined each others scars. Jet had traced thin ones left by swords, and Zuko's hands trembled when they saw former burns that had once been pink and shiny, but now had become deflated, warped and pale. He started crying when he saw them, apologizing over and over, and Jet just held him.

Zuko was able to love Jet in duality. Jet sold opiates, spent his days with prostitutes, and basically hired Zuko to be a fighter for money, the majority of which he kept for himself. But, Jet was also the man who held Zuko as he sobbed over scars that weren't his. He was able to love him as both of these people, and hoped one day, that Jet would be able to love him as both Li and Zuko.

From Friday evening until Monday morning, he would stay with Jet, sharing his bed until he had to open the Jade Dragon with Uncle. He'd told Uncle that Jet did construction, rebuilding homes in the lower ring of town and repairing already existing ones. Uncle was proud, and had even allowed him to keep his money, saying one day he might not want to live with his old uncle. He'd said, "I don't think that'll ever happen," but inside, he'd briefly thought about if Jet would like living above ground.

He wasn't sure what they were. They'd never discussed names for what to call each other, but when they entered the Crystal Catacombs, they were never apart.

He remembered the morning six weeks ago, when he woke up feeling warm and with vague back pains. Jet had slung an arm over him protectively and was still in a deep sleep. With no sun, Zuko had no idea what time it was, and he had hoped that Uncle wasn't too worried. He inhaled and rolled over, coming face to face with Jet, who slept open mouthed, and looked much less handsome than he had at any time before, but he felt something warm bubble up inside him being able to see him like this.

He remembered how as they kissed that first night, Jet had pulled away briefly, close enough that he could still feel his words against his own mouth, and said, "tell me when it's too much."

Zuko admitted quickly, "I've never done anything like this before."

"It's okay." He could feel Jet smile and kiss him again.

All they had done was kiss, and as Jet brought his hand down from Zuko's hair and tried to snake it under his shirt, Zuko had backed away. Jet immediately knew what he meant, and pulled back. "Sorry, do you wanna stop?"

"Can we just keep…" Zuko began breathless, feeling euphoric and almost dizzy. "Can we just keep kissing?"

Jet smiled, not out of the corner of his mouth like usual, or looking smug and cocky, but with all his teeth, looking genuinely happy. "Yeah, yeah we can."

Mai woke up with the sunrise and knocked on the suite door. There was naturally no answer, but both people with a key were inside, so she was able to open it.

Sunlight flooded the room. She knew what she was going to see, but the sight of her two best friends sleeping together still made her frown.

Azula was the first to wake up. She drug her head up off the mattress and sat up, naked but still proud and almost regal. "What do you want?" She asked.

Mai continued to frown. Ty Lee had matured, and though barely, she had too, but Azula still had the physique she did when they were little, and it was still normal to bathe together. She would look silly on the throne, not looking like a powerful man, or a regal woman, but a child in a seat still too big for her. "I want to go with June."

"Who?"

"The bounty hunter you hired? To find Zuko?"

"Oh, her. Why?"

She looked away from her childhood friends. "I don't think you really need me here."

"Impatient, are we? Just have to be the first to see him."

Mai said nothing.

"Well, I guess you're better to have watching her than these idiots." Suddenly, feeling strangely self conscious, Azula lightly pushed Ty Lee off a blanket, and covered herself with it. Ty Lee woke up, and asked what was going on.

"Mai's leaving us to bravely face this barren kingdom for her beloved Zuzu."

"What?"

"I'm going with June. We're not doing anything here but waiting."

"And if anything happens, I also know how to throw knives." Azula mocked.

"Are you sure you wanna go?" Ty Lee asked. "This is the first time the three of us will be apart since the summer the war ended."

Even a desert was better than this. "I'll be fine."

"What do you think Azula?" Ty Lee asked.

"No, Mai, the whole thing would fall apart without you." She rolled over, so she faced a wall and not her either of them. "Do you need anything before you leave?"

"I'll be fine. Do you have anything else of Zuko's?"

"That letter doesn't smell like anything but you, does it?" When Mai didn't respond, Azula just continued, "Don't be so serious. In the drawer, I have his cloak from holidays. It gets cold in this repulsive country."

