Work Text:
They hadn’t been at the Western Air Temple for more than a few hours but already chaos had taken hold of the group. The younger kids had run off to explore and Katara and Toph had taken to chasing Aang down as the twelve-year-old refused to sit still long enough for them to talk about their next move.
Sokka had disappeared shortly after.
He had been nearly silent their entire ride to the temple. Jet had been worried about him, but hadn’t been able to talk to him before he slipped away.
Jet found him sitting at the edge of the pagoda with his feet dangling over the edge.
Sokka had been trying to hide how hard the failure of the invasion was hitting him from the others but Jet knew. He could see it in the slump of Sokka’s shoulders when he thought no one was looking and the smiles that didn’t reach his eyes as they normally did.
Jet could be honest.
He and Sokka never really got along. So, when Pipsqueak and The Duke had recruited him, Smellerbee and Longshot for this wild invasion scheme Sokka had thought up, Jet had nearly told them to forget it.
Nearly.
The glint in Smellerbee’s eyes, the smirk on Longshot’s face and the pleading face of The Duke had him changing his mind before he could think better of it.
Jet wasn’t sure what he had expected when they joined up with the rest of the invasion on the ship. Finding out Aang had nearly bit it had thrown him for a loop but nothing threw him off more than how Sokka acted.
Katara was expected. She made sure he was okay from his brainwashing stint and then proceeded to ignore his existence because she was still mad at him for what happened when they first met.
Sokka however wasn’t.
---
That first day there, they had gathered all their new recruits from the day and ran them through the invasion plan. Jet was impressed, even more so when he learned whose idea it had been. Sokka may have ruined his attempts to rid the Fire Nation from the nearby village but this plan of his to invade the Fire Nation was nearly foolproof.
Jet, from years of planning these types of ambush attacks, saw a few flaws but he was hesitant to bring them up and instead slipped away from the group.
He hadn’t expected to be followed.
“Jet,” Sokka said, stopping a few steps from Jet as he turned around.
“Sokka,” Jet replied, waiting for what the other wanted.
“It’s good to see you’re okay,” Sokka said. “Those Dai Li guys were real creeps.”
“You’re the one who carried me out,” Jet pointed out, and Sokka had been.
When Jet was hit with that rock by Long Feng, he knew there wasn’t anything Katara’s healing could have done about it. He knew he was going to die down there. He needed a real doctor, one who knew how to properly set bones but there wasn’t one under Lake Laogai. When Longshot and Smellerbee took up arms to protect him as the Dai Li closed in on the group, Jet told them to run. Sokka hadn’t listened, and as much as Jet didn’t want to admit it, he was grateful Sokka was stubborn enough to pick Jet up and carry him with them. Even if he did protest the whole way.
“If you hadn’t, I would have died down there,” Jet said.
“Yeah, well,” Sokka said, rubbing the back of his head, “welcome aboard.”
Jet nodded and went to leave when Sokka narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t drown anyone,” Sokka said, before running off towards his father.
Jet watched as Hakoda ruffled Sokka’s hair and felt a longing fill his chest. It had been a long time since his own father had been alive to do that.
Jet looked away and left for his room.
---
From there, Sokka’s behavior only got stranger.
Jet knew Sokka. Not well, in all honesty, but enough to know the guy spoke with great confidence when he believed in something. So, to see him studder through meeting and planning sessions was a new concept.
Jet couldn’t help but marvel at the difference between the Sokka stumbling through the meetings and the Sokka who got up in his face to yell at him.
Eventually, due to Sokka’s less than graceful speeches, Jet grew confidant enough to start injection his own opinions into the planning sessions.
“Are we really invading an island by sea?” Jet asked. “Whoever thought of that is stupid. The Fire Nation will stop it before we get there.”
This was when the Sokka Jet knew best showed up.
“Well, you’re stupid,” Sokka blurted out.
Jet narrowed his eyes as Sokka puffed up in indignation. He wasn’t sure who started it but they ended up having a screaming match for a while before Sokka’s father put an end to it.
Jet had no clue what Hakoda said to Sokka but he figured it was similar to what the man told him.
“Look, son,” Hakoda had started.
“You’re not my father,” Jet bit out.
“No,” Hakoda said slowly, “I’m not. That doesn’t mean I can’t give you some advice. This isn’t the time to be driving wedges between our ranks and antagonizing others on the ship. You made some good points, but maybe present them politer next time.”
“I was polite,” Jet objected.
“You called the plan to invade by sea stupid,” Hakoda said.
“The Fire Nation an island,” Jet objected, “there’s no way they don’t have defenses in place to stop waterway invasions. Ambush relies on not being expected which means you need to attack in a way the enemy isn’t prepared for.”
