#i think i was distracted by zane's shirt

[does-not-have-milk]

I want everyone to know that I did not look at a single reference photo for any of these characters so don't yell at me about Jay's hair. I don't even know what a Beninjamin is

[kaisfruit]

Distraction | Kai x GN!Reader

warnings; none! except maybe ooc kai and i apologize for that!

words; 1.6k

Talking things out is hard. Is there any other way to reach out and make sure someone else is there to catch you?

“Hey Zane,” the nindroid’s head whipped around at the sound of his name, “do you need anything from the grocery store? I’m making a list.” You lifted up the notepad with said list on it as if trying to prove what you were saying to be true.

As he took his time to think, you walked further into the kitchen and began checking around trying to make note of what items to get.

“I’m not sure…” Zane mumbled. “I think we could do with some more eggs and most likely some more deli turkey…” He continued thinking aloud, a hand on his chin as you wrote down things as he kept going with his list.

“Thanks! I knew you’d be the right guy to go to for this.”

“Why is that?”

“Oh, you’re usually the one in here cooking for us so I just assumed you’d know what we were low on.” You explained, a light smile on your face. “You're good for our necessities, but I feel like I should still ask anyone if they want anything.” You added on in a mumble to yourself, already thinking Cole would want some cake mix and Jay would want some kind of chips. Those two were next.

“Ah, I suppose that makes sense.” Zane nodded in his understanding. He did know what they needed, well, after he thought about it for a second. “Well, while you’re here, do you have any requests for dinner? That is, if I have time to make it.” Zane added on that last part hastily. He really did consider cooking a hobby of his, but he knew he would put a lot of things ahead of what he actually wanted to do.

You thought for a second before slowly shaking your head. “Honestly, I’ll be happy with whatever you decide to make! I’m just grateful you choose to cook for all of us. Especially since-” Your train of thought was cut off at the feeling of arms wrapping around your waist. You practically jumped out of your skin at the contact before settling when a familiar scent enveloped you as the ninja rested his head in the crook of your neck.

“Kai, what are you doing?” You asked with an amused tone as you let a hand come up to run through his hair. You felt him mumble something against your shoulder and you rolled your eyes. “Sorry, Zane.” You sent the nindroid an apologetic glance. “I’ll let you know when I’m back from the store!” He nodded and waved bye to you, a smile filled with mirth on his face. You returned the wave and began walking towards Kai’s room with the same ninja in tow, his hands not leaving your midriff.

Locking his door, you turned around in his hold so that you could cup his face in your hands and look at him. “What’s up?” You asked casually, a contrast to the intimacy of your guys’ holds on one another.

“I was bored.” Kai answered with a yawn. “And tired. Thought you’d help with both of those things.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I’m busy?”

Kai pretended to think for a second before shaking his head. “Nah, doesn’t sound right. What do you mean your entire world doesn’t revolve around me?” He joked, a dumb smirk on his face. You just rolled your eyes affectionately at him.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” You patted his cheek and pulled away from him which caused a look of shock and hurt to cross his face.

“Wow.” Kai said in mock disbelief. “Y’know, that stings. Got me where it hurts, [name]. Right where it hurts.” He clutched his shirt around where his heart would be on his body. “Might as well just tell me you want me dead.”

“I want you dead.”

“Wow. Here I am, wanting to spend some precious time with my most stunning significant other and they’re telling me that I should just die and rot alone and that they don’t love me anymore and-”

“Shut up!” You said through laughter, holding a hand up to his mouth. “You’re putting words in my mouth.”

“It was the subtext.” Kai explained when it very much wasn’t the subtext. “You have wounded me. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.”

“Oh no!” You finally played along. “Whatever shall I do to fix my one true love?”

“Come lay down with me?” Kai asked, clasping his hands together and giving you the face of the puppy eye emoji. You let out a sigh, but begrudgingly held out your hand which he took excitedly as he brought you over to his bed. He flopped down onto it without letting go of your hand which just brought you both down at the same time with you landing on top of him. Both of Kai’s arms wrapped around you and effectively left you trapped as he rolled over on his side so that you two could face one another. The fire ninja rested his head on top of yours and let out a content sigh. You didn’t need to pry to know that he needed this outside of just being bored.

Slowly, your arms came to wrap around his midsection as you allowed yourself to relax while you rested your head beneath his chin. You could feel as all signs of tension within Kai’s body seemed to dissipate and the warmth that naturally flowed through him became steady as it flowed onto your own skin. It was a nice feeling knowing you could help him in this way at least since it was outside of his comfort zone to talk it all out. Kai just needed a way to recharge his battery and what better way to do that than being in your presence.

Minutes passed of you two being locked in the peaceful embrace. You were nearly asleep even by the time his voice pierced your ears.

“Would you rather have feet for hands or hands for feet?” Kai asked casually, causing you to snort. “What?! Answer my question!”

“Where’d this come from?” You attempted to ask while pulling yourself up so you could look him in the eyes. That only caused him to force his head on top of yours so you couldn’t do that, so you backed down with a sigh and decided to focus on your finger that was making circles along the fabric of Kai’s shirt.

“I’m bored.”

“I thought you said I’d cure your boredom?”

“And you are…by answering my question.” You could just hear his shit eating grin in his voice.

“Your question is stupid.”

“You’re stupid.”

“Fine. I’m not answering.” You shoved your face into the crook of his neck. “And I’m going to bed so you’ll be stuck in silence for hours.”

“Wait no!” Kai quickly yelped. “No you’re so smart and I didn’t mean it I promise…Please talk to me.” That last part was added on quietly, but due to your proximity you heard it anyways. You sighed and lifted a hand up to run through his hair which you felt him lean into.

“Fine. I’d rather have hands for feet because that’s basically what monkeys have and if they’re doing it then I can do it.”

Kai was the one to let out a huff of laughter this time at your answer. “You answered it like you’ve always wanted someone to ask you that question.”

“I’ve been thinking about my answer since you asked the question.” You admitted, finally letting your hand just rest on the top of his head. “I was just giving you a hard time.”

“You’re evil.” He accused to which you just laughed.