Mai went wordlessly to the drawer, and retrieved the red cloak, sides and center embroiled heavily in gold thread. "Thanks." She looked down at it, remembering festivals when her family would travel to the capital and she'd see her friends for the first time in months after being in Omashu. Azula would make fun of her for looking like a man, but Zuko always tried to tell her not to be mean. She'd cry to her father about Azula being cruel every time, but he would say the royal family and their family would always remain connected. So she endured. Mai and Azula were never friends, but with their personalities, the two were about as close to friends as either of them would ever get.

Azula would rule just like her father had, there was no question about that. Even though she didn't like Azula as a person, Zhao would cause more war, and Zuko had never been trained to rule. As frightening as that was, Azula was the only real choice for Fire Lord, and with their relationship, Mai would at least be a feudal lord, or duchess. She'd want Omashu and with Azula's clear disdain for the Earth Kingdom, she'd be more than happy to have someone else take care of at least one providence for her. She'd have her childhood home, and only have to see Azula every few months. Her fourteen years of abusive "friendship" would come to a fruitful end.

Mai had planned to find Zuko, and propose he let Azula just take the throne. Anything else and Azula would surely kill him. Abdicating again, and she'd kill him. Retaliate, and she'd kill him. She'd also planned to ask him to marry her. She'd let Zuko continue to do whatever exactly it was he was doing now, and they'd both be away from Azula. When his other option was dying, he'd have no other choice. Her family wasn't of high enough blood for her to be engaged to Zuko at birth, but she'd managed to live with Azula all these years since the war ended, and somehow became one of her allies. As a ten-year-old, she hadn't planned for it to happen this way; she'd really just hoped Azula would eventually be nice to her and they could be actual friends, like she'd read about in stories. She clutched the cloak tightly and looked at the floor.

She noticed a crumpled letter laying there. Azula said nothing as she picked it up, and Mai noticed her family's crest.

"Are you taking my mail again?" She asked.

"It's not like it said anything important anyway."

Manipulative, thieving, and deceitful, Azula was still the best choice for the throne, and now the only chance Mai had at any potential happiness. She swallowed. "Good bye, Azula. I'll write to you."

"Am I allowed to read those?"

"Of course."

Ty Lee had stood up and put on a bathrobe. "Good bye Mai," She hugged her and said. "I'll miss you." Mai felt Azula's eyes staring warm holes in the back of her head. Everything that happened in her world that wasn't a compliment to her was a threat to the princess.

"I'll miss you too, both of you." She quickly added.

"I'm certain you will." Azula spat. "These soldiers are dull and dirty, June is just an expensive whore with an overgrown rat, and all these cities have is gross plants and homes that look like barns. You'll hate it. I hate this whole kingdom."

"We'll be in New Azulon before you know it." Ty Lee said. "And they've become very influenced by the eastern style of the Fire Nation. You should feel right at home."

"Thankfully." She huffed, smoke coming out of her nose.

Even just being in the room, Mai felt tense and anxious. "June wants to leave immediately. I should go."

They said awkward goodbyes, and Mai met with June, who had insisted on staying in the cage with her shirshu. "You'll be joining me?" She asked.

"Yes," Mai handed her his cloak, and June let her pet smell it. "This should help you find him."

"Are you both ready?" A soldier, hand picked by Azula to be dumb and obedient, asked them.

"Let me put on the saddle. You riding with me?"

"I guess I have to." Mai shrugged.

"Any reason you're joining me?" June asked. "Princess not good company?"

"I have a proposal for the prince."

It was a Friday, and the sun had set several hours ago. Zuko had just taken off his mask, which stank of blood, and sweat, and smoke, and found Jet within the crowd. They locked eyes, and without words, Zuko left the ring, amidst cries of congratulations, and curses that he'd gotten used to as a prince. Jet did the same, putting up his hand when he was approached saying, "Sorry, Blue Spirit is always the last fight of the night" and making his way towards his one hollowed out room.

Li was there when he arrived, and Jet felt a wave of relief wash over him. Ever since they became whatever exactly they were, Jet had been paranoid that it would end; that something would collapse, and he too would collapse with it. Life for Jet had never been routine, never been safe or sane, and Li was that for him. Li was every weekend for six weeks, and that's the longest period since the fire that Jet could count on consistency. The women he had been with before had come and gone, to different parts of the city, or different men, or died. Different drinks and pills and inhalants he'd taken never gave him the same high, different feelings and all fleeting too fast. Smellerbee and Longshot were there for him, but they had their own lives and had their own demons to battle. Jet chased highs, and women, and once or twice another guy for years and then Li came and held him down like a rock.

