Chapter Text
Jet looks past the cover of the washing line into ‘Lee’ and ‘Mushi’s’ apartment, waiting for evidence of their fire bending identity to come out. He looks through Zuko’s bedroom window and sees the man lying on his mattress, staring at the ceiling, waiting for his uncle to finish cooking dinner. Jet couldn’t help but continue to look into Zuko’s room for longer than he should’ve, studying every one of his decorations, well, lack of decorations as they had just moved in. Jet grins as Iroh walks over to the kitchen, glancing down into his own palm where the fire bender's spark rocks lie.
“You’ll have to fire bend, old man.”
Jet whispers to himself. Iroh returns to the room with their neighbour's spark rocks, successfully boiling his tea without fire bending. Jet curses under his breath as he sees the flame light, he will have to find another way to prove his accusations. Jet stays focused on their dingy apartment, watching Zuko and Iroh talk, argue and ignore each other until the street lanterns are lit.
After a few hours of nothing, Jet cuts his losses and quietly slides down the brick wall of the house the roof he was hiding on belonged to. As his feet hit the ground, he hears two sets of footsteps creep up behind him. The blood drains from his face as he suspects that the Dai Li are about to catch him stalking an innocent refugee and his uncle, but Jet knows that those two Fire Nation liars are anything but innocent.
“Well, Jet, out late huh?”
At first, the statement scares Jet, but he calms down after he recognizes the voice of the young girl. Smellerbee and Longshot had caught up with him. “I-It’s not what you think.” He tries to reason with his friends.
“Jet, you promised us you’d drop this whole- thing!” Jet almost claps back at the girl, before he bites his tongue and owns up to his wrongdoings.
“Yeah, I know I said– but… I swear I’m not crazy! I saw the old man fire bend his tea at the train station–,” He gets cut off by his fellow freedom fighter.
“Jet, don’t you remember the reason we came to Ba Sing Se? A fresh start.” She mellows out her tone. “Listen… Longshot and I can’t stop you from doing– anything, but seriously, these people are just innocent refugees like us.” Jet doesn't respond. "We’ll be waiting for you back home, ‘mk?” She comforts Jet, putting a hand on his shoulder, he sends a lazy mhm back at her, still thankful for her words.
He’s about to shortly follow his friends back to their apartment, but he hears Iroh and Zuko start talking again, and, well, curiosity gets the better of him and he resumes hiding behind the washing line of their neighbours. Jet learns about Iroh’s date with some boarding-pass-attendant-thing-girl from back at the ferries that got them to the walled city. On the topic of dates, the old man brings up Jin, the girl Zuko has been on dates with.
Jet hates Jin.
Jet didn’t know why he hated her so much. Maybe it was that stupid hair of hers. She was allowed to be close to Zuko, but not in the way Jet wanted to be close to him; to end him. Jin was normal around him, she could be friendly around him, and she could even… kiss him.
Jet stopped his train of thought when the image of Jin and Zuko kissing was embedded in his brain. Thoughts of him being in the place of Jin in those prior fantasies flooded his mind. Jet had to admit it, Zuko was attractive . On the ferry, Zuko took his tunic off in front of him. He was skinny and pale, he looked like he hadn’t eaten for a couple of days. Cuts, scars and bruises were littered across his ribs. At the time, he didn’t mind seeing Zuko like this, his clothes off in a dark room, a single lantern lighting up both their faces. If it weren't for Smellerbee interrupting them, they probably would’ve kissed that night. Concerning the imperfections and irritations that lie on his skin, Jet assumed he must’ve been on the road for a while, fending for himself, plus his elderly uncle. Now Jet knows he probably got the marks from fighting helpless Earth Kingdom peasants, typical.
Jet notices the time and quietly sneaks back home, just a few blocks down from the fire bender's apartment. He grips his hooked swords until his knuckles turn white, ready for any danger that the Spirits decide to throw at him that night. He gets stopped by a few Dai Li agents on his walk home, questioning why he was out on the streets so late with weapons in hand. He played the “I got lost,” excuse and finally made it home to the, equally as dingy apartment the three friends rent. Smellerbee gives Jet a look when he stumbles into the main room.
“Took you long enough.” Longshot nods in agreement.
“Got lost.” he recycles the same excuse, his tone neutral, yet affirmative. There's a loud silence that fills the room.
“You’re obsessed with this– you’re obsessed with him,” Smellerbee is the one to break it. Jet’s eyes widened at the claim. “Stop.” He whispers as he drops his swords on the wooden floor and storms off into the bathroom.