“But you love me.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kai huffed, but you knew it was a yes. Even though he couldn’t say it, as he couldn’t say most things pertaining to how he really felt, you could feel it. Feel it in every interaction between the two of you, with every word he spoke, every action he took. Kai was built out of pure love for those around him. There were a million words he wanted to say to all of his friends and probably a million more to say to you alone, but it was hard. It was those moments where he felt the most vulnerable and that vulnerability only led to more self-doubt which plagued his every waking thought. He could feel his hold on you get the slightest bit tighter as his thoughts began to scramble in his head once more.

“Okay, would you rather have every food taste like soap or only use food as soap for the rest of your life?” This one had you laughing once more which brought a smile to his face (and also brought him back to the present despite him asking the question beforehand.)

“Okay, umm, I need to think about this one. Hold on…”

And part of you knew that Kai was only trying to distract himself by asking these questions and you really should try to help him by asking what was wrong. But hearing you two laugh as his ‘would you rather’ questions got more and more absurd quieted that part down. This was helping him, in its own way. All thoughts of getting groceries or getting any other chore at the monastery done had left your mind as you enjoyed your time with the fire elemental. Seeing him happy, a true kind of happy, made you happy. In fact, you can’t remember the last time you had this much fun. Of course, Kai would have to work through his issues eventually, but for now this was enough. Spending time with him was enough. Caring for him was enough. You were enough for him.

A/N; first post done!! tbh i am working on a sportacus (from lazytown 💀) x reader that is like,,,7k words long atp LMFAO so i'll probs be posting yhat at some point. likes + reblogs r appreciated and please do leave requests if ur enjoying my writing :]

[finn-m-corvex]

Whumptober Day 27: Scars

First it was Pixal and now it's Zane! We love our favorite nindroid, and I like this one a lot. I feel like it maybe could've been a little better but oh well, if it works it works.

Taglist: @splinnters @abigailxoxo @tornoleander @mondothebombo @ghostwalloper @toastingpencils37 @lightning-chicken

Words: 2.1k

There were so many.

Jay’s hands kept tracing up and down his arms, following the lines as they went up and up and up all the way to his shoulders. Angry and red, his arms were throbbing in pain as he tried to flex his hands. He had already applied as much cream as he could safely put on, and it was doing jackshit to numb any of the pain. Pain that was worse than almost anything that he had ever felt, and he was pretty sure that it would be less painful if he cut his arms off.

He was supposed to be doing his exercises to try and strengthen his hands, but instead he had spent the past half hour sitting on the bench and trying to keep his arms as still as possible. Sweating, Jay bit his tongue to try and distract from the fire racing through his nerves, flinching when his hands twitched against his will. Need to breathe and breathe and breathe and breathe—

“Brother?”

Zane was standing in the doorway to the medbay, looking at Jay rocking back and forth with thinly veiled concern. He was holding a plate of food, setting in down on the nearest table and making his way over to Jay’s bench. Jay was suddenly very aware of how naked he was with his shirt off and his torso exposed, all of the scars from over the years on full display.

The whips and the burns and the slashes and the claws and the—

Sitting down, the ice ninja bit his lip. “The others were getting worried when you didn’t show up for dinner. Is everything alright?”

“I…” Jay looked away, feeling the shame bubble up from deep inside. “I can’t finish my stretches.”

“You can’t?” Zane asked. “Why? Is something wrong?”

There was nothing he could say that would make Jay feel any less embarrassed of himself, even though Jay knew that Zane would be the absolute last person to make fun of him for anything. “It hurts.”

“Hurts? What hurts?”

“Everything,” and Jay finally turned around to face Zane, paranoid about the nindroid looking at his back for too long. He didn’t want to answer any questions. “Everything hurts. My skin and my nerves and my—”

“Scars,” Zane finished, a sympathetic look on his face. Jay hated how weak it made him feel. “I may not have this problem, but I think I can still help. Would you want my help?”

No. “Sure, if you think there’s anything you can do about it.”

At least it wasn’t Cole. Jay didn’t know how he would’ve felt if it was Cole, but he knew that he would’ve just waved his best friend away and continued to suffer on his own. Kai would’ve been an instant no, and honestly? Nya and Lloyd probably would’ve been too. Zane wouldn’t go snitching on him, and Zane knew a lot about how to take care of them from past experiences and plenty of research. None of that logical thinking made him feel any better.

“How long have you been hurting?” Zane asked, taking Jay’s hands in his own and stroking across the top with his thumbs. The motion felt nice, his metal skin cool against the burning scars.

It was a tough question. Jay technically hadn’t been sitting here and hurting for very long, but his scars? His scars were hurting weeks before, almost like he overused them or overextended something. But the pulsing and the throbbing and the tingling were easy to suppress, easy to wave away. And of course, Jay made no effort to take care of himself when they started flaring up.

Humming, Jay just decided to give Zane the short version. “Since this morning.”

Zane raised an eyebrow, and Jay realized that the nindroid had a finger over his pulse point to measure out his heartbeat. “You’re lying. Tell me the truth.”

Biting his lip, Jay looked away. “...why should I? It won’t make a difference.”

“It makes a difference to me,” Zane said, “but I will not push if you do not want me to. I merely wanted to know so that I may help you in a more effective manner.”

Silence settled over the two of them, and it made Jay antsy, feeling like something was crawling under his skin. Guilt wormed its way into his bones; he couldn’t remember the last time he snapped at Zane or talked back to him. Something about it made him feel afraid, like the nindroid might punish him for stepping out of line.

Jay hated how often he felt like he had to walk on eggshells around his family.

All because of him.

Pain exploded across his body in response to his brief thought about Nadakhan, and Jay folded in half as stars swam through his vision. Gasping, he clutched at Zane’s hands, using his lightning and willing some of his nerve endings to shut off so he wouldn’t feel all of the pain. He knew that Zane knew what he was doing,

“Brother, do not,” Zane insisted, activating his power and letting the soothing cold envelop Jay’s hands. “You will only make it worse.”

“I know, Zane,” Jay was biting his tongue to keep from crying out.