He crashed onto Li like a wave envelops the sand, and takes some of it back with it, holding him close as they tumbled to his cot. He'd gotten more pillows and blankets so it was comfortable for Li, and he arranged his body so when they made it to the cot, Jet took most of the blow, landing on his back and letting Li fall on top of him, all the grace in his movement spent on his fight earlier. He smiled up hazily at him, and commented, "You fought good tonight."

"Thanks." Li said, flatly, as if he'd hoped he would say something else.

"You always do."

Li said nothing, and looked towards the stony wall.

"Are you still okay with fighting?"

It took Li a moment. "It's not bad. The money's good, and I like you as a boss."

"I'm glad I'm a good boss. Better than your uncle?"

"Kinda." Li closed the distance between the two of them and kissed him. Li rarely initiated what they did, but when he did, it made Jet's heart jump. He sighed, contently, into the kiss and inhaled his scent.

With anyone before, his body had only reacted very strictly, and only when touched. Li's blush, Li inviting him to kiss, Li breathing in his ear as he slept, Li's heartbeat pressed against his chest, sent waves of gentle tension through his whole body, concentrating in the pit of his stomach and between his legs. He tried as hard as he could to put all these thoughts and passions into the kiss with Li.

Li returned as much enthusiasm and grace as he showed in a fight, pushing into him lightly but with force behind his arms as he wrapped them around Jet's neck. Jet's hands made their way to Li's hips, rubbing his hip bones causing Li to involuntarily groan and buck against him.

"Ugh, why do you do that?" Li pulled his mouth away.

"To see you squirm like that." Jet smirked. "I want to try something."

Zuko looked away him to hide his reddening face. Eventually, he'd hoped this would stop, but Jet seemed to like it. "Like what?"

Jet placed his head in the crook of Li's neck, where it fit perfectly and whispered, "Something about this." With the comment, he groped between Li's legs, forcefully enough to make the other boy gasp but gently and warm enough that he bucked into his hand. Jet had done this before - truth be told, he'd done everything before Li - but it was so painfully clear, Li was a different story. As much as he could, Jet tried to take it slow, but Li certainly didn't make it easy on him.

Zuko let his head fall down against Jet's shoulder and exhaled. "I think I'd like that." His strong arms trembled.

Jet's eyes widened and he moved his hand from between Li's legs, to the small of his back, to gently rub there. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," He panted. "I can tell you want it too."

Jet's mind raced as he leaned into kiss the boy above him, pulling his head down close to him. They'd kissed like this before, and he could feel how hot Li's breath, his mouth, his everything was. Before, the heat would have made Jet uncomfortable, but now he couldn't imagine anything more inviting than the heat of his mouth. Jet brought a hand to cover and hold the fevered scar on Li's face, caressing it gently as he fought for dominance with Li's hot tongue, a battle he usually won. He'd also managed to flip them both over at this point, so now Li's back was on the cot and Jet was pressing his own erection down into his.

"Can I take these off?" Jet asked, sneaking his hands under Li's pants to continue touching his hip bones.

Li squirmed and almost kicked him off but said, "Yes, just stop talking."

"You like when I talk." Jet replied, quickly exposing Li's legs and everything else, and sitting up to remove his own clothes as well. "I can tell."

He went back to kissing the boy beneath him, moving up and down along his neck and letting his hands grope at his hips, his chest, his legs, anything he could touch, really. At first, Li moaned into him, pushing his body up against his, begging silently for more contact, to which Jet happily complied. But after a few minutes of teasing, Li craned his neck away from the other boy and said, "I thought you were going to-"

Jet laughed. "You're impatient."

Li looked away, half pouting half flushing. Jet laughed more.

"Did you get spoiled as a soldier's son?"

"Hardly." Li responded indignantly.

"Well, then let me spoil you here." He returned, wrapping his hand around Li's now bare arousal and lightly pulling. "I can't do anything romantic for you."

