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So this was it. Tomorrow Jet and his Freedom Fighters (and yes he's still calling them that) are gonna raid the Dai Li’s base under Lake Laogai. He should be making for bed right around now. Make sure he’s well rested for what might be the fight of his life. There will be a lot of people counting on him. He can’t afford to be anything less than his absolute best. It’s what Jet owes them.
And yet
Here he is. In just about the shadiest bar Jet could find in the Lower Ring, because it’s the only place where they could ask for alcohol without immediately being thrown out. Stupid laws. Sure, they’ll let kids sleep on the streets and work the field, but Shu forbid they let you forget your troubles for a little bit. Except tonight Jet will be facing his trouble instead, because he’s here with Lee of all people.
They’ve been sitting in silence for a while now. Jet because he’s tired of pretending he knows what he’s doing and that he has a plan for anything. That routine had been getting old since they blew up that damn dam. And Lee’s silent because he’s Lee. Jet swears Longshot talks more than him. So they’re just sipping at their beers. Lee more than him, this stuff is more bitter than Jet had been expecting. Probably why Lee seems to like it so much.
Suddenly, Lee orders a drink Jet hadn’t heard of before. He probably got that off the menu. Lee always seems to flaunt his literacy.
“Come on.” Lee prods, as the bartender pours their drinks, “Out with it.”
“What?” Jet asks, because there’s nothing wrong with spending an evening just enjoying a few beers.
Lee scoffs. “You’ve obviously been trying to tell me something.”
So what if he is? Can’t a man take his time anymore? “I’m trying to get to it!” Jet explains.
“So get to it!” Lee demands, “I don’t have all night.”
“Shut-up! This talking thing isn’t as easy as I make it look okay!”
“Maybe you should try this shutting up thing more then.” Lee says, his stupid face all smug, “It would suit you.”
Lee was just saying about how Jet needed to start talking! “You!...” Jet starts, but ultimately doesn’t rise to the bait, because, of the two of them, Jet’s the bigger man.
“You know what?” he says instead, “Fine!” and downs his glass and smacks it back down on the table, like he saw the older guys do. Only it turns out it doesn’t give him that extra boost they always seem to get. “I… I’ve been thinking about the raid tomorrow.”
Lee finally deflates at that. “What about it?” he mutters, trying to go for aloof. What a chump, doesn’t he know who he’s talking to?
“The~ you-know-who aren’t a joke.” Jet explains
“They’re not.” Lee agrees.
“There’s a chance things might go wrong.” Jet continues.
“More than just a chance.” Lee adds.
“I’m serious.” says Jet, “Like, someone could die tomorrow. I could die.”
“You might.”
“Will you stop that?” Jet exclaims, “It’s not exactly reassuring.”
Lee narrows his eyes. It doesn’t have the effect he seems to think it has. “If you’re looking for an excuse to chicken out.” he argues, “I’d rather have you do it now than tomorrow.”
“I’m not chickening out!” Jet counters before calming himself down, “Listen. We’re all gonna have to watch each other's back tomorrow.”
“You thought I wasn’t gonna?” Lee asks. Real hurt shining through his eyes for the first time tonight.
“No.” Jet answers, trying to put his full belief in that into the word, “I’m trying to tell you. If you’re going to risk your neck for me , you deserve to know the truth. Something I've been hiding from you from the moment we met.”
“Jet, you don't—”
“No. I do. I understand things will be different between us once i tell you, but ~”
Jet sighs, stopping mid-sentence. “That sounded stupid. Just know i’ll respect whatever choice you make. No hard feelings, okay?”
“Okay…”
Jet takes a deep breath “Lee,” he says, putting his hands on Lee's shoulders and looking him right in the eyes, ”I… flooded a village once.”
“I love you too~ I mean what?”
“Nobody ended up dying,” Jet clarifies, even though that had been his intention. Because it feels important somehow. “But I still— What did you just say?
“Nothing!” Lee lies, “I said I burned down a village too!”
“What!”Jet shouts, not caring about what anyone else in the bar might think if they heard them, because this was clearly a dream. “Are you serious?”
‘Why would I lie about that?” dream-Lee asks him. Like Jet’s the weird one for asking.
“Because you were supposed to be all good and shit!” Jet exclaims, not caring that normally Lee would never let him live such a confession down. Normal was beaten up in an alleyway and dumped into the river sometime 3 drinks ago, “Different from all those other ashmakers!”
Lee looks to be of one mind with Jet this, because he doesn’t seem to care either. “I was?” he asks instead, “Because, I never said that! Who are you to judge anyway?”
“I!..” Jet sputters, stumbling again. Lee always had an uncanny ability of speaking for the voice in Jet’s head masquerading as his conscience. He might really be dreaming. “I just told you no one died when I flooded that village!”
“Oh what, you think I’m stupid?” Lee asks, ignoring that he already had to know jet’s answer to that question, “You telling me you evacuated the whole village before flooding it?”
“ No …” Jet mutters, “The Avatar’s friend did that.”
“And did you have anything to do with that?” Lee asks.
“Does it really matter if I didn't?” Jet counters, “The end result was the same.”
“In that case: no one died when I burned down that village either!” Lee declares, “So there.”
“Shut up.” Jet growls. He would appreciate it if Lee was gonna be so brazen about lying he at least try to make it sound convincing.
“It’s true!” Lee persists, “The Avatar flew away and then came back ride some kind of snake-eel monster taller than these Koh-damned walls and made it fucking rain.”
“Are you serious?” Jet asks, despite himself. Because that was too fantastical for Lee to make up.
Lee shots his entire glass. “I am.” He declares, then in a smaller voice he continues, “Really used to hate that kid.”
“Me too.” Jet mutters quietly and for a moment it’s silent again.
Then Jet pinches himself, confirming that he is awake. And this entire conversation he just had with Lee was real. Everything.
Fuck it. Jet thinks. He downs his glass and grabs Lee by the collar.
“What now?” Lee asks, his eyes defiant, already looking for a fight.
“You really are an idiot.” Jet tells him, pulling him in for a kiss. They ~ Keep doing that. The Kissing Thing. A lot. For a while.
By the time they break up, there’s suddenly two Lee’s sitting in front of Jet and there’s definitely a lot of people staring, but Jet doesn’t have it in him to care anymore.
The two of them sit back down. –They must’ve gotten up at some point, not that it matters. Once Jet has steadied himself he bullies Lee into paying for another round.
It’s gonna be a long night.