Smellerbee goes through some changes, from a gender confused girl to a more self-confident Freedom Fighter... and she has Longshot to thank.
I want to own Longshot... but I don't. Nor Avatar. Sucks, eh?
I don't want Zuko though... I'd auction him to the fangirls. That jerk. (If I was Dib from Invader Zim I'd throw a muffin at him!) Should this ship be Longerbee or Smellershot? I can't decide what sounds better! ----------------------
Smellerbee wasn't your average girl. With a name like "Smellerbee" you wouldn't have expected her to be.
In fact, a lot of people didn't recognize she was a girl. Most didn't really think about it.
Someone who looked like she wanted to become just like Jet when she grew up, you could easily see why she was mistaken for having gender issues.
She dressed like Jet. He'd become her surrogate favorite brother.
And who was surprised why? Everyone at the tree hideout loved Jet. He said what they all wanted to hear. He acted so sure of himself when most of them, from broken homes, growing up at the very escalation of the war, had no idea about their place in the world.
That was just like Longshot. Serious Longshot. Never smiling Longshot.
Longshot never exactly hid his feelings but most people were lazy. Most people didn't read his eyes.
But then, Smellerbee wasn't most people.
More than the rest of their surrogate family, Longshot and Smellerbee were close.
And whispers spread like wildfire about how close when they got back from Ba Sing Sei.
But who really could ignore the fact that the girl had wanted to spend the entire night in Longshot's tree tent instead of her own?
There were other obvious indications that there was something different between the archer and the feisty young dagger wielder.
For a start... Longshot had smiled. A couple of times. Even if it was a nice day out, that was something that usually didn't happen but a couple of times, jokes flew around the Freedom Fighters and he smiled.
She was acting different as well. Usually she was confused. Trying so hard to be like Jet. Trying so hard to be tough. Trying so hard to be... boyish.
But suddenly Jet wasn't everything. She didn't emulate him. She wasn't walking in his shoes. Bit by bit. Not an overhaul... but Smellerbee would lazily spend a bit less time being enraptured by every plan and every mission he had, by having him control her desires and whims.
She was taking the first steps to thinking for herself.
So was the bow and arrow prodigy of the group.
That first time he reminded her that she shouldn't be worried about anyone else and was fine the way she is... and let her see that he thought she was fine the way she is. She said "thanks, Longshot".
The times after that when knowing that they both understood each other, that they both could be... their own people, even though they were practically under Jet's ownership (although he didn't see it that way) and command; they would subconsciously get closer to each other and she would murmur into his tunic "thanks, Longshot".
The first time Smellerbee realized that she wanted her first kiss and the first time to feel she really was a girl to be with the strong, efficient fellow Freedom Fighter - the one that wasn't who she thought she'd want to be... but the one that perhaps saw her as more than just a mini Jet like the rest of them.
That first time on the roof of Ba Sing Sei that he kissed her. Jet never noticed, nor cared to be happy for them. As long as they kept fighting for the cause. As long as they kept supporting him in his plans... he'd never really notice.
They were waiting for their next command after a night of trying to break into the Ba Sing Sei palace (another bright idea of Jet's) on the rooftops. Watching the city... he leant in toward the girl with the mop head and pouty face and dared to share his first kiss with her. Their lips met in a tender moment of understanding, no awkwardness from the two that were practically family and breaking apart she was thankful he let her experience something she wouldn't with anyone else, her first kiss. The girl who was just growing out of being a boy, leaned back from the boy in the wicker hat and showed her gratitude. "Thanks, Longshot..."
The first time she cried a year later after the war, when more than just brotherly love came out and with everything he spoke with his eyes, with his strong supportive stature... Smellerbee found someone she could truly rely on. Someone who had helped break her out of her shell.
She wasn't Jet. She still might have dressed like Jet... but she found out finally that she wasn't him.
She was a girl.
She was Smellerbee.
His eyes serious. She understood why he never spoke. He said so much more without speaking. So much more right now with his eyes misting over too, at the end of the tragedy they'd endured for their lifetime and the hope of a bright new future.
"I do too" Smellerbee said, looking at him and biting her lip. "Thanks, Longshot."
The two embraced. They'd found understanding in each other. They'd found home in each other.
And with the rest of the Freedom Fighter's looking on, they didn't care who saw them kiss. They didn't care who saw the other side of their personalities as they rested completely on each other.
Jet would just have to be happy for them.
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Sappy or what? I finally wanted to inject more romance into these characters. I won't see this is as fluffy as I can go, cause I said that with Toko and I just got more and more fluffy as I wrote their characters.
In case you didn't notice the "I do too" was a proclamation of "love". Not completely sappy... but IC.
Oh, and Longshot doesn't wear a shirt... maybe a tunic? I don't know...
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Morgan: Update Swing!
Although I like the fact you're writing Bumi now... and swearing a lot less:D :D :D
Uhhhh... no pretending Smellerbee is a boy for this one... mwhahahahahhahahahahaha.