"Will you just—" Li started but let his head fall back, and eyes close as he finally received the contact he wanted.

"Is that what you wanted?"

Li didn't respond, but grabbed the far too talkative boy above him to kiss him. He didn't intend for it to be so rough, but he figured it would shut him up long enough for Li to finish, which as embarrassed as he was to admit, usually wasn't that long. This wasn't something he'd done often in the Fire Nation, nor on the canning ship, though he'd heard and seen plenty of less ashamed men pleasure themselves. He'd been disgusted by them at the time, but with Jet was different. As a person, he was passionate and fast-paced, and he was no different with a lover, but he never made inexperienced Zuko feel pressured or embarrassed. He only left him feeling desperate from Jet to just stop talking.

Jet pulled away, a smile breaking through his wet lips. "Let me do something to really spoil you."

Before Li could either agree or oppose, Jet slid down his body, and took Li's entire erection into his mouth in one movement. Zuko almost sobbed at the warmth and pressure, bringing a hand to cover his mouth. He might have lasted longer, but the former prince looked down at Jet who met his gaze, and somehow managed to look like he was smirking at him while he started sucking. He came, hard, and before he could even fully recover, Jet covered his body with his own and looked down at him.

"Next time, don't cover your mouth." Jet said. "I want to hear you."

"Did you- did you swallow that?"

He hesitated, which Jet seldom did. "Yeah, what did you want me to do?" He laughed a little.

Zuko just sighed.

"You're so precious."

Zuko then wondered how he was still attracted to this boy and would more than likely let him do anything to him.

"Help me finish?" Jet asked, leaning his head down to whisper in the other boy's ear.

"I'm-"

"Not with your mouth. You can just use your hand. I just want to feel you."

Zuko didn't have a vast range of experience but just hearing the need in Jet's voice made him confident enough to reach down and take hold of Jet's erection, mimicking his motions from earlier, pulling gently along the entire length.

"Yeah, just like that." Jet said breathy and hot against his neck, moving his hips in time with Li's hand. "Your hand's so hot."

"Sorr—" Li started to apologize, and slowed the motion of his hand.

"God, no. Don't, please. I'm so close."

"Just stop talking then." Zuko said, moving his hand faster and kissing him. Jet still moaned into the other boy's mouth when he came, jerking his hips into Li's hand.

"God," Jet sighed, collapsing onto Li, exhausted and content.

"Uhm," Zuko started, shaking his hand.

"Just wipe it on the blanket. It doesn't matter."

"That's disgusting!"

"What do you do when you're done?" Jet looked down at him, lips still wet but no longer as tried as before.

"I-" Li started.

"Hah, my innocent little—"

"Will you just stop talking?"

"Are you sure this is right?" Mai asked June as they roamed through the city, still on the back of her shirshu. In the Fire Nation, surely riding on a beast like this would cause attention, but the people of the earth kingdom just accepted it. They made way for it, and they made way around hippo cows and ostrich horses.

"For the fourth time, yes." June snapped. "Why don't you believe me?"

"It just seems too easy that he'd be in Ba Sing Se." They'd been riding for about ten days, and to end by coming to Ba Sing Se was just anti-climactic. "We were going here anyway."

"I don't think we're heading to where the princess would stay." June commented.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Mai asked.

"The Lower Ring of the city."

"And to someone who's never been to Ba Sing Se, that means?"

June exhaled. "It's where the drug and sex trade of the city is. Not exactly royal quarters."

Mai felt her stomach sink. As strong as Zuko was, he wasn't exactly street smart. He'd been missing for so long that something terrible easily could have happened to him. Something maybe even worse than what Azula was planning to do with him. Without Zuko, this whole trip was worthless, and so was her years of torment at the hands of Azula.

On the train, she was confident but now as she grew closer and closer, she was terrified. What would she say when she saw him again? She'd never been able to talk a great deal to him before because of her feelings, but now with the added pressure of Azula impending, she felt her throat tighten just by thinking about it.

The shirshu stopped in front of a solid rock, and June examined the structure briefly.

Mai momentarily panicked. "Did you lose the scent?"

"No, we're going underground."

"How?" She frowned.

