FicWad

Set in an au I've vaguely thought out where Zuko teams up with the Freedom Fighters in Ba Sing Se to continue helping refugees. Cross-posted from my Ao3, not plagiarized!

Spring rainstorms were the bane of many Lower Ring citizens' existence; nothing ever seemed enough to keep out the chill or the damp, as if the rain were seeping through the cracked brick walls. The sound of water rushing over clay roof tiles was an unlucky sound that meant all the dust on the dirt paths, stirred up by constant foot traffic, would be a soggy, swampy mess by morning. 

Tonight, though, the heavy rainfall conceals the sound of footsteps on those same roof tiles, and the thick clouds covering the moon help obscure the slight silhouettes leaping between buildings, sliding down sloped rooftops and slipping through muddy alleyways. Behind them, three Dai Li agents run in hot pursuit. 

The two boys race through the tight space between two houses, using windowsills and laundry lines to vault across without leaving footprints in the soft earth — not that it would matter, the rain cascading off the roofs would wash it all away in minutes, but there's something of a challenge in it that neither boy feels like resisting.

A Dai Li agent appears at the end of the alley, cutting off their exit. Thinking quickly, the taller and leaner of the two draws out a long, hooked blade from under the bag of loot on his back, latching onto the edge of a roof and leaping up. His companion takes the offered hand and scuttles up the wall, and the Dai Li agents scramble to follow. 

The boys slide down the other side of the roof, landing in a dead-end alleyway. With agents closing in on all sides, it seems like they're sitting ducks. 

Thunder crashes, lightning cracking the sky in two. In the split second of having a clear target, the second of the two culprits hurls a dagger down the alley, catching the nearest agent's shoulder. Grabbing his companion's arm, he leaps up, catching onto the top of the wall. In seconds, they're both up and over, disappearing into the dense weave of houses on the other side; dense enough that tracking them down would only waste time and attract unwanted attention. The agents fall back, their quarry escaping yet again. 




In the darkness of an empty warehouse, Jet slumps against the wall, chest heaving with exertion. A moment later, the door creaks open, and he casts a smile toward where he knows Li is standing.

"I win. Again," he informs his companion, dropping his heavy bag of liberated provisions on the floor. "Guess there's always next time."

"Shut up," Li huffs. There's a snap of spark rocks hitting each other, and a candle flares to life on the floor in front of Li. His blue opera mask lays discarded on the floor, and the candlelight casts striking shadows on his face. He stands up, taking long strides to reach Jet. 

"Your nose is bleeding," Jet points out. Li frowns, wiping his nose, and frowns even more at the blood that comes off. 

"Must be from when that guy bent a rock glove at my face."

Jet leans in, gently tracing his fingers over the bone. Li barely flinches when Jet touches his face. "Well, it's not broken," Jet pronounces, tilting Li's face down and pressing a light kiss to the bridge of his nose. Li's face blooms into a brilliant red flush that's visible even in the dim light. Jet smiles, brushing a smear of blood away with his thumb. Outside, lightning flashes, visible through the wide cracks in the wooden walls. The rain pours down harder on the roof.

"I don't think we're getting the stuff back to the hideout tonight," he says.

"I know. I told Uncle not to wait up." Li sighs. "I did figure we'd be somewhere warm and dry for the night."

"We've got a roof and a pile of tarps," Jet points out. "And we'll dry out eventually."

Li shrugs. "Better than nothing," he concedes. 

Jet smiles. "Come on, let's get some rest."




Nestled in Li's arms, on a canvas in the candlelight, Jet can almost pretend this is a romantic occasion and not just the aftermath of a run for their life. Chest to chest, he can feel Li's heart, beating strong in his ribs (picking up speed when Jet's fingers brush through Li's soft hair; Jet smirks, and Li does his best to glare at him). 

