Hey there readers! I would like to take this moment to say A BIG SORRY for those people who, I'm hoping, have been waiting for my latest chapter... my laptop crashed and all my story boards and ideas for later chapters nearly went with it, but the computer man saved them all! Let's give a big `HOORAY` for computer man shall we? Okay...

I'm highly pleased with all who have commented and at least read this fic so far! I'm so proud of you all! You know who you are! Any who... the last chapter, did any one find it... good? It was merely a dream, and I made it so that Zuko's imagination- as active as it may have been- wasn't very good. So yes, I purposely shortened the piece of text so that none of you would get your fill until the real deal... Then again, if you did, I guess that's all right.

And sorry, this is just a little more plot building...

Okay, new chapter, lets see Jet again.

Warning: YAOI! SHONEN-AI! BOYxBOY LOVE! please don't read if you don't like and don't spam me about how you don't like it. I don't do that to you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar- The Last Air Bender/ The Legend of Aang. Story line is mine, although I'm sure there may be ones similar... damn it.

All right my pretties, for now... ENJOY! XD

Jet hadn't moved since the previous evening. He had managed to stay curled up in the corner of his tiny room with his knees pulled up to his chest. He had locked himself away for the time being.

Smellerbee and Longshot were worried. Jet had come in and stormed off all at once. Pacing in the kitchen, Smellerbee wondered whether or not she should leave for work yet or finally go and treat Jet. Longshot stood up from his chair and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She fidgeted for a few moments before finally looking up at him.

"Should I go? I mean, I don't doubt you can handle it... I'm just a little concerned, y'know?"

He nodded and pulled her into a brief hug. His rarely used voice humming quietly to reassure her one hundred percent.

"He will be fine by the time you get back."
The silkiness to his voice relaxed the tension in the girls shoulders.

Longshot walked out into the street and watched her go, as he always did, until the very last corner. He watched for a little longer, before casually going back inside. It was time to deal with Jet, for Jet's sake as well as their own.

Cautiously, Longshot knocked on the door. He then opened it and peered in, seeing the dark figure in the corner. The room wasn't very well lit. Even though it was day time and very bright, not much light sunk below to the lower houses in their district. More patient than ever, Longshot stood stock still, trying to read the situation and choose how to approach for the best possible out come. Although, there could be no real positive outcome, Longshot was sure he wasn't going to be killed in a fit of Jets rage.

He stepped lightly but loudly, as to notify he was coming over, and lay a hand gently on Jets back. The mere action let Jet know that Longshot was ready for any thing and every thing.

Jet let out a few breaths and eventually his head rose. His face was badly abused and the blood had dried onto his skin. There were so many things Jet could have said, but where to start? Was he to start at when and how he met Li? Although, he was sure Longshot was aware of his little visits to the potato stall all that time months ago. Then, should he begin with how Li was fire nation? Should he tell him how he got the cuts and bruises first? Or, should he start with the deeper, far more confusing aspects of his turmoil... the fact that he had `those` kinds of feelings for Li, another male, a fire bender of all things.

Let the fun begin.

"Li's a fire bender."

Even though Longshot had never officially met this `Li` character, back in the woods when Jet came back with food or just sat around the fire and talked, he would always bring up `Li`, the guy who gave him the potatoes. `Li`, the guy whose reaction was hilarious when ever Jet made a remark on something. `Li`, the guy who was `actually kind of cute` and `socially awkward` and `damn funny`. Truth be told, Longshot had always had his silent suspicions of Jets sexual orientations. Sure, Jet made comments on how he liked his ladies, but he always had this look in his eye when it came to guys who were good looking.

For example, the water tribe girl. She was far too young for Jet, but then again, Jet was a lady killer and to be honest, nothing much would have really happened until a legal age. Jet was merely amusing himself... and then there was that water tribe brother of hers. Jet knew this `Sokka` boy was smart enough to foils his plans, so he wasn't dumb around him. Although, Jet had a certain sparkle in his eyes for those puppy-dog features and such.

So, for Jet to be this bad, mood wise and physically wise, Li must have been something special. Nobody was spoken of highly unless they did something to deserve it. This Li guy didn't sound like he'd saved Jets life when they first met or shown any certain skill to gain Jet's approval. He certainly was something special to make Jet like... this.

Longshot was taking his time mulling over these things in his head, so Jet had time to figure out what was next.

"And he's here in Ba Sing Se. A fire bender, right here under their noses."

Jet eventually looked at his friend, and Longshot's eyes said it all. Jet knew.

"I know we're here for a new start. I was just going to take care of it myself. But he got away from me. I know now that I just have to make him fire bend in public and then the authorities can handle it from there..."

Longshot's eyes told Jet that he wasn't the only one, that Smellerbee deserved this second chance as much as any of them and that it wasn't fair to do this.

"Okay, I admit it, maybe going out and trying to kill him wasn't the best move. I'll leave it to the authorities, I promise. Right after I get him to fire bend."

It wasn't as bad as Longshot would have normally expected, Jet could very well have thrown a major tantrum and thrown things around. As long as Jet didn't do any thing stupid, he was sure Smellerbee would understand... vaguely.

That afternoon though...?

"What? But Jet, you don't have to prove that he's a fire bender. We can stay out of it. I'm sure he'll get caught eventually-"

Jet gave that smile of his and held the shorter girls arms.