“Then mention that without calling my son an idiot,” Hakoda said, a frown on his face. “We’re already working on that anyway.”
Jet huffed and walked off.
He hadn’t meant to stumble upon Sokka so soon after but that’s exactly who he barreled right into.
“Here to mock me again?” Sokka demanded.
“No, here to get away from your attack dad,” Jet said, pushing past him.
Sokka paused in the hallway and looked up at the ceiling as if asking for strength.
“Jet,” Sokka called. “Would you be willing to look over the plan and poke your annoying holes in it so I can fix them?”
“What?” Jet demanded.
“You, look over the plans. You, find flaws. I, fix those flaws,” Sokka said.
Jet narrowed his eyes and Sokka held up his hands in surrender.
“Never mind then,” Sokka said.
“Give me the plans,” Jet muttered.
Despite what Sokka had just said, Jet was surprised when the plans were actually handed to him.
---
This started an odd working relationship between the two. Jet would tear holes in the plan and Sokka would fix them, then repeat. Jet found Sokka’s excitement at being told his plan sucked odd, but every time Jet handed him back a plan with notes on it, Sokka’s eyes lit up in excitement.
Jet refused to admit getting new plans to tear apart excited him too, particularly when the plans started becoming more and more difficult to poke holes in. Sokka’s plan had gone from foolproof to impossible to beat.
In the same time, Sokka and Jet had become slightly less hostile towards each other and trading plans while ignoring one another soon became planning together.
“What are you doing?” Jet demanded, when Sokka followed him back to his room.
“What?” Sokka asked, planting his fist on his hip. “I just want to watch your process.”
“Why so you can cut out the middle man?” Jet asked, pulling the plans closer to himself. He didn’t want Sokka to take them from him.
“No,” Sokka said, “I’m just, uh, curious?”
“Is that a question?” Jet asked.
“No?” Sokka said, shaking his head. “Never mind, I didn’t think you’d be so difficult about it but I should have known.”
Jet pursed his lips as Sokka started walking away.
“Wait,” Jet called, feeling slightly bad at the slump of the other’s shoulders. He and Sokka were doing better than they used to, Jet didn’t feel like ruining it. Sokka, while occasionally annoying, was a strong ally to have. “You can come watch.”
Sokka pumped his fist in the air slightly before turning around and dragging Jet down the hall as he rambled on about something he had changed in the plan.
Jet looked down at where Sokka was holding his wrist. There was an odd swooping in his stomach but it wasn’t dread. He wasn’t quite sure how to define it.
---
It didn’t take the ship long to realize that if you needed to find Sokka or Jet they would probably be together.
They were often found leaning over a table in the war room and debating over potential maneuvers or in one of their rooms, yelling at each other over some new idea or objection the other had. Occasionally they would be on the main deck as the two either fished or sparred together. Around meal times it was easy to find them, tucked into a corner as the two loudly and obnoxiously picked at each other.
Jet hadn’t realized how close the two of them had gotten until Smellerbee confronted him about it the next time the Freedom Fighters gathered together.
“I thought you hated Sokka,” Smellerbee said, as she sharpened her knife.
Jet shrugged. “He saved my life,” Jet said. “He’s okay, even if he does have a bleeding heart.”
Smellerbee raise her eyebrow at him but went back to what she was doing without another comment.
Longshot looked at him pointedly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jet said, narrowing his eyes at the archer. “There’s nothing going on between Sokka and I!”
“Well, I think it’s great,” Pipsqueak said. “You seem to be having fun, and that’s the important part.”
“Sokka and I aren’t having fun,” Jet said. “We’re planning an invasion!”
“Sokka’s so cool,” The Duke yelled, throwing out his arms. “Can he be a member now that you’re friends?”
“We aren’t friends!” Jet yelled.
“Course not,” Smellerbee muttered, “cause you’re boyfriends.”
“Are not,” Jet yelled as The Duke make a yuck face.
Longshort gave the group a mournful look.
“He’s right,” Smellerbee said. “It’s not our business. I’m sorry Jet, it’s just nice seeing you calm down for once. Ba Sing Se got bad and what’s coming is going to be bad, but for now we have some time to rest and for once you’re doing so.”
Jet pulled the young girl into a side hug and ruffled her hair. “Sure, kid,” Jet said, though now he couldn’t get her comment out of his head.
---
It was still ringing in his ears the next night, when he found Sokka kneeling next to the railing of the ship and staring out over the water. Jet nearly walked off and gave the other his space, but something about Sokka seemed off, so Jet joined him at the railing instead.