June sighed. She'd dealt with men looking scornfully for ex-lovers, wives spitefully looking for husbands who had left them, dealers looking for people who owed them money, and anything else an impure mind could imagine, but she wasn't good with kids. Fortunately, Mai had been quieter and less demanding than the princess, even though she had gotten quite angry when she had let the cloak belonging to this prince very few people liked but everyone was desperate to find. "There's a door. It's not my first time in the Crystal Catacombs."

"Those were destroyed during the war."

June closed her eyes and sighed, again. "Not everything you learn in school is true."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Your people's war destroyed a lot, but it didn't destroy the Earth Kingdom."

"We don't pay you to have a political opinion."

"You're not actually paying me, so…"

Mai twisted her mouth, angrily. "And you're telling me Zuko's down there?"

"Not many other places he can go."

Both Jet and Zuko were awoken by Smellerbee. She was silent but she shook Jet, who recognized her touch almost immediately. He turned over slowly to face her but knew to be quiet by the look on her face.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

"You're going to want to leave. The rat's back." She said, and left immediately.

"Li, get up." Jet moved in a way that was calculated, and almost practiced. He quickly moved around the room, getting dressed, blowing out candles and throwing Li's clothes at him. "I said get up." His voice had an urgency that he'd never heard before.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, half asleep, unable to grasp the gravity Jet was trying to convey.

"We need to leave." He pulled him up and started pulling his shirt down over Li's head.

"Why? What happened?" Li was slowly coming to, wondering if Jet had pissed off someone the night before because of a bet. Or maybe he had.

"Nothing, we should just-" Jet stopped, and listened closely to the sounds outside the flap of fabric covering the entrance to his room. "Fuck, she's here."

A red nose peaked under the flap and opened it up. Zuko pushed up against the earth wall, fearful, and Jet grimaced, putting his hands up in the air. "Hey June." He said turning around the greet the woman entering.

"Not you again." Came an exaggerated sigh from a woman Zuko had never seen. She was tall, dressed mostly in black, and looked tougher than some of the generals Zuko had seen in the army. "Tell me this isn't who you're looking for." She looked behind her.

"No," Said a voice Zuko recognized. He had to still be asleep. There's no way she'd be here. No way anyone from the Fire Nation had found him.

"Oh, so you're looking for his boyfriend?" June asked, finally turning her attention to Zuko. "So much for the prince." She held in a laugh.

Jet turned quicker than Li'd ever see him move before. "Why's she looking for you?" Jet's eyes widened and he moved closer to him, defensively.

"I don't know." Zuko returned in a whispered breath.

Mai stepped in the room, looking exhausted, eyes darker than usual. Zuko hadn't seen her in almost six months, and she looked like she had aged years. Her voice was dry. "Yeah, that's him."

The room was silent, smoke from the candle Jet had blown out billowing through the room.

"Go tell Azula." Mai quietly said, her voice shaking.

"You sure?" June asked. "The guy he's with is sorta dangerous."

"Sorta?" Jet asked, offended.

"Zuko knows I'm dangerous too." Mai said, pulling her knives out from her pocket, between each of her fingers.

June said nothing, and left.

"Azula will know where you are in ten days." Mai said matter-of-factly.

Jet questioningly looked at Li, whose pupils had widened and chest rose and fell quickly. His mind raced, with questions and fears, but he could see on Li's face that he was even more upset. He looked worse than he had after any fight, like a war had just been fought across the landscape of his body; anything could break him now, and if Li broke, Jet wasn't far behind. Desperately, he tried to look into Li's eyes to let him know it was alright, but he could tell Li was in too deep of a panic to even see him. So instead, he moved quickly, and quietly towards the door flap.

"Why are you here?" Zuko almost sobbed. "Why did you come? What do you want?" He started to scream.

Mai's face had been a solid stare since she walked in, frigid and unmoving, but it broke seeing Zuko upset. She'd travelled so far to protect him, save him even, and now he was falling apart just by seeing her. She took a pained breath and cried, "Azula wants you dead. She's coming to find you so she can be Fire Lord." She wasn't the bad guy. She wasn't the one hurting him. What had she done?

"Fire Lord?" Zuko said barely above a whisper. He could never mention the Fire Lord, his own father, in front of Jet. He could never know what that blood that ran through him truly was, the blood he would drain out of his body if he could. "We have a Fire Lord."