"Hey, I know what I did was stupid, I just wasn't thinking clearly, that's all... but those fire benders are sneaky and cautious to keep that curse under control. They just need a little provoking, and I won't do it directly. It's for the best..."

He went to walk out of the door and Smellerbee quietly called after him.

"For the best? You mean like what we were going to do to that village back home?"

Jet stopped. Smellerbee softened her tone.

"Listen Jet... you got crazy and the freedom fighters paid for it. We were attacked out of our home and I just don't want you to make that mistake again."

Jet shifted a moment, his back to his friends. Longshot stepped in front of Smellerbee a little bit, knowing fully well Jet could get really angry. Although, they were both shocked at the reaction. Jet smiled over his shoulder.

"Oh, and thanks for patching me up. I won't move too much, so the cuts shouldn't open again."

With that, he left.

–

As Jet lingered two blockes away from the teashop, he was confirming his plans in his mind. Every evening at eight, a crowd of rowdy men would make their way to the expensive bars and Zuko's tea shop after their hard days work. They were loose enough to start a fight with the gang of bratty rich teens that hung around the fountain nearby. Plan A was in action, as Zuko was down doing a personalized delivery and happened to be coming back at that time.

Soon, with a little lie and toss of a tomato, the two were in a near brawl. Zuko was most unfortunate to arrive on the outskirts, still wearing his apron. As Jet's lie would have it, Zuko was soon dragged into the fight. Unfortunately, before Zuko had much of a chance to defend himself let alone throw a punch, those damned guards popped up and broke up the fight.

But that was okay, of course, because Jet had more than just Plan A, he had a whole frickin' alphabet and more! Over the course of that evening and later days to come, Zuko had to put up with missing started blocks, missing coal and fire wood, damaged pots and plenty of brutes and punks starting up pointless battles with him when he went on personal deliveries for his uncle.

Of course, Jet didn't know, but Iroh had Zuko as a personal delivery boy since said things being delivered were way too precious to be left in the care of someone else, and who else to trust with said things other than Zuko, trained in various martial arts and self defences that don't involve fire bending.

After two whole weeks of somewhat hell unleashed by none other than Jet a various failed thugs and brutes, Jet was damn near pulling out his hair. Zuko had gotten himself out of every situation and not one spark. Smellerbee and Longshot had asked him outright to give up after two weeks. As much as it was giving Jet something to do which he claimed wouldn't get him in trouble, he was actually doing himself more mental harm than anything else.

Zuko knew who was behind his string of unfortunate lick as of late, but he didn't do anything much about it. He didn't hunt down Jet. He didn't report Jet. He didn't even look at the shadows where he knew Jet was watching him from. It was like an extreme form of silent treatment! Either that or Zuko was seriously oblivious to who it was. That was a highly unlikely factor though, and Jet knew it. Did Zuko want to push Jet into taking far more drastic action? Unfortunately, Zuko really did just want Jet to leave it be, but he knew that wouldn't happen, so Jet took drastic action.

Half way through the third week, at noon exactly, Jet had sunk back into old habits. He crept through the rather large stock building they had at the back of their tea shop and in his hand he held a bunch of matches. He liked to trick himself into thinking that he hadn't completely sunken back into old habits. What he had done was steal a soldiers uniform and informed the customers and staff to leave. Zuko's uncle had left for some business of his own, which left Zuko all alone in the upper room taking his daily rest which his uncle had forced him to take.

Plan-what-ever-came-after-the-letter-Z- was now in action. Jet was to start a fire at the back of the shop. Zuko could fire bend, which meant that he could control fire. He would have to bend the flames to save himself, because nobody could escape a burning building safely other wise. So he closed and locked all the windows and began to burn the back door. Then he started to burn the front door.

Zuko, sensing something weird in the air, decided to make his way down stairs. It was oddly quiet for the middle of the day around lunch time. He wandered down the hall and found himself in a plume of smoke. Shocked, he ran into the kitchen to see what was burning and found that the entire back part of the shop was engulfed in flames. He attempted to put it out with the huge pot of tea, but there were too many flames.

Though a fire bender, he still panicked when it came to such things. He then hurried to the front room looking for his uncle and to warn customers and staff. Zuko then stopped dead in the doorway to the front of the shop as he saw a figure standing up in front of the burning door. Said person turned and saw Zuko.

"Jet! What are you doing?"

A twisted smile curled onto the freedom fighters face.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm burning down your house with you in it."

Zuko could literally see the crazy in Jet's eyes, something wasn't right at all.

Zuko knew, though. He knew that when Jet looked at him, all he saw was the fire bender in him. All Jet saw was the curse that was fire in Zuko and it hurt Zuko so much. His chest ached for a moment before his brain clicked that they were still in a burning building.

"Jet, you'll die too."

Jet then frowned at that and looked at the floor while he muttered a sentence with a chuckle.

"Heh, sorry Smellerbee... Longshot, I guess I can't really keep my promises after all."

Jet then swung out his hook swords.

"I need to keep people safe. And that means destroying all fire nation scum! I told you I would come after you!"

Zuko grit his teeth.

"You know why I didn't strike the final blow that night. You're just throwing those feelings because you can't face them!"
Jet scowled at Zuko.

"Don't you dare say I'm throwing them away... I fell for Li, not a fucking fire bender!"

With that said, they locked in a fight in a burning building which was crumbling around them.