Sokka side-eyed him for a moment, but said nothing. He turned his attention back towards the water and he and Jet just sat in silence.
Sokka watched the water and Jet watched Sokka.
Sokka’s keen gaze was scanning the water as if for threats, but Jet knew he was only thinking through something in his head. He’d seen Sokka do it often enough while the planned. Sokka’s eyes may seem to track something but his thoughts were far beyond whatever he was looking at.
The moon was high in the sky at this point, and bathed the ship in a soft pale light. It was only a crescent moon, so the light wasn’t much, but it was enough to make out the frown on Sokka’s face.
“Jet,” Sokka finally said, “how do you do it?”
“I’m going to need more than that to work with,” Jet said, squinting at Sokka. “How do I do what?”
“Talk with such confidence even when you’re wrong?” Sokka asked.
Jet narrowed his eyes. “First off, I’m never wrong,” Jet said. He didn’t really mean it. Jet had learned recently that maybe he took things a bit too far at times. If Ba Sing Se taught him anything, it was that he could easily get himself into more trouble than he could get out of on his own. Still, it pulled a reaction from Sokka, which was what Jet wanted.
Sokka rolled his eyes, but a soft smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth.
“Secondly, if you’re talking about your plan, you just need to remember that it’s your plan. No one in the room knows more about it that you do,” Jet said. “That makes you the most knowledgeable by default, so they have to listen to you if they want to know.”
“Is it really so simple?” Sokka asked. “I feel like a kid every time I get up to speak.”
“Well, you are one,” Jet said, “but that doesn’t make you incapable. The Freedom Fighters are kids and we manage just fine. Aang’s a kid, but they expect things from him, so why not us? The war doesn’t care that we’re kids Sokka, so why should we? We’re fighters just as the rest of them. If they don’t like that, it doesn’t matter. It won’t change anything.”
“Yeah,” Sokka said, looking out at the water again. “I guess you’re right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
They sat in silence for awhile longer. Sokka’s gaze now firmly locked on the moon’s reflection in the water and Jet’s locked on the shadows of Sokka’s face.
Sokka startled him slightly as he turned to face Jet. He was closer than Jet was expecting.
“Thanks, Jet,” Sokka said, not seeming to notice the distance, or lack of, between them. “I think I really needed to hear that. I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you,” Jet whispered, as he watched Sokka walk away.
---
His next warning that things were getting more serious than he had planned, was when Katara ambushed him in his room of all places.
“What’s your game this time, Jet,” Katara said, slamming the door shut behind him as Jet entered his room.
Jet nearly jumped through the ceiling at her random appearance. If there was one person on this ship Jet knew not to mess with, it was her. He wasn’t dumb enough to play games with her after last time, so he had to wonder just what he’d done to anger her.
“What are you talking about?” Jet asked.
“I’m not stupid, Jet,” Katara said, crossing her arms as she marched towards him. Jet took a step back. “All that chummy behavior you’re playing with Sokka, I’ve seen it before. What’s your angle this time? There’s not a dam around to blow up so it’s got to be something else.”
“Katara,” Jet said, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture. “I’m sorry I used you and Aang to flood that village, I broke your trust and I’m a jerk, but I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“My brother, Jet,” Katara said, stepping closer again. Jet took another step back, more than aware of how powerful Katara was. He didn’t feel like getting frozen to the wall. “What do you want with him?”
“Nothing!” Jet said. “We’re just planning the invasion together.”
Katara glared at him before her face softened with confusion. “That’s it?” Katara asked.
“Was there supposed to be more?” Jet asked, more than lost as to where this conversation was going.
Katara looked him up and down for a moment. It didn’t take long after that before she started laughing loudly.
“Um, Katara?” Jet asked.
“Why are boy’s so stupid,” Katara asked. “Oh, Sokka, I hope you know the mess you’re getting into.”
“What?” Jet asked, but Katara merely snorted before leaving the room.
Jet stared at the door for a moment before deciding he was better off just going to bed. Katara was a mystery he was never going to solve.
---
The last warning Jet got that his feelings for Sokka had grown well away from animosity and well past friendship, was too late.
Within a day, it seemed Aang had woken up, had some sort of personal panic and bailed. His friends left with him. Sokka left with him, while Jet was left behind on the ship.
Jet quickly realized that without Sokka around, he didn’t really know what to do with himself. The other teen had been the one he spent all his time with and without Sokka to run the plans through with, Jet felt slightly useless.
Planning was taken over by Hakoda and Bato and Jet was left to wander the ship.
Jet quickly realized that without Sokka around, he was lonely.
