Only If For a Night(MxM)

Rocket

"I hope you understand how ridiculous this is, right?" Jet asked as he watched Zuko set up the rocket. It was disgustingly cold out, patches of dirty white snow clung to the ground, not making the Christmas lights that were professionally put on the house look enticing. Everything looked fake and fluorescent, everything but Zuko.
In a moment of weakness, Jet bought a Christmas present for the teenager. He was in the kid store at the mall buying a cartload of Christmas presents for his dozens of nieces and nephews, when he spotted it. It was a simple backyard rocket that you put together, then light with a cigarette lighter and watch it blast off into the sky. It was ten dollars, and Jet couldn't look away from it. There wasn't a strict rule against buying presents for your clients, but it was a moral dilemma for Jet. He was on the losing side of not wanting to like Zuko, and he wasn't sure if he minded losing that fight anymore.
"You're the one who bought it, so you don't get to lecture me on how ridiculous it is," Zuko bit back as he slid the rocket down into its cheap wire stand. The missile was white and red and so cheaply made, Jet worried that it might not actually fire off, but he didn't dare voice his concerns to Zuko, because the kid was having the time of his life.
"Lighter," he called out, extended hand waving excitedly. Jet rolled his eyes but walked across the frozen yard and handed him the lighter.
"Don't singe off your eyebrows," he warned, watching him flick the lighter at least ten times before it caught the wick.
"Move, move, move," Zuko chanted as he barreled past Jet and away from the rocket, yanking him with him by his jacket sleeve.
The tiny wick fizzed and sparked spectacularly, but just as it seemed as though it would blast off, it stopped, a thin trail of smoke curling up into the dreary sky.
Jet watched it with his arms crossed, Zuko craning his neck to see better. It was too cold for this game.
"It's a dud, sorry, kid."
"Maybe I just need to go relight it," Zuko pondered, his freezing fingers reaching out expectantly for the lighter back.
"And blast your face off? I don't think so."
Zuko's bottom lip puckered out in a small pout that he wasn't even aware of. Jet growled at himself and rolled his eyes.
"I'll do it, god help me," But before he could take another step closer to the cheap plastic rocket, it shot off the end of the guide with a crack fit for thunder. It chucked itself into the heavens, spinning and whirring, the bright orange flare at the end of it lighting up the gray sky.
"WHOA," Zuko cheered, bouncing up and down as it spun out of control and raced back towards the yard and landed in a pathetic, shattered heap by the lilac bushes.
"That was amazing," he called out as he sprinted to the broken plastic. He held the dirtied white tube over his head in pride, and Jet couldn't help but smile back at the teenager who was grinning like an idiot.
"That was the best Christmas present I've ever gotten," He held the rocket triumphantly, and Jet didn't doubt that he would somehow rationalize keeping the rocket under the guise of something other than a memento. For the past eighteen years, he had been receiving expensive watches and clothes, the latest iPad, the newest bike, all of it shiny and chrome. He most likely hadn't gotten a toy in years. He probably hadn't been allowed to be a kid for that long too.
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*This is just a small little domestic bit until I finish the rest of the chapter, enjoy* Time jump from about May to December, be prepared for more time jumps*