Modern AtLA -- Jetzula's First Date

Azula's grip on the wire fumbled when she heard a small cough behind her. "Lose your keys?"

She straightened up and turned, raising her eyebrows and quirking her lips into a smirk. "You could say that."

Jet's smile widened into that crazy grin of his. She adored that grin, how vivid and deadly it seemed. He was lighter than Mai, darker than Ty Lee -- something very much like Azula herself. "Need a hand?"

Azula handed her instruments over and stepped aside. "Be my guest."

Jet stepped forward and slid the wires down through the window opening. Azula leaned gently against the car, keeping an eye on the rest of the parking lot.

"You know, you could have been more subtle," Jet pointed out. Azula shrugged.

"It's not anywhere that people would usually notice."

"I noticed."

"Pardon me. It's not anywhere that people who the police would believe would usually notice."

"You're hilarious." Jet shimmied something, and the lock clicked. He stood and opened the door for her. "There. Your carriage, my lady."

"Why thank you, good sir," she replied. She climbed in and immediately began fiddling under the steering column. "Mai would have done it in half the time, though."

"Oh, a critic, now," Jet mused, raising an eyebrow. "Why isn't she here?"

"She's off on one of her precious dates with my brother," Azula sighed heavily, cutting a few wires with her pocket knife. "And Ty Lee's doing a bit of filming for her latest tv movie."

"I thought she was done with that?"

"Her director wanted another take on a scene or something," she griped. "I don't know. I just know that I get really edgy when they aren't here. Ha!"

The car stuttered, then roared to life. Azula leaned back smugly, then turned to grin up at Jet. "Care for a ride?"

He barked out a laugh. "Gee. Go for a ride in a stolen car with my best friend's baby sister. Tempting."

"I told you I dropped my keys," Azula asserted, tossing her hair. She lowered her eyelids slightly, smirking. "And I'm not a baby."

Jet examined her face for a moment, lips pursed. Then he grinned, wild-eyed and vivid once more. "How can I say no to that?"

He went around and climbed into the passenger seat. He didn't buckle up. Zuko would buckle himself in and stare accusingly at her until she followed his lead. Azula smiled.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked, putting the car into drive.

His gaze darkened again. "Where do I want to go?"

A flash of that brooding introspection, that bitterness and hate that fueled his every drive and fostered his every ambition. Azula's hands tightened on the steering wheel. Jet's pain didn't drag him down, didn't encourage moaning and complaints the way her brother's pain did. Jet's pain empowered him.

"Anywhere but here," Jet decided.

Azula stepped on the gas, and they tore off into the night.