"You were great up against those agents," he says, taking a hand off Li's back to swipe away a drop of blood he missed earlier; Li holds still until he's done, reciprocating the kiss Jet gives him afterward. His arms wrap around Jet's shoulders, warming the chilled, damp skin through the material of his shirt. 

"You were better," he murmurs, tangling a hand in Jet's hair. "I didn't do much."

"You threw that knife," Jet points out. "That's something." He kisses Li again, relishing in the soft, eager hum it produces from his partner. "We might not have gotten out alive if you hadn't."

"Whatever," Li huffs, honey-brown eyes rolling slightly as he pulls away; Jet frowns, disappointed, until Li's lips are on his neck, trailing soft openmouthed kisses from his jaw down to his collar. He closes his eyes, biting back a gasp as blunt nails rake against his scalp, and holds onto Li a little tighter. 

"I don't deserve you, you know that, Li?" he whispers, burying his face in Li's silky hair. His partner stiffens, his hand disentangling from Jet's hair to brace on the floor as Li pulls away, looking into Jet's eyes.

"You deserve better," he whispers back. "I'm only going to disappoint you."

Jet leans up to lay his forehead against Li's. "You couldn't. Not in a million years."

"You don't know me like that." 

"I know enough, don't I?" Jet searches Li's face, wishing he could take away the furrow between his brows, the frown lines at the corner of his mouth. But then, without those, it wouldn't really be Li, would it? "I mean it, Li, I lo—"

He cuts himself off. That kind of thing...he can't say that. It wouldn't be right to put that pressure on Li, not with a war on the city's doorstep and the beginnings of one brewing on the inside. Taking missions together, spending nights like this, partners for all intents and purposes — that's one thing, he can do that, but — bringing that much feeling into it, saying it out loud...

For a long time he's gotten by on having nothing to lose. By not keeping anyone that close. That distance is a safety net for him and for anyone around him. Li, he knows, functions the same way, and he sees it in his interactions with his uncle, with the other Freedom Fighters. With Jet. If he didn't, Jet probably wouldn't be with him, because he'd feel like a shit person for taking advantage, leading him on. There's no danger of that with Li right now.

Whatever they have, as perfect, amazing, beautiful as it is, is fragile. Jet's not going to be the one to break it. 

"I like you too much," he finishes weakly. "You're not gonna disappoint me."

Something flashes over Li's face that Jet can't name — can't here meaning won't, meaning refuses to let himself hope that it's disappointment, because if it is...he doesn't know what to do with that. At any rate, it's gone in an instant, and Li scoffs. 

"You just like making out. You could do that with anyone," he says. 

"Well, I don't want to do it with anyone," Jet retorts. Because he doesn't — he hardly wants to look at anyone else. "You're really sellin' yourself short. You trying to get me to break up with you or what?"

"Better than me having to do it," Li says, and it takes Jet a moment to realize he's half-serious; when he does, it's like a punch to the gut. 

"Li —"

"It's bound to happen, okay?" Li says. "You'll get sick of me, or — or get fed up with all my baggage and want me gone." 

"You don't know that," Jet says, forcing himself to stay calm. "You can't know that, not unless it happens, and it won't."

Li still doesn't look convinced. Jet sighs, taking Li's face in his hands. Leans in, pressing their lips together, putting all that unspoken feeling into the kiss. When they break apart, he rests his forehead against Li's.

"I'm not a quitter. Whatever you've got, I can take it. You believe me?"

Li's quiet a moment, before he sighs, settling with his head on Jet's shoulder. "Let's go to sleep. I'm tired."

Jet closes his eyes, but lays awake; from the slight occasional hitch in Li's breathing, he's not really asleep either. Jet holds him closer, winding a hand through his hair, and breathes in the faint scent of tea leaves and smoke. Feels the warmth of Li's skin chasing away the chill of the night, and tries to pour all that he feels into the embrace. 

He drifts off in the late hours of the night, to the steady rhythm of his partner's breathing, and the rain pouring down on the roof.