Over the course of their mission to gather more troops, they had picked up the rest of the scattered Freedom Fighters, including Sneers who had all but disappeared off Jet’s radar almost as soon as the dam plan failed, but even they didn’t fill the void Sokka had unknowingly left behind.
Sokka wasn’t a Freedom Fighter. He was something else and Jet supposed that was why. Sokka wasn’t a kid who needed to be taken care of like the others. Only Longshot and Pipsqueak were close to Jet in age but it still wasn’t the same, as without the Freedom Fighters both older boys weren’t accepted into normal society for the stupidest of reasons. They may be Jet’s age but they still relied on Jet for safety.
Sokka didn’t rely on Jet. At least not in the same ways as the others. Sokka had been an equal to Jet.
Sokka had kept up with Jet’s thoughts and had bounced idea back and forth easily. The Freedom Fighters were bright kids but Jet didn’t feel comfortable bouncing ideas with them.
Jet came to the startling conclusion, after only a week, that he had come to rely on Sokka, as much as the other boy did on him.
More importantly, Jet missed Sokka, badly, and that was a concept Jet quickly pushed down as he didn’t now how to deal with it. Jet hadn’t relied on anyone fully since his parents died, and to do so now during the war, wasn’t wise.
---
“You’ve been quiet,” Hakoda said, walking up behind Jet as he stood in the cafeteria.
“What?” Jet asked, turning towards the man.
“You’ve been quiet,” Hakoda repeated, “since Sokka left. In the meetings you never speak up anymore. I know it can be intimidating to be the youngest in the room, but your ideas have been missed, even if you attitude hasn’t.”
Jet made a face at that. Hakoda kept trying to parent him and Jet wasn’t about to let him do so.
“Nothing to say,” Jet replied, trying to walk off.
“Now I know that’s a lie,” Hakoda joked. “You’ve always had something to say since you set foot on this ship. Now I’m not Sokka, but we still have a few bumps to smooth out and you’re the best at finding them.”
“Why do you keep bringing up Sokka, huh?” Jet demanded, grabbing some food.
Hakoda stared at him for a moment, before glancing over Jet’s shoulder. Jet followed his gaze over to Bato who stood at the edge of the room with his arms crossed. His brow was raised as he looked back at Hakoda in question.
“No reason,” Hakoda said, drawing Jet’s attention back to him. “Just that, ever man needs a friend at his back and it seems like yours is gone.”
“I’ve got plenty of friends at my back,” Jet growled. Jet had the Freedom Fighters at his back again. He didn’t need Sokka to function.
“Sure,” Hakoda said, rising his hands for peace. It was a gesture Sokka often did and Jet was unreasonably mad to see the older man doing it, too. “Just try to engage in the meetings more. We can’t afford to slip up now.”
Jet frowned after the man as he walked over to Bato. Bato turned to follow Hakoda even before Hakoda had reached him and the two men slipped from the room together.
Jet realized in that moment, that he had never seen them apart.
---
While Jet would never admit it to Hakoda, the few weeks Sokka was gone, Jet had felt restless, which was why he was more than ready for the invasion.
He felt jittery the closer and closer they got to Fire Nation waters, and when they crossed that barrier and through the blockade, Jet felt both excitement and fear take ahold.
They were actually going to do this. He was actually going to see Sokka again.
Getting to take out the Fire Nation once and for all and getting to see Sokka made the coming victory all the sweeter.
Then it had all gone wrong.
Sokka had panicked when explaining the invasion and his father had to take over for him. Jet frowned slightly, knowing that had to of stung Sokka’s pride.
What really got to Jet about the whole thing, was that Sokka was normally more well-spoken than that. It was a shame nerves had gotten to him.
If he had stayed, instead of galivanting off with Aang, Jet could have given him some more public speaking pointers. He had been doing better after their late-night talk but Jet supposed such a big moment cause Sokka to backslide.
Then the invasion had launched. Jet’s suspicion that attacking by boat would fail had been right, but Hakoda wasn’t lying when he said Sokka had a plan. The subs had turned out better than Jet was expecting and they made it through to the plaza.
For a moment, Jet had felt like they were actually going to win this.
Jet had been with the ground forces, fighting with the earthbenders in the tanks Sokka had designed, and had missed much of what was going on in Aang’s corner.
In fact, until the dust settled, Jet hadn’t really known what had gone wrong.
Toph had been the one to clue everyone in as Sokka sulked at the back of Appa and Aang ignored everyone at the front.
It turned out that Princess Azula had already known they were coming. No amount of planning would have made this less of a trap. Jet knew the first rule of any ambush was to not be expected. The second was to always have a quick escape, something the Fire Nation had blasted away from them with their new airships.
