      |
Jet (Original link) Author:Phrenic_entropy When he pulled back the (meticulously perfect –just how much time did that kid have on his hands now, anyway?) wrapping to behold what was within, he almost dropped it in surprise. He’d stalked Zuko for a couple of years once upon a time for this damnable device; if he’d known that all he’d had to do to get the little rich kid to relinquish ownership of the sacred PSP was to have him inadvertently ruin his life, then he’d have been endeavoring to get him to burn down half of his childhood home ages ago. Eagerly, though he had long since abandoned such puerile interests and had gone on to bigger, better things –petty vandalism, clever pranks—he tore off the rest of the blue paper and cast the leavings aside with one hand, flicking the machine on with the other. The screen flickered white for an instant as Jet plunged head-long into a warm nostalgia, and then, abruptly, lines of pink static began to scroll leisurely up the length of the window, and Jet was rudely ejected from remembered childhood escapades and brought back to the hissing object in his hands. He had known Zuko, and he knew that the other boy was not, by nature, spiteful. This meant something. His eyes flickered briefly to the crumpled and discarded wrapping paper on the ground some few feet away, and back down to the broken machine, and he understood the message as clearly as if it had been written out for him: Zuko may have been gone, and Jet may now be in possession of the things he had once loved, but Zuko had had them first, when there were new and perfect and weren’t…damaged. Jet could only have what was left in his wake—the broken aftermath. Jet scowled, bit back the snarl trying to escape, and threw the PSP in the closest trashcan absently because, after all, this had nothing to do with the old machine. By the time Jet makes it outside, he decides that the time is right to make Katara his girlfriend. ---- But Jet is merely emboldened by her initial rejection. Jet had not received a “No, I’m sorry; I really think we’re better as friends.” He was also rather glad she hadn’t stared blankly, or laughed, or punched him. Instead, when Jet approached Katara about being his girlfriend (oh-so-suavely and cool), he had received an encouraging, “Are you retarded? Of course I won’t go out with you. You’re an idiot and a vandal and you never bathe! Plus, you never think about anyone but yourself, you think ‘grooming’ is a term for marriage, and you never even looked at me until Azula dumped you, and certainly not at any point before that, in your stalker days, when Zu—“ She cut herself at this point, and Jet is determined not to marvel until later, in the privacy of a room he can tear to pieces, at how Zuko seems to somehow insert himself into Katara’s thoughts even now, so long after departing. Instead, he takes this to mean that she’s obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this, about him, and decides that this Bodes Very Well For His Chances. --- “You know you’re crazy about me, Katara. It’s okay to admit it. All you have to do is say ‘Jet, you devilishly handsome dog, of course I’ll be your lady-friend,’ and I’m all yours, princess.” The rumors about Haru’s sexuality, incidentally, begin on this day, when he (being the only one on-hand knowledgeable in such things, as his mother is a nurse) is forced to perform CPR to resuscitate Jet in the aftermath of Katara’s placid refusal. --- “Hello, Fair One. Listen well, for I have composed for you a sonnet, in three acts.” “Sonnets don’t have acts, you moron.” “…you could at least give me a chance.” “You probably just stole it from Shakespeare, anyway, in which case, it’s likely that I read it myself last week in English, and am hence already familiar with it, and you reading just wastes both our time.” “…you’re good.” --- He watches with smug fascination as her cheeks flame at what he has written in the note he has just passed to her, and when she meets his eyes, he startles somewhat, because she’s…smiling. He wonders if this means she’s going to beat him up after school. --- “Hey, Katara, I—“ “No.” --- “Howdy, ma’am, I was curious—“ “No.” --- “Katara, I—“ She huffs, rubs her forehead, glares full-force. “Jet, for the last time--!” He grabs her hand, shoves a shrink-wrapped twinkie into her palm, and speaks, “I like you, Katara. This isn’t a prank, and I’m not going to give up until you give in.” She opens her mouth to speak, and he isn’t sure she even realizes she’s crying. Lightly, he touches a finger to her lips, which are working like a fish’s. “You don’t have to answer now, k? We’ll talk later.” He brushes a swift peck across her lips before he hurries away, unable to watch her any longer with such a starkly haunted, grieved look on her face. At lunch, when a grumbling Toph hands him her note of assent (“surrender,” she calls it, and he grins), Jet finds that the crowing triumph he knows he should be feeling is somehow outweighed by the sudden maddening insight that he has only managed to conquer her by dredging up a painful past, and this makes him angry –irrationally so—and also somewhat sorry.
|