Pins and needles stabbed into his legs from sitting down for too long, and Jay stood up without thinking about what might happen. His ankle gave out almost instantly, and Zane’s grip on his arm was the only thing keeping him from crashing into the ground. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jay couldn’t hold back the sobs anymore as the feeling left his leg, and it felt far too familiar to the numbness of the vengestone. He shouldn’t have switched the nerves off. He needed it back he needed it back he needed it back—

His back was pressed against a wall, and Jay choked on his next inhale. Shoulder screaming in pain, he threw his hand onto the wall, trying to feel what material it was made out of and praying to the First Master that it was wood—

It was stone.

He was up against a stone wall and he couldn’t feel his legs.

No. No. No. No no no no no no—

“--calm down,” Zane was saying, but Jay wasn’t listening. Using every bit of strength that he had left he tried to toss his entire body weight onto the thing keeping him down, crying out when it felt like his skin was splitting in two again. The thing barely moved an inch, and Jay sobbed, fighting harder and scrabbling against the metal skin as if he were a caged animal fighting for freedom.

Finally understanding what was making Jay so distressed, Zane carefully took ahold of the blue ninja’s shoulders and lay him down on his back on top of the room’s small carpet. Jay felt the carpet, clinging onto it until his knuckles turned white as he tried to get his bearings. Zane let a very small layer of frost coat his hand, carefully setting it on his brother’s neck and rubbing his jaw with his thumb.

Cold. It was cold. It wasn’t Nadakhan.

“Is this better?” Zane asked softly, and Jay was aware of the tears that escaped from his eyes from his mini-meltdown. He was embarrassed, and he was ashamed, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from leaning into his brother’s touch.

“Y-Yeah. Better.”

“We are going to stay like this for a couple minutes until you catch your breath.”

And that’s exactly what they did. Zane let his processor whirr a little louder than it normally did, and Jay was grateful for the peace that washed over him when it was all he could hear other than the sounds of them breathing. The carpet was rough and scratchy underneath him, but that was good. Anything other than the smooth and slick feeling of stone against his skin.

“Jay,” Zane said, and Jay opened his eyes again. He didn’t even know that he closed them in the first place, “would you be comfortable laying on your stomach?”

Dread filled him from the bottom up, and Jay had to swallow the fear back. This was Zane, his brother, and he wouldn’t do anything that could hurt him. “I-I guess so. Just be careful with whatever you’re going to do, alright?”

“Always. You know you can trust me,” Zane said, and he waited patiently for Jay to roll over onto his stomach. Jay took his time, feeling the pain come back twofold now that the pressure on his skin was being relieved. His scars stung as he exposed them to air again and Jay grimaced, keeping the small whimpers from escaping his mouth as he stretched his arms out.

Zane straddled him, and it took all of Jay’s self-control not to buck him off out of pure instinct. Apparently, the nindroid must’ve sensed Jay’s hips tense and prepare to move, and he was quick to get back off and sit down next to Jay. Jay felt a hand slide between his face and the carpet, lifting his head up and setting it down so that Jay’s head was cushioned against Zane’s thigh. He liked this better, nuzzling into Zane and feeling his brother’s hands start to work through his hair.

Jay liked that Zane’s powers were still active. The cold was a nice difference from the burning pain that he was feeling before.

Zane sighed. “You are going to be the death of me one day.”

“I thought that would be Kai,” Jay joked, and winced when Zane tugged a little too hard at one of the knots in his hair. Probably out of retaliation.

“Kai can be trusted to tell someone about his wounds, and I know that he can’t hide anything from me. You, however, have been successfully hiding this for weeks without me noticing, and that scares me.”

“Why?”

Zane paused in his movements. “I am your brother, and I have lived with you for years. I should be able to tell when you are in pain.”

Jay let his eyes close again as one of Zane’s hands smoothed across the back of his neck. “Zane, buddy, that’s because I didn’t want you to see it.”

Both of Zane’s hands left his hair, and Jay would’ve whined in protest if two cold spots didn’t settle on his shoulder blades, Zane’s wide hands spreading themselves flat before starting to go up and down his back. Jay felt his jaw go slack, finally able to take a breath without feeling like his skin was going to snap right off of his body. “Why would you not want someone to know that you were hurting?” Zane asked.

First Master, he was too tired for this. “Not worth the effort, Zane. It wouldn’t have made any difference.”

“The effort? Of helping you to feel better?”

“Yup,” Jay said, popping the ‘p’ on the end, “not worth it. The others and you have better things to do with your time than help me.”

At least, that’s what Nadakhan and the rest of the pirates told him.

“I can think of no better use of my time than helping those that I care about,” Zane said softly, kneading into Jay’s lower back. Jay squirmed for a second and settled down again. “I do this for Cole, and for Kai, and Lloyd, and even Nya once or twice. I would be more than happy to do it for you as well.”

“Damn, I’m the last one?” Jay hummed as Zane moved over the grooves in his spine.

“Yes, and yet somehow I think you’re the one who has needed it the most,” Zane was almost grumbling, and the tone of voice would’ve made Jay giggle if he didn’t feel like he was going to fall asleep at any second. The nindroid’s ice made a world of difference; for the first time in weeks, he felt almost normal. Like he might be able to sleep without fearing for his life when he would spring awake an hour later.

“Thanks, Zane.”

“You’re welcome, but if you wish to truly thank me, please do not hide something like this from us again. Any one of us would be more than happy to sit with you and help massage until you feel better.”

“You know how dirty that sounds, right?”

Zane very lightly whacked his shoulder, and Jay snickered in response. “Hush, you need your rest.”

“What about that food that you brought me?” Jay asked, remembering that it was there and sitting on the table near the door. Zane wasn’t that worried about it, still sitting on the ground and starting to trace along the myriad of lines criss-crossing Jay’s back.

“I will call Cole to come and get it after you fall asleep. And then he can help carry you to bed.”

“Can it be with you? Cause you’re cold and it feels nice.”

“Yes, Jay. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[randoms-fandoms]

Hi :) would you mind doing a Zane x gn Reader where they’re just having a rough day and everything seems to be going wrong but he’s there to comfort them? If not that’s completely okay too :3 have a good day

(bonus points if it has PIX in it absolutely love her)

Of course! I love Pixal too <3

Warnings: food/eating mentions, minor injuries, bugs (spoilers you get stung by a bee)

Relationships: established Zane x gn reader

You had been looking forward to your date with Zane for a few weeks— it had been a while since your schedules had aligned so you could hang out together, and you missed him.