Jet undresses and pours a bucket of water over his body, smoothing it into his hair, admiring the scars he’s acquired over the years. He thinks back to Zuko and the time he let Jet touch his scar. He was careful, it was obvious that he was self-conscious about it. He tensed up as Jet’s fingers pressed against the redness, his hand caressed Zuko’s cheek and his thumb made small circles around his left eye.
“What… happened?’ As soon as he asked, Zuko grabbed the wrist of the hand touching his scar. “Lee–”
“ Stop ” Zuko quickly snaps back at Jet.
“You’re beautiful–” Jet whispers as he leans in closer to him as Zuko turns away,
“Sorry,” he softens his grip.
“Don’t be, I-I shouldn’t have asked,” after Jet speaks, Zuko gets up and goes to find his uncle. He couldn’t care less about Zuko’s feelings today, yet he still thinks about that moment and the amount of trust Zuko put into Jet.
He gets out of the makeshift shower and picks up a towel to dry himself off. He yells to Longshot to throw him his second change of clothes; his sleepwear, which adopts a more traditional Earth Kingdom style. Jet lies down on his mattress, a few feet away from the other two’s shared bed. He can’t sleep, his mind going at a million miles a minute. He replays what Smellerbee said to him just shy of an hour ago; “– you’re obsessed with him,” Jet is disgusted by even the thought of that being true. He hated Zuko and his guts, he wanted nothing more than to stop those firebenders and make them leave Ba Sing Se for good. He lies awake thinking of other methods to expose the pair he was just stalking observing. He stayed awake for almost an hour, brainstorming, hitting a dead end and getting distracted by the end of it, then it hit him. Gaining ‘Lee’s’ trust, then letting it crumble after he gets what he wants.
The morning after, Jet rises and gets changed into his usual attire, he takes a second to look at himself in the tiny cracked bathroom mirror, fixing his hair and attempting to straighten out some of the wrinkles in his clothing. As he walks into the main room and picks up his swords he had thrown there the night before out of anger. He looks to his left and sees his friends kneeling at the dining table, Jet's breakfast already cold on the table next to them.
"Sleep well?" Asks Smellerbee in a loving tone, probably trying to comfort Jet after his fit last night, he gives her a hum and a nod as he sits down across from her and Longshot.
"I was thinking about what you said last night and I... I've decided to drop the whole 'Lee' thing." He felt bad lying to his friends, but this was for the better of the city and people. Smellerbee flashes a warm smile and laughs.
"That's good." Her response was short and sweet, but it made Jet feel even worse for lying to her and Longshot.
"I was actually thinking of spending more time with him." Ok, that wasn't technically a lie, he was planning on spending time with Zuko, but for a different reason.
"That's good." Smellerbee repeats her answer.
"Well- I was about to go to his tea shop and talk to him." His friends nod as Jet leaves their apartment.
He walks in the door, a bell rings as he opens it. He walks to a table and seats himself, as he does, Zuko notices him and walks over to greet him.
"Lee, how are you doing?" Jet says cheerfully.
"Fine thanks." He was still shy, but he had a smile, he was warming up to Jet. He takes his order and quickly comes out with the cup of steaming jasmine tea. Jet rolls his eyes after Zuko turns his back to him, Iroh probably firebended the tea due to the heat coming off it, Jet jokingly theorised before he reluctantly downed the cup. "I'm taking my break!" He yells, probably directed at his uncle. He sits down across from Jet and slouches into the seat below him.
"Long time no see." Jet makes a snobby remark.
"Hah, it's only been a week." Zuko adds, smiling while sipping his own tea he got from the backroom. There's a silence that lingers between them. "Sorry uh- about our last encounter." He says, referring to the time he let Jet feel his scar.
“No, no. It's uh- it's all ok." Jet says, a slight blush creeps over his face as he fidgets with his fingers. "I'd like to see you again... sometime." Jet puts his plan into motion. "We could... go somewhere, catch up... I haven't seen you since the ferry trip." Jet proposes.
"I'd like that." Zuko takes another sip out of his teacup.
"H-how about tonight! We could meet at that...uh- noodle place down the street." Jet struggled to get his words out.
"How about tomorrow? I have plans with Jin after my shift." Of course. Of course he had plans with that stupid girl Jin. A wave of jealousy had washed over Jet, for a reason he didn't yet know, he reluctantly agreed to the change of plans. The date didn't matter, he was going to expose ‘Lee’ for the Fire Nation trash he was.
trash he was.