Work Text:
THUNK. Zuko looked up from his homework and frowned at his bedroom window. The last time he'd heard that, he'd gotten puked on by a bird, which was a 0/10 stars, do not recommend experience that he did not want a repeat of.
THUNK again. Whatever had hit the window looked smaller than a bird. He dropped his pencil and stalked in annoyance over to the window, pushing it open. As he leaned out, something flew past his head and hit the floor. He turned around to see what it was.
A rock. A freaking rock. He sighed, realizing what was happening.
He turned and glared down at the ground. "Jet!" he hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Come down!" Jet whisper/yelled; he was standing on the hood of his truck, parked in the middle of Uncle Iroh's backyard. The light from Zuko's window shone on him like a spotlight; his face, as usual, was lit up by a stupidly attractive grin, but Zuko wasn't falling for it this time.
"I can't. It's a school night and Uncle will kill me if I sneak out." An exaggeration, they both knew; Uncle probably wouldn't even yell at him for sneaking off. Just lecture through bizarre metaphors.
"I'll have you back before midnight," Jet bargained; Zuko looked at his clock and scoffed.
"It's already 11:00."
"Before 1:00, then. Please?" Jet looked up at him, and Zuko could have sworn he batted his eyelashes; it was hard to tell at this distance. Zuko sighed.
"Fine," he said. "What do I need to bring?"
"Just your gorgeous self," Jet said with a triumphant smile. He tilted his head. "And maybe bring a flashlight."
Zuko sighed, shaking his head. "Give me five minutes."
In those five minutes he changed out of his pajamas, grabbed a flashlight from his desk drawer, and his hoodie from the rack by the front door. Once he got back to his room he slipped his shoes on, turned off the light, and climbed out the window using the tiny footholds made by the house's plastic siding.
Halfway down, he heard a sound through Uncle's open bedroom window. Panicking, he let go and jumped the rest of the way. He landed on his feet, but staggered; Jet leapt off the hood and caught him, chuckling quietly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Zuko felt his face flush. "Come on, we should get out of here before Uncle wakes up."
"’Course." Jet kissed him quickly, and Zuko's face grew hotter. He hoped Jet couldn't tell. "Hop in," Jet said, letting go of Zuko and opening the passenger's side door with a flourish. Zuko climbed in the seat, buckling up, and Jet closed the door before circling around to get in the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Zuko asked as Jet turned the ignition; the headlights were off, but the yard was lit up by moonlight so it didn't matter.
"It's a surprise," Jet said, pulling out into the field. "You're gonna like it, I promise."
Zuko thought that was mildly ominous, considering the circumstances, but he supposed he trusted Jet's judgement. "You'd better not be taking me somewhere to kill me," he said; Jet laughed.
"I promise I'm not. I'd miss you too much."
"And you're scared of my uncle," Zuko pointed out.
"And I'm scared of your uncle." Jet kept driving, turning on the headlights once they'd reached the road and were out of danger of Uncle catching them.
"Am I allowed to guess where we're going?" Zuko asked.
"I'm not gonna confirm or deny anything," Jet replied. "It's a surprise and I'm keeping it that way."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "I'll figure it out," he said.
"I bet you will." Jet smiled, passing a car ahead of them and turning off down a side road Zuko didn't recognize; Zuko paid close attention to their surroundings, trying to piece together from the road names and addresses what side of town they were headed to.
East — Duck Spring Drive. West Duck Spring was between the mini-mart and the tobacco/vape/video store, so they couldn't be far from that.
Another sign that looked like it had been up since the '50s (at the latest) read Middletown Park: 6 Miles. Zuko was pretty sure it hadn't been called Middletown in around forty years, and the park straight-up didn't exist anymore because apparently some kids had been eaten by a bear there or something (or at least that was what the older kids had told him years ago when he was new in town. He didn't know the actual story). He did know the former site wasn't too far from the lake.
"You know, if you wanted to take me to the lake you didn't have to kidnap me," Zuko pointed out.