After you got out of bed, you immediately went to put on your clothes— getting dressed always helped you feel more awake. Thankfully you had prepared an outfit the night before! You had saved it specifically for this day.

After getting dressed, you went to your kitchen to make breakfast. You smiled, looking forward to a good meal. Having had an early dinner the night before, you were pretty hungry.

It was understandably very disappointing to find out that you were out of bread, meaning you couldn’t have toast. Dang it… I’ll just fry an egg.

As you waited for your egg to cook, you texted Zane. He always replied quickly; text notifications went straight to his display.

Good morning!

I’m excited to see you later :]

You grinned. You had been the one who taught him about emoticons, and as far as you knew, he only ever used them with you. It felt like a fun little inside joke.

You got so distracted thinking about Zane and re-reading his cute texts, that you didn’t notice when your egg was finished cooking. Not until you smelled it burning,

Panicking at the amount of wispy smoke coming from the small pan, you quickly tried to get it off the heat— but in your haste to move it, you burned your arm on the hot edge of the pan!

Exclaiming in pain, you dropped it to the stovetop and rushed over to the sink to run your arm under cold water.

Feeling tears form in your eyes at the scare— and the pain— you waited for your heartbeat to return to normal. You couldn’t help but think of Zane and his ice powers… he would help me if he was here.

Removing your arm from the stream of water, you frowned when you saw the thin reddish-pink line left on your forearm. It stung as soon as you took it out of the water, but you still needed to handle your egg.

You decided to eat it anyway, despite the fact that one side was burned and one side was runny. It wasn’t very good, but that didn’t matter— you were going to meet Zane at the park in just an hour!

Suddenly feeling thirsty, you decided to get a cup of water.

Pouring yourself a nice cold glass definitely cheered you up— But for some reason (who knows, maybe your hands were still shaking from the adrenaline rush of an injury), you managed to spill the entire cup all over yourself.

You took a deep breath. I am not going to let my day be ruined.

Looking through your clothes, you were immediately stricken with dread upon finding nothing you liked. You wanted to look good seeing Zane for the first time in weeks, but all your other favorites were probably in the wash— how unlucky.

You sighed, deciding to change into a pair of shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt. It wasn’t terrible, but you never really liked the way the sleeves fit on that particular shirt. Oh well.

After drying off and changing, an alarm went off on your phone: leave for park!! You were already exhausted before you left the house, but you hoped it would all be worth it.

As you stepped out your front door, you got another notification on your phone:

I just found out Pixal is in town!

Do you mind if we hang out another time?

Your heart sank. Yes, I do mind. But you knew Pixal didn’t visit as often as Zane liked, and the two of them were best friends…

Frowning, you thought about what to say. Should I be honest? He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t care what I wanted, right?

Thinking of a solution, you quickly typed out your response:

Can we all hang out together?

Good idea! see you soon!

Sighing with relief, you were glad that problem had been fixed. You didn’t know what you would have done all day if Zane really cancelled on your date.

As you walked down the street on the way to Ninjago City Park, you admired the clouds in the sky. They were white and fluffy, like cotton candy. I wonder if vanilla flavored cotton candy exists?

You were suddenly broken out of your thoughts as you tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. As you fell forward, you managed to catch yourself, but that didn’t stop you from bruising and scraping both your knees and hands. Ow…

You quickly stood up, hoping no one had seen you fall, and wiped your hands on your shirt, accidentally smudging dirt on the front. You hoped Zane and Pixal wouldn’t notice.

Humiliated by the fall, you walked the rest of the few blocks to the park with your hands in your pockets, staring at the ground. Your scraped knees hurt with every step, and at this point you really didn’t want to be out and about at all.

“Hey, over here!” Zane’s cheerful robotic voice called from a little ways down the street. He stood at the park entrance with Pixal, waiting for you.

You smiled at your friends and quickened your pace. “Hi guys,” you said, relieved to finally have met up. You gave Zane a hug, and he nearly lifted you off your feet hugging you back.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” Pixal said, also giving you a quick hug. “How are things?”

Things weren’t that great, to be honest. Both in general and that morning— but you didn’t want to overshare, so you kept it to a polite “Good, how about you?”

As the three of you began walking towards the pond in the middle of the park, Pixal told you and Zane about her recent endeavors— she had been working on customizing a motorcycle for herself! You thought that was a really cool project, and were distracted from your bad day for a few minutes.

“Let’s take a shortcut across the grass,” Zane suggested, pointing through some sparse trees to where the pond was.

That would have been a great idea, if not for the yellow jackets that had taken up residence in the ground nearby— it was initially Pixal who stepped on their tunnel, angering a few of the insects, and they ended up stinging you instead.

“Ow!” You shouted, quickly smacking away the bugs. You were embarrassed about yelling, but it hurt! You rolled up your sleeve to see the stings on your hand and wrist better. They were already swelling up. You frowned.

“Are you okay?” Zane asked, concern laced in his voice. He carefully took your wrist in his hand, using his ice powers to chill a few of his gloved fingers to help numb the pain.

You frowned, tears gathering in your eyes for the second time that day. “…No.”

“What happened to your arm?” Pixal pointed out the burn.

You sniffed, trying to keep from crying— everything hurt, and you were just having a terrible day… “Burned it making breakfast.” You replied sadly.

“Let’s go sit down,” Zane offered, holding your hand and guiding you the rest of the way to the water, where there was a nice bench in the shade.

As you approached the pond, you slipped in the mud, and fell down, getting mud all over your shorts and shoes. “Ugh, this is the worst day ever!” You finally gave in and complained.

Zane helped you stand up and sit on the bench. “What’s going on?”

You told him and Pixal everything that happened that morning. Zane nodded along sympathetically, holding your hand and letting you vent.

Pixal took out the first aid kit she always carried in her backpack and, with your permission, helped you clean up and bandage the scrapes on your knees.

“Thanks, Pixal.” You said, sighing. “I’m sorry for ruining our day out.”

“It’s not your fault,” Pixal replied as she stood up. “I promise we’re not upset.”

Zane nodded. “And if you want, we could go back to the Bounty and have a day in instead!”

You imagined relaxing comfortably on the couch, wrapped in a cozy blanket, maybe watching a movie or playing games with Zane and Pixal— that’s a good idea. “Can we?”

