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The young are rarely at peace with themselves. This is a thought that Iroh takes care to bring to the forefront of his mind the more he comes to know Jet.
One might easily have thought that Zuko provided all the reminders a day could hold! Turns out, no, and one gets to really exercise one's own tranquillity.
The common-sense refrain comes simply, at first, as Zuko and Jet's renewed acquaintanceship becomes friendship. Iroh encourages the process in small ways, as he also encouraged his nephew to go on a first date with that nice girl. And so he can't very well complain about how lively their friendship grows at times.
Nor how loudly.
"You really think that's what it means to lead!?" they blurt at each other, ending minutes of hissed debate as Zuko lingers in picking up the remains of Jet's order. The ears of patrons at the tables around them perk up.
Zuko adds a grunt of frustration to the conversation and puts a foot on the seat of Jet's chair, between his spread legs, to make him stop tipping it backwards. When it thuds to the ground a few more patrons look up - all ready to listen to the insights of a disowned, hunted prince and a secretive, yet curiously unwary fighter.
For a mere moment, sure, before they go back to their own entertainment, but it gives Iroh cause to suppress a wince where he is busy restocking the containers of their most popular blends. An overheard word here and there can eventually become deadly.
Luckily, the boys are distracted. Jet sits bolt upright, scooting his chair under the table. He's sneering, and yet - is that a hint of a blush? And the shifting in his seat...
"Sorry. Just - careful with the furniture," Zuko grumbles, oblivious. "I have to get back to work. Um. See you later."
He waits until Jet nods before relaxing back into the rote task of clearing the table. Oblivious he might be, but he has softened in his own way, and that is telling. It might be time to prompt Zuko towards another date...
But oh, no. Iroh sighs. Since they've managed to part amicably, those two are likely to continue their argument while he tries to have a nice supper after work, and very likely to be freer with the volume of their disagreements.
-
"Yes, I am sure I don't want to accept Jet's invitation to go out. I want him to reject his own invitation!"
As Zuko shouts, Longshot huffs. They sit in identically tense postures, arms crossed, turned away from the door that Jet had strode out of with a merry wave. Smellerbee had also left, but with a lot of stomping to it.
Longshot looks up, stares at the side of Zuko's head with such intensity that Zuko look backs almost at once, and he sighs.
"I know, right?" Zuko replies passionately. "Jet gets so..." He throws his hands up, then crosses them again.
Goodness. This is quite the mood stewing around what had been described to Iroh as "just a walk".
"Okay then. Shoot me for making a suggestion," Iroh says. He decides to patch up some clothes. Longshot is known to thread needles on the first try, every time, and will even do the first few stitches to anchor the thread. Once Iroh has placed all the required things on the table, Longshot reflexively gets started. A sweet kid, in his way (and it is wonderful to have the opportunity to see another way to be so).
"No, I won't do that either," Zuko says as if he would eagerly fistfight the rhetorical statement. "Because, in fact, I want a recommendation. I'd like one for a book you've enjoyed!"
Longshot starts, surprised. The thread still goes through the needle, Iroh finds as he gently takes them and sets to work.
"Jet wants to build up a library. It's not like that's a bad idea." Zuko gets up to look out the window, scanning the street in both directions - but Jet had to be out of sight already, because he went back to his vigil position beside Longshot.
"A library, hmm." Overheard gossip comes to Iroh's mind, together with clues from the conversation between Zuko and his friends. "Like the one a few streets down that was dismantled by the police? The one in that little back room by, oh, what are their names..."
"Tseiki was the one who ran it, and Soo the one who taught letters and numbers there. Someone reported their literature as suspect, but it was a blatantly unfair grudge, according to them. And Jet."
"Forgive my curiosity, but I thought that Jet could not read?" The young man had asked Zuko to help him decipher the terms of a contract a few times.
"Only a little. But it's not like he isn't smart! He knows the value it can have. And he knows it meant a lot to Soo and Tseiki - wouldn't shut up about it. Maybe that would have been enough to have him jumping all over this already."
The admiration in Zuko's voice is startling. Oh, it makes its way through annoyance and frustration, but still lends kinds and degrees of warmth to his voice all too rare in it. He seems to hope to impress part of it on Iroh, in an absent way, lest Jet be dismissed as uncultured.
Iroh decides not to press this time. The kids have got a good footing on their friendships, and as for the romancing ... that can be a delicate flower. Let it grow and flourish at its pace. Instead, he starts a conversation about Earth Kingdom literature as per request, and chortles at a reasonable minimum when Zuko grows surprised about how Longshot keeps signalling to hear more love story recommendations. Longshot wears a small, but sly smile - and he has a point; it's also kind of fun to watch those two boys stumble into something.
The kids both leave when Zuko goes off to buy (the word is stressed with a scowl) what books he can afford.
Left to his sewing, Iroh thinks once again: The young are rarely at peace with themselves. He hopes that those among the young who are going off to steal have a decent plan for it, but not so decent as to smooth-talk a nephew into thinking it would be worth a try for a noble cause. Not yet, anyway; Zuko ought to get more time to acquaint himself with the surrounding neighbourhoods. More errands for him in the foreseeable future, then.
Fortunately, for now, smooth talk has made no dent in that incredible stubbornness. But soft spots are making an appearance.