"It's not kidnapping!" Jet said defensively. "...Not technically. You went with me willingly. And I'm taking you back later!"
Zuko rolled his eyes, and kicked his feet up on the dash. "When you have to say it's not technically —"
"Shush," Jet said, smiling. "Just let me have this, alright? It's been a while since we got some time alone, and I thought it'd be romantic."
Zuko smiled. "It is."
Jet's eyes lit up, and he made the next left turn with more enthusiasm than felt particularly safe. "It's gonna get better."
This route to the lake was technically not supposed to be used, but the park rules were to Jet as the Pirate Code was to pirates: really more like guidelines anyway. And there wasn't really a reason for it being closed, aside from the fact the park personnel couldn't charge people who came in this way. And possibly the unguarded cliffs in the area, but Jet was of the opinion that the occasional fall off a cliff was character-building.
He parked the truck near the edge of one such cliff, with the bed facing the drop-off to the lake.
"Here we are," he said, looking over at his boyfriend. "What do you think?"
Zuko peered out the back window. "That's a pretty big drop. The truck's not gonna roll, is it?"
"Nah, we're downhill from it. C'mon, there's a path down to the lake from here. We should head down."
Zuko stepped out of the truck after Jet opened the door, pausing to take in the landscape; the lake and woods stretched ahead for miles, and from the high vantage point he could see all of it — even the public dock and snack bar were visible nearby, empty now that the place was closed. He could see the boat rental place where Uncle's boat was still docked, and the big inner tube Smellerbee had pushed him off of a couple days ago. The moon and bright stars reflected in the lake's dark, mirror-smooth surface.
Jet's arms wound around his waist from behind. "Nice, isn't it? I thought you'd like seeing it."
Zuko smiled. "I've never seen it from this side before."
"You're about to see it a lot closer. Come on." Jet took his hand, and pulled him down the trail.
The lake was even more dazzling up close — and dazzling was a word Zuko did not often use. A warm breeze blew past. He smiled, closing his eyes and letting it ruffle his hair as he savored the quiet peace of the moment.
He looked over and saw Jet kicking off his shoes, sitting down in the sand. He tossed his hair out of his face, running his hand through it — the undercut style had grown out just a little since he had it done, and was slightly messy, but still looked way cooler than it would have on anyone else.
"Come on," Jet said, patting the ground beside him. "You can sit down."
Zuko sat down next to him, still unable to take his eyes off Jet. "You're not getting in the water?"
"Only if you are. I didn't bring you here so I could have all the fun by myself," Jet said. He wound his fingers between Zuko's, trapping grains of sand between their palms. "I wanna be with you."
Zuko felt his face flush, his heart skipping a beat. "Thank you," he said.
"Of course." Jet nudged his shoulder. "I've got your back, remember?"
Zuko smiled and settled against Jet's shoulder.
"You know," Jet said after a moment, "last time I went on a date like this, I ended up getting arrested."
Zuko whipped around to look at him. "What?"
"Yeah, word of advice, keep an eye out for no trespassing signs."
"Who —?"
"Katara. Sokka chewed us both out. Was a fun night, though."
Zuko shook his head. "Nuts."
"Alright, what are your award-winning date ideas?" Jet challenged. Zuko's face heated up in embarrassment.
"I took Mai on a date to the family cemetery."
Jet laughed incredulously. There was a pause before he asked, "Really?"
"Mm-hm."
Jet burst into peals of laughter; Zuko glared at him. "Stop it!"
"I'm sorry, just — what made you — a cemetery?"
"Mai was into all that death-y stuff!" Zuko defended, cringing. "I thought it would be romantic!"
"Well, was it?"
"Yes! Very!"
"Uh-huh." Jet smiled, bumping Zuko with his shoulder. "Tell you what, you can plan our next date. I wanna know what you think I'd find romantic."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "I can't drive."
"Okay, so you can plan us a nice, romantic date in your uncle's backyard."