“Of course!” Zane said with a smile.

After that, your day turned out to be pretty good.

A/N: i hope you enjoyed this! Zane and Pixal are the best :)

[lostinthewoodsomewhere]

10 & 11 for the art ask!! :3

Thank you so much!!! 😊

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

Ooooooooooh!! I think I'm gonna have to say either shirts of suit jackets!! I do absolutely love skirts, but I don't find them that easy to draw... I love to perceive them when they're done, but don't necessarily love the process! Though I do like doing pleats...

Shirts and jackets just have that good shape though, they just feel satisfying 😌

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Yes!! A lot of the time, it'll be a youtube video like a drawfee stream, video essay, or old lets play!! Sometimes it's music, especially if it fits with what I'm drawing, like just putting one song on repeat, or listening a character playlist I've made, ( just reacently made a Jesse and Zane in the club playlist and I can't wait to draw a piece to that!!)

Though, I listen to something pretty much all the time, and drawing is one of the only things that can distract me enough that I can actually do it in silence! I always start with something on, but I often don't notice when it finishes for ages...

[rn-zane]

SETTING: outside the hospital TIMING: last week PARTIES: @rn-zane + @magmahearts SUMMARY: zane gets into some trouble with an angry passerby. luckily, it's vigilante night for cass.

Being back at the hospital had felt like finally taking a breath after way too long underwater. The noise and chaos, the conversations and even the bad coffee had been a blessing, leaving Zane with a goofy smile at the end of his shift despite how much his leg currently hurt. It was a strange feeling, being completely wiped out while your body felt like it could go on for ages. As much as it had started to bother him to be at Alma’s house, he was looking forward to a good meal and a completely brainless netflix session. 

Walking out the staff entrance, he was greeted with the brisk night air and a jittery stranger desperately sucking on a cigarette. Zane tucked his head down and turned, which did nothing to deter the stranger. “Hey! Yeah, you. Hospital guy.” The vampire only made it a few steps before the back of his bag was pulled on, forcing him to stop and turn. The man’s eyes were uneven, sweat pearling on his skin and blood was drying on his shirt. “I’m sorry, I have to get home. Someone inside can-”

“No one will help me inside,” the man interrupted, taking a step closer and forcing Zane back, hands raised in a display of submission due to the anger in the other’s voice. “They brought my girlfriend in here hours ago and no one will tell me where the fuck she is.” Zane blinked, watching carefully as another drag was taken from the cigarette. The cigarette held in scuffed hands, knuckles red with the clear signs of blood and bruising from a punch. A shiver ran down the vampire’s spine as he remembered the young woman who’d come in earlier tonight, clearly under the influence and badly beaten. It wasn’t fear that was making Zane bristle. It was anger. “You’re not going to see her,” he bit out and turned, moving briskly away before he did something he’d regret.

The man clearly didn’t have the same worries as Zane. Once again, his bag was tugged at, hard enough to make him stumble back a few steps and perhaps not surprisingly, it was followed by a fairly heavy punch to the face. Jaw aching, anger (and instinct) took over and for the first time in his life, the nurse found himself punching someone square in the face. Regret was instantaneous; not because this guy hadn’t deserved it but because his nose started to drip with crimson red. Shit.

—

Cass — or, rather, Magma, since that’s who she was tonight — didn’t usually venture out to this area. There was more than enough crime in Gatlin Fields and Worm Row to keep her busy, but lately there’d been a pit in her stomach every time she patrolled the area. She couldn’t stop thinking about the death pit in the Fields, couldn’t stop remembering the way they’d thrown Debbie’s body down, down, down, couldn’t stop replaying the clumsy eulogies in her head. She didn’t feel much like a superhero anymore. She wanted to fix that. She didn’t think she could do it close to home, close to the pit.

So… she changed things up. Made her way over to Deersprings instead, far away from the stench of the pit that seemed to follow her everywhere she went. She swore she could still smell it, even here, but she knew it was in her head. She just needed a good distraction, a way to shake herself loose from it. 

She found it in the form of an altercation outside the hospital. An angry, disheveled man accosted another man in scrubs, yanking him around by his bag and punching him in the face. Definitely, absolutely a good distraction. Selfishly, she was a little excited about it. It was difficult to think of a death pit and the body you’d thrown into it when you were saving some medical professional from being punched a second time.

Even if the medical professional in question wasn’t exactly helpless. Cass blinked as the man reared back and punched the assailant himself, unsure how to proceed. It must have looked at least a little weird; she’d run over to help, but she hadn’t dropped her glamour just yet, which meant she looked like a teenager staring wide-eyed at an altercation between two grown men. After a moment of uncertainty, she grinned. “That was a pretty good hit!” She said, flashing the nurse a thumbs up. “I was going to see if you needed help, but it looks… Whoa, are you okay?” He looked a little… weird, staring at the blood dripping from the other man’s nose with a strange look on his face. 

—

Truthfully, Zane had been hoping for someone else to step in and diffuse this situation. It had already been heated enough to start with, just by the presence of someone who was clearly violent and not sober, but now with blood and anger that didn’t even really feel like his own… Someone else hadn’t included a teenaged girl however, no matter whether or not she was wearing a mask. Somewhere buried deep, a sensible thought reared its head that this was dangerous for a normal person to walk into, especially one so young. Finding the right words to get her out of here was extremely hard however, when it felt like there was nothing but a growl lodged in his throat. 

“This is none of your business, kid. Fuck off,” the stranger growled, voice pinched due to his broken nose which he was attempting to wipe with the back of his sleeve. Zane felt nailed to the ground, unable to respond even to the worried question coming from the girl. It wasn’t until the man moved, quickly and erratically, that the vampire was lurched into action as well. It was hard to decipher anything from his thoughts at the moment as they were more like whispers and feelings, hissing about food and protect and anger. Whether or not the man had intended to hurt the young girl or just scare her off seemed irrelevant. 

It was a flurry of movements, none of them fully registering until Zane blinked and found himself holding the man up against the study building wall, blood now seeping from the back of his head as well. The sound in the fairly quiet alley took a moment to register as coming from him, the low snarl so completely unrecognizable. 