As huge balloons flew overhead and dropped bombs down onto the submarines Sokka had designed, Jet knew there wouldn’t be a victory today.
The disbelieving and broken look in Sokka’s eyes only highlighted the thought when they locked on his own.
They were trapped.
Rather, the adults were trapped, as those under eighteen were swiftly shoved on the back of Appa. Jet wasn’t sure how the bison would carry so many people with most of the Freedom Fighters on the back of it. Only Pipsqueak remined behind, saluting them as they flew off.
Jet had almost demanded the eighteen-year-old come with them as well, but knew there wasn’t room. Instead, he turned to The Duke who was crying as he watched Pipsqueak become smaller and smaller.
---
Which brought Jet to now, as he looked over at Sokka where he sat, looking down into the crater at the center of the Western Air Temple.
“It’s not your fault,” Jet said, sitting next to the other teen.
Sokka huffed. “Yeah, everyone seems to want to say that,” Sokka said. “We still could have found him. We had the time to search but Azula distracted us. I managed to get Aang and Toph to stop chasing her and to follow me but then she mentioned Suki and I froze.”
“Suki?” Jet asked. Something about the way Sokka said her name was important.
“She was my almost girlfriend but mostly she’s one of my best friends,” Sokka said. “Azula impersonated Kyoshi warriors to get into the Earth King’s palace. I didn’t think she had captured real ones to steal the uniforms off of, but if she had Suki arrested then I guess she did. Hearing Suki’s name, well, it tripped me up and we lost our opportunity.”
Jet shook his head. “It was a failure from the start if they knew we were coming,” Jet said. “The fault lies with the person who went blabbing to her.”
“It was my invasion plan,” Sokka said. “Now, my dad and countless others are being shipped off to prison.”
“It would have worked Sokka,” Jet insisted. “The two smartest people I know came up with it. It would have worked if we had the element of surprise like we thought.”
Sokka turned away from him and scoffed in disbelief.
“Hey,” Jet said, “like I said, I helped with that plan too and so did your dad. We knew what we were getting into. We knew the odds. We knew it might not work but we had to try anyway. Sokka, this isn’t your fault and there will be other chances to strike a blow to the Fire Nation. The fight won’t be over until there’s no one left to fight it.”
Sokka nodded before looking up at Jet.
“I missed you,” Sokka said. “When Katara was trying to liberate a town and seemingly took a page from your book or when Toph was running scams and got arrested or, well there were a lot of moments you would have been a great help in. I think Master Piandao would have liked you too, though considering he’s Fire Nation, you might not have liked him.”
Jet hummed, not having a clue what Sokka was referring to. “I missed you too,” Jet admitted, “but don’t tell anyone I said that.”
Sokka snorted.
“Can’t ruin your image?” Sokka said.
“Course not,” Jet joked back. “Seriously, though, it wasn’t the same without you there. I hadn’t realized how much time we actually spent together. It got lonely, even with all the others around.”
“Yeah, I felt the same” Sokka said, looking away from him. His shoulders lifted as he seemingly steeled himself for something. “Jet, can I be honest with you?”
“Sure,” Jet said, shrugging. “When haven’t we been honest with each other?”
Sokka paused and squinted over at him. “I’m not going to answer that,” he said. “Anyway I, well, at first when I was asking you to poke holes in my plans, I was just doing what my dad told me to do. Then I started actually having fun talking to you, but recently, when we were apart, I realized the way I am with you is a way I’ve never really experienced before. The closest I have to it was with Suki when we first met but even that isn’t quite right. I know we’ve had a rough past but, well, I’m glad you’re here.”
Jet looked over at Sokka and saw a question in his eyes. Jet had no clue what the question was but he wanted to find out.
Sokka leaned forwards towards him but pulled back slightly before sealing their lips together in a kiss.
When they pulled back Jet looked over Sokka’s face to watch panic over take his expression.
Jet kissed him back.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” Jet said as he pulled away.
“I kind of surprised myself there too,” Sokka replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “So, I’ve never really gotten past the kissing part and I don’t really know what to do.”
“I haven’t even made it to the kissing part until now,” Jet admitted, slowly.
“Oh,” Sokka said, “was it a good first kiss then?”
“Compared to what?” Jet asked.
“Right,” Sokka said, his face blushing darkly.
Jet sighed. “Look, let’s just do things how we’ve always done them and see where this goes,” Jet offered. “Sound good?”
“Yeah,” Sokka said, kissing him again, “sound’s good.”
“Uh, guys,” Aang called, “we have a problem.”
Jet turned to where the rest of the group had settled closer into the temple.
He rubbed his eyes slightly. What was Lee doing at the Western Air Temple?