"You didn't know? You-your father's dead."

"What?" For the first time since he'd heard his mother had left, Zuko felt cold. All the heat left his body, no smoke in his breath, no steam in his tears. He'd waited, dream about, prayed to Gods he didn't believe in for the death of his father. But not now — not that he had finally found his place in the kingdom where they could exist without each other. Without his father, there'd no doubt be another war. With Azula leading it. "He can't be dead."

"I was there, Zuko. I watched them burn his body."

"Then who's ruling the kingdom? Why is there no rebellion?"

"They're keeping it quiet until they announce the new Fire Lord."

Zuko's chest constricted, and he sucked desperately at the air in the room that felt like it was closing. Why wasn't Jet doing anything? Why wasn't he screaming at him for being a traitor, a liar, for being the worst thing he could be— not just fire nation, but fire nation royalty. Why hadn't Jet killed them both already and left?

Mai was crying at this point. "And you're next in line, so Azula wants you dead." Her cries grew louder and she put her knives down.

Zuko said nothing. Where was Jet? Why wasn't this ending?

"I missed you so much." Mai wiped her face with her sleeve. "I came to tell you. I'm so sorry Zuko. I-" Her voice was cut off and she collapsed. Her body lay motionless on the ground, no sound and no blood. Jet was standing behind her, panting and looking desperately at Zuko.

The prince's body shook, trying to process all the news and still carry on bodily functions made him want to collapse. What would Jet do? What would he say? Was he going to kill him next? Every comfort Zuko had found in the world was evaporating, and he was cold. He felt like all of his organs had frozen and stopped working. His body was thick and dense and moving, breathing, blinking was so painful.

"Is—she?" Zuko asked, panting.

"She's just passed out." He never broke eye contact.

"Why'd you do that?" His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. All his bones were lead and no matter how hard he was breathing, there wasn't enough air. It was over. This was it. "Just end it now. Just tell me you hate me. Just tell me how much you hate me and let it be over."

For the first time in years, Jet had no idea what to do or say. Since he began leading the Freedom Fighters, he'd relied heavily on his instinct and was able to take control of any situation. He was a misfit leader, a rebel king, but it was all he could do to stay standing. He trembled, looking at the boy on the ground, the boy he had come to love, and the boy he didn't know. The boy he'd still kill a stranger for, and the boy he had to make a choice for. Though it felt like he was ripping a part of himself out, Jet knew the choice he would make. He always knew. He knew when he met Li, when he found out he was a fire bender, when he kissed him. The choice was reaffirmed every time he looked at him. There was never another choice he could make.

Jet looked at Mai on the ground, and though his body felt foreign and heavy, he moved closer to Li. "Because I trust you. I need you."

Jet wasn't sure what happened. Li was silent but shaking heavily. It took him a moment to realize the boy was crying, sobbing, and completely broken. Air caught in Jet's throat as he remember the night he found out Li was a fire bender, and how he'd fallen to the ground sobbing too, and how truth can rip your body apart. All he'd wanted in that moment was for Li to come and hold him.

Jet ran to him, awkwardly trying to put his arms around him before carrying him over to the bed. Like the nights when they wept over each others scars, Jet laid him down and held him, so tightly it felt like everything falling apart in the other boy was being forced back together. He owed so much to Jet, in this moment and in all the moments that had elapsed since they met. He replayed each second in his mind, each kiss, each glance, each time he'd wished Jet would stop talking, each time he'd miss Jet to the point of pain during the week.

Jet needed him. And he needed Jet. "I'm so sorry," He said. "I've kept so much from you."

"Are you-" Jet started almost not able to say it himself. "Are you really the prince of the Fire Nation?"

Zuko didn't say anything, just looked at Jet. Not even wanting to look at him, Zuko buried his face into Jet's shoulder. He heard Jet whisper, "the prince" before he put his head in the other boy's hair. They held each other, until their breathing was in synch with each others.

"Li, I have something to tell you too." Jet sighed.

Zuko said nothing, but craned his neck so he could look at him.

"You're the prince?" He asked again, sitting up with his arms on Zuko's shoulders so they were face to face.

"Yeah," He answered with his eyes casted downward.

Jet looked away, like he was trying to gather the words to say, and then resolutely at Zuko. "I think I know your mom."