It was enough to snap him back for a second, remembering the other person standing just a few feet away, his grip in the man’s jacket loosening. Before he could do more, compose himself, anything, the man had managed to scramble around in the nearby dumpster and grab at a metal pole from some discarded household item. No matter how many times it had happened, the heavy weight against his head didn’t feel any less disorienting than the other times, coming dangerously close to knocking him out if not for the low rumbling of animalistic anger keeping him conscious. 

—

The guy — not the nurse, but the man who’d attacked him, the man who smelled like an alleyway she’d slept in for a while in New York and looked like the people who’d stumbled by said alleyway at two in the morning — barely acknowledged Cass for a moment, and it was still enough to make her feel small. And she hated that. She hated that she was supposed to be this proud, strong, mystical thing and could still be made to feel tiny by angry men with loud voices, hated that she’d worked so hard to make herself into something after years of feeling like she was nothing and could feel it all melting away the moment someone snapped at her. It was stupid. 

It was worse still that the nurse was here to witness it, because she thought he seemed nice. She thought most people with the patience to work in hospitals, where men like this one must have been very common patients, seemed like they had to be pretty nice to put up with it all. And she liked that he’d punched the guy, too, even if it only seemed to make him angrier. She thought people like this probably deserved to be punched. She thought she probably wasn’t supposed to think that.

The world burst into movement, but not from the man who’d attacked first. It was the nurse who was a flurry of limbs, so fast that Cass could hardly keep up. In a matter of seconds, the nurse had the other man pinned to the wall and was — growling? She thought of Metzli, and a few things began to slowly slide into place.

Cass took a step forward, ready to try to talk the nurse down because no one needed to die in this stupid alley just like no one had needed to die in that dark supermarket, and she was so tired of death where death had no place being. But before she could step in, the vampire seemed to come back to himself and the other man saw his chance and took it. A metal pole, a blow to the head. Why did it always come down to this?

She didn’t even mean to drop her glamour. It was instinctive, at this point; a Pavlovian response to rushing headfirst into danger. When she was Magma, Cass didn’t keep her glamour up. When she was Magma, she was invincible. Cass didn’t know how to handle this, but Magma did. So the glamour dropped, and the oread stepped forward. “Get the fuck away from him!” Her voice was distorted, gravely and crackling. Live lava flowing through a field and into the sea, throwing up sparks as it went. The man with the pole dropped it, shock and terror clear on his face.

—

All this head trauma couldn’t be good for him, vampire healing or not. His ears were ringing where he’d sprawled down onto the ground, everything before his eyes blurry. For a presumed apex predator, Zane really was a shit one. The first attempt to push himself up went horribly and the second one was halted by the sudden glow around them, visible even to his blurry eyes. Blinking rapidly in the hopes of seeing what in the world was going on, he heard the commanding voice, if it could even be called a voice. His eyes adjusted finally but not before his body was instinctually scrambling back, away from the source of searing heat. 

What stood between him and the aggressor was no longer a teenager wearing an eye mask. It was… fire and earth in the shape of a human. Zane faintly registered the clang of the metal pipe falling to the ground, too transfixed on the sight in front of him. Protecting him, it seemed. Even after he’d all but chomped on the man. Probably a good thing that he’d snapped back to his senses just in time or he might have been the one staring, terrified, into the face of… whatever she was. 

It hadn’t been conscious, the decision to scramble away from heat and possible fire, every nerve in his body screaming that it meant danger, but by the time the other man snapped into action and bolted, Zane had pulled himself as far away as possible with his back now resting against the opposite wall. He could vaguely feel the gash on the side of his face from the pole, a wound that should have been gushing with blood but after this girl’s display, there probably wasn’t any need for pretenses of being normal, right? “Thank… thank you,” he stuttered out, carefully prodding at the wound on his head and wincing. Hoping that his thanks weren’t premature and he was the next to face down this person of boiling heat. 

—

She felt the vampire behind her scramble backwards, felt a twinge of hurt at it. Was he afraid of her now? She still remembered Kuma’s face the day she’d accidentally dropped her glamour, the day Kuma had kicked her out with terror etched into her expression. You’re some kind of a monster, and you never said! What is this, Cassidy? Did he think the same now? Would he run before she could turn around and talk to him? People did, sometimes. It was rare that she saved someone and got to have an actual conversation with them after. No one ever wanted to stay and chat.

The man who’d attacked the nurse certainly didn’t, though Cass felt no disappointment when he ran away. She didn’t mind scaring the bad guys. In fact, there was something undeniably exciting about that, some quiet thrill that she pretended not to cling to. She shouldn’t love terrifying them, but she kind of did. Maybe it would make the guy think twice before hitting anyone with a metal pole again in the future. 

With the bad guy gone, all that remained was the vampire nurse. Cass was almost afraid to turn around, scared that she’d see the same terror that Kuma had held in her eyes. But instead, she heard the man stutter out a thanks. A thanks she knew she should release him from, but held onto all the same. Maybe she could use it to help him someday. That was what she told herself; it sounded like a lie, but lies only hurt when you said them aloud. “You’re welcome,” she said quietly, putting the glamour back up with a quick squint of concentration before approaching him. “Are you okay? Your — Your head. What do you need? I want to help.”

—

Despite the surreal appearance of the stranger, Zane found his apprehension bleeding away the second she turned. There was nothing threatening in the way she held herself or looked at him, a stark contrast to the demeanor that had easily scared off the other man. And then, almost in the blink of an eye, the young teenager appeared again. He really needed to learn more about the things that lived in this town. 

As she approached, he made a feeble attempt to sit up straighter, bringing on another violent dizzy spell. Once everything stopped spinning, he got a good look at the girl. Definitely young, possibly eighteen but it was hard to tell with that mask on. She was worried, speaking in rapid fire that took a few moments for his mind to really register. His mouth felt dry when he finally spoke. “I’ll be fine. Just…” What do you need? Zane trailed off because he knew what he needed right in that moment but he’d given in to that urge with Jonas and the guilt from that still lived heavy in his mind. Not to mention that this was a young stranger. That smelled surprisingly enticing underneath the faint scent of burning coals - stop it. “I just need time, it will heal.”