"Are you ready to go swimming yet?" Zuko asked in exasperation. Jet laughed, kissing his cheek and pulling him to his feet.
The water was colder now that the sun was down. Jet waded in up to his knees — it would have been better to bring some shorts to change into, since his jeans were now soaked, but oh well. He probably had clothes in the truck, he hadn't unpacked everything yet.
Zuko may have had the braincells in the relationship at the moment. He'd worn a pair of basketball shorts, which were not only practical but looked really good on him.
"Geez, cold enough for you?" he asked as Zuko splashed into the water, not even bothering to take it slow. Zuko flipped him off, taking a deep breath and diving under. Jet rolled his eyes and sat down in the shallows, swishing his hand through the sand and algae while he waited for Zuko to resurface, counting under his breath.
It was almost four minutes before Zuko surfaced, throwing his hair out of his face and panting as he treaded water.
"I don't like lakes," he said decisively once he caught his breath, paddling to the shallows and flopping down next to Jet. "It's too murky, at least in the ocean you can see what's down there."
Jet smiled. "Are you thinking about water zombies again?"
"Oh, shut up, I was six."
"Mhm." Jet turned on his side, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's somewhat algae-scented hair. "I believe you."
"You do not, you're just saying that." Zuko poked him in the ribs — gently, and a couple inches away from any potentially tender areas. Jet poked him back.
"Rude."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "Come on, I wanna dive off the cliff," he said, grabbing Jet's hand and pulling him to his feet. Jet smiled, pulling him in for a kiss.
"Better watch out, that's where the evil water zombies like to wait for their prey." Jet wiggled his fingers at him, laughing when Zuko swatted his hand away, dragging him back up the hill.
"Uncle's gonna kill me," Zuko lamented, wringing out his soaked shirt. "This is gonna get all over my floor and he's going to murder me."
"Change into something I have. You can give it back to me next time," Jet said, pulling on a long-sleeved t-shirt with Trustfully In Love printed across the front of it. He tossed Zuko a white tank top with blue and green tie-dye splotches on it. It looked ridiculous, but Zuko changed into it, shaking his head. He caught a pair of cutoff jeans as well, which were a little tight for comfort, but he managed.
"Alright, gorgeous," Jet said, circling around the truck once he'd pulled on his own pants. He shut the back door and held open the passenger side. "After you."
Zuko rolled his eyes, dragging his boyfriend in for a kiss before climbing inside. Jet huffed, his face flushing almost imperceptibly. Zuko grinned, feeling a little smug. It wasn't often he managed to catch Jet off-guard.
The drive home passed in companionable silence, the clock on the dash ticking away as Jet took the sharp curves a little quick for Zuko's liking; as they approached the field behind Uncle's house again, he slowed down, turning off the lights. He parked in the backyard, letting Zuko out.
"See you Saturday," he said, wrapping Zuko in a firm hug. "Good luck with your homework."
Zuko rolled his eyes, hugging him back. "Thanks. I'm probably gonna fail because of you."
"Worth it?"
Zuko pretended to consider. Jet laughed, kissing his cheek and letting go of him.
"Goodnight," he said, heading back to his side of the truck.
"Night," Zuko replied, eyeing up the distance between the ground and his window. He leapt up, catching onto a tiny ledge with his fingertips, and started to climb. Behind him, he heard a wolf-whistle.
"Look at him go!" Jet said. Zuko turned his head, shushing him, and nearly slipped. Jet covered his mouth, almost managing to look apologetic, but Zuko could hear him laughing.
"Jerk," Zuko muttered, shaking his head. He kept climbing; Jet's truck pulled away just before Zuko reached his bedroom window.
Inside, he could still hear Uncle snoring in the other room. He sighed in relief and sat down at his desk, kicking off his shoes.
"You know, Nephew," Uncle said at breakfast, "The best secrets are kept during daylight hours. All sounds seem loud in the darkness."
Zuko groaned, dropping his head on the table.