It took a few tries but he finally managed to whip his backpack off, pushing it over to the stranger. “You can dig up some gauze for me if you don’t mind. Don’t wanna… terrify people on the walk home.” It was still unspoken, the fact that a normal person should have been bleeding profusely and definitely rushed inside the ER just a few feet away. She wasn’t human and something told Zane she was smart enough to have clocked the same fact about him. “I’m Zane, by the way. And I don’t make a habit out of getting into fights, just so you know. Even though it has been happening a weird amount lately…” Was he rambling? He was rambling. Man, his head hurt.

—

He didn’t look afraid of her anymore. Even before her glamour came down completely, the fear seemed to leave him. There was something breathtakingly comforting about it, like the wind had been knocked out of her in the best possible way. She didn’t want the people she was saving to be afraid of her. The people she was saving them from, maybe, but people like this? Nurses who were just trying to get out of work without getting hurt? She didn’t want to scare him.

Even if he was a vampire. 

She studied him carefully, thinking of Metzli and the few things she’d learned from them. She knew the basics of vampires even before she’d met them, of course — that was one subject that the media she consumed often got right, and the bits that it got wrong she’d found out for herself through years of living on the streets. Vampires had fast healing, so he probably really would be fine. He might be fine sooner with blood, but… Cass didn’t know if fae blood worked the same as human blood when it came to vampiric meals, and she didn’t want to offer hers if it might only make things worse. Something told her he wouldn’t know the answer, either. He gave her the vibe of someone who was far newer at this than Metzli was. She made a note to ask them this question later, just in case there was ever a next time.

Leaning over, she began digging through his bag. “Do you have… food at home, Zane? I, um, I think that helps. If you didn’t know that already.” He probably did. She’d noticed he walked with the slightest of limps, a sign that this wasn’t his first time being hurt. She doubted it was his first time being hurt as a vampire, either. “I’m Cass. And, uh… I kind of do make it a habit of getting in fights, I guess. But only to help people. People like you. Which I hope I did. Help, I mean. That guy was — he looked really mad, and I don’t think he could have killed you but that doesn’t mean you should be hurt, either, so I’m… Yeah. I hope I helped.” There was no head injury to excuse Cass’s rambling; only anxiety and the overwhelming desire to make Zane like her.

—

In a strange way, it was comforting that Cass seemed to have some idea what he was, judging by her hesitant question. It meant he wouldn’t have to answer any questions at the moment about not bleeding, being stronger than normal and literally growling at another person. Zane nodded at her question, mouth still feeling dry and his tongue heavy, but moving his head wasn’t really a good idea either. Eyes shut for a moment as pain rolled over him, passing quickly but incapacitating him for a moment all the same. He didn’t want to be thinking about food right now, not with Cass so close and smelling much different than anything he’d ever noticed before so the change in discussion was very much appreciated. 

Her words registered slowly, the rambling and his foggy mind making everything settle together at a snail’s pace. A habit of getting into fights to help people. She was kind and most likely reckless but maybe not so much considering how her… other shape had looked. Intimidating, hard to hurt. If Zane had the ability to transform into something other than an unhinged, bloodthirsty creature he couldn’t quite control, wouldn’t he have stupidly ended up doing exactly what Cass seemed to be attempting to do? Helping people? “You definitely did,” Zane reassured, mustering a smile and grabbing the bandaging once it had been removed from the bag. Whether she’d inevitably helped him or the stranger more was unsure. Zane was glad either way and mustered a weak smile for her as he started to messily wrap up the wound on his head. 

“That’s, uh… that’s really noble of you. Trying to help people. Dangerous though but you’re obviously not just a regular person so maybe not.” The chatting was a good distraction, both from the pain and the smell, and the fact that Zane needed a few more moments on the ground before he would make an attempt to stand up. “Is it okay if I… if I ask what you are? I’ve never seen anything like you before, it’s… you’re really impressive.”

—

He was definitely in pain, and this was the part Cass was bad at. She could fight danger when she could see it, could make people run away or drop what they were doing, but she couldn’t fix them once the damage was done. Not in the way she imagined Zane must be able to. If she were smarter, she thought, she would have wanted to be a nurse, or a doctor, or something like that. Something that could fix people when they were broken. Instead, she did this. She did everything she could do to try to stop them from being broken to begin with. And she wasn’t always successful, but maybe it mattered that she was sometimes. Maybe sometimes was all she could really strive for.

Zane said she helped, anyway, and Cass smiled at the words. He probably wasn’t that much older than her, but his approval felt just as good as those few times she’d been able to ring something similar out of the older fae in her aos si. None of them were ever as open with it as Zane was being now, though. Hesitantly, Cass took a step forward to watch him with the bandage, trying to figure out if there was more she could do. Did he need help wrapping it, or packing it, or any of those other things they talked about on TV? She might not be a medical professional of any kind, but she’d seen Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs. She knew some things. 

“It’s not too dangerous.” Her stomach clenched with the lie, and she tried not to think about Debbie. She hadn’t even been out as Magma that night. Maybe it would have ended differently if she had. Zane made no move to stand, and Cass made no move to leave. She could walk him home after this was done, she thought. Make sure the guy who’d attacked him wouldn’t come back. It would be nice. “I’m a nymph,” she said, more open with it than any of the fae she’d ever known would have preferred her to be. “A kind of fae that’s tied to nature. I’m an oread, which means I go with rocks and mountains. Or, um, volcanoes, specifically, for me. And you’re a vampire, right? How long have you been one?”

—

Zane was thankful for his savior sticking around and not only because he was curious to know more about her. Even though he probably wasn’t going to pass out, the slight chance of it was worrying and he definitely didn’t want any of his coworkers to find him out here. It would lead to questions that he didn’t have normal answers to, not to mention it would inevitably delay him getting home to feed. The thought of that was terrifying - being dragged back into the hospital, getting hungrier by the minute, around all of the wounded people and healthcare workers… Shaking the thought away, he tucked in the end of the bandage. It would do until he got home. At least he wouldn’t be walking the streets with a gaping, open head wound. 

Focusing on her explanation, Zane racked his brain for a pop-culture equivalent of what she was describing. The closest he came was remembering Tinker Bell so he gave up. “Wow,” he breathed, genuinely amazed, his expression portraying every bit of it. Maybe that had something to do with why she smelled so different. “That’s… wow.” Questions sluggishly came to mind but Cass seemed to have a few of her own as well. “Yeah, guess you know more about this stuff than me.” He smiled sheepishly, shifting slightly to test the odds of standing up. The ground wasn’t spinning quite as violently as before. “It’s just been a few months. A few very weird months,” he admitted before finally making an actual attempt to stand up. 

One hand braced against the wall as his feet pressed into the ground, dizziness making him sway for a moment before it passed. “Uh, what about you?” Talk through the pain, through how much some blood would help right now. “Is the…” His free hand waved as Zane dug back for the word, “whole nymph thing something you’re born into?” 

—

A few months. He really was new to this, then. The closest comparison Cass could think of to relate it to was her experience of being removed from her aos si and forced to live in the human world for the first time on her own, and even that didn’t seem like a fair comparison. After all, she’d known a little about humans before she’d been thrust into their world, had a fascination with them that had caused quite a few of her problems to begin with. If Zane had been like most humans before he was turned, there was a pretty good chance he hadn’t even known vampires existed. To go from thinking something was a work of fiction to being that thing yourself… Cass could only imagine how strange it must have been. A few very weird months seemed like an understatement. 

Hesitantly, Cass hovered close to him as he swayed, trying to decide what she should do if he fell. She wasn’t sure she could carry him anywhere, and dragging him seemed like it’d be a bad idea. Maybe distracting him from the pain was the best bet. “I bet it was weird,” she said, trying to keep him talking. “Going from being human to being something else. Did you know about any of this before? Did the person who turned you stick around to explain at all? I guess I don’t really know what’s normal for vampires in that, um, situation.” Metzli’s sire, from everything Cass knew, had been awful, but was everyone’s? Surely not, right?

Smiling just a little as he turned the question around on her, Cass nodded. “You’re only a fae if you’re born a fae,” she confirmed. “One or both of your parents needs to be one. Usually they both are because, um… A lot of fae don’t really… like people who aren’t fae. But my mom was human.” Is human? She didn’t know if her mother was alive or not, didn’t know where she might be if she was. But that wasn’t really what Zane was asking about here, was it? 

—

If not for the lingering fear of ending up hurting the young girl, fae or not, Zane would have asked her to steady him for a walk towards the street. As it was right now, he didn’t dare have her come much closer than she was at the moment. Cass was kind, sympathetic, and even though the fact that she seemed to run along at night like some vigilante worried him, Zane found that he definitely liked her. “It’s been an… adjustment. Is an adjustment,” he replied honestly, finding it easy to open up when she was being so honest herself. At least she seemed honest but his tendency to see the best in people wasn’t always a hundred percent right. “But yeah, I’m part of a group. Or a clan, it’s sort of like a family but… well, less like a family than I thought it would be. But I’m not completely alone so there’s that.” 

Aside from Emilio, Zane hadn’t really divulged his apprehensions about his clan to anyone. Chris had accidentally found out that the vampires he was reluctantly looped in with weren’t exactly the nicest bunch but aside from that, it was a worry he was so far carrying on his own. It felt nice to say it outloud, to just admit that the situation he’d stupidly gotten himself into was far from perfect. Disclosing it to someone who was still by all definitions a stranger and probably wanted nothing to do with this information was maybe not the best call but Zane was really just trying to focus on the positive right now. 

As Cass spoke, Zane finally relinquished the safety of the wall and to his surprise, stood pretty balanced. It was shocking that no one had yet joined them here in the dark and he wasn’t really willing to test his luck on that. One hesitant step followed another and he relaxed. His head was still throbbing but at least walking seemed to be on the table for now. “Sorry to hear about your mom,” he said softly, having taken note of the past tense Cass had used. Then again, there was a possibility that her mother was alive but no longer human. “I know what it’s like to be without parents so really, I’m sorry.” Did she have anyone in town? If there were more vigilante fae like her, odds were he would have run into them at some point. Was she hiding this nighttime activity from her family or was she alone? 

It was a relief to reach the street, cars passing and people bustling about, Cass’s smell mingling in with everything else the town had to offer. Under normal circumstances, Zane loved the walk home after a shift, giving him time to ruminate over everything that had taken place. Now, with his leg aching and head searing, a taxi seemed like the best idea. Hailing the closest one down, he turned back to Cass. “Thanks again,” he said, smiling softly. “I would love to… I don’t know, buy you a coffee or something? Not really sure what the protocol is for paying someone back after they save you from a man with a steel pipe.” 

—

A group? Cass wondered if it was at all like an aos si, full of like people coming together. She’d often longed for what an aos si was supposed to be, often thought of the community she’d missed out on through her wretched inability to belong to the people she was supposed to belong to. Did Zane ever feel like that? Was that what he meant when he said it was less like a family than he thought it’d be? 

Oftentimes, she felt as though there was something inherently wrong with her. Otherwise, why had life played out the way it had? Why hadn’t her aos si accepted her, why had she found nowhere to belong in nineteen years of trying? But if Zane was having trouble fitting in with his clan as well, if someone who seemed kind and nice and helpful couldn’t quite find his place in a group of people who’d chosen to bring him into its fold in a pretty permanent kind of way, maybe it meant that she wasn’t entirely at fault for her lack of belonging. It was always easier for her to see the positive in someone else’s situation than her own. Optimism was born when the two situations were similar enough to make a comparison. “Do you like them?” She asked the question carefully, casually. Like nothing at all hinged on the response. It wasn’t a spoken lie, but it burned in her throat all the same.

Zane seemed to be able to stand on his own two feet even without the support of the wall, and Cass found some relief in that. It was a good thing; it meant he was already healing a little. She didn’t know enough about vampires to know quite how fast their healing worked. Metzli seemed to get into enough scrapes to suggest that she’d end up figuring it out quickly if they continued their ‘friendship’ with her, though Cass wasn’t confident that would be the case. Eventually she was going to have to release them from their promise, and despite their claims that she wasn’t as bad as they’d originally assumed, she doubted they’d stick around for long after. No one ever did. Shrugging at the mention of her mother, she looked away. “You don’t have to apologize. I never even met her. I don’t even know if she’s still alive or not. She just… didn’t want me.” She shrugged again like it was nothing, like it didn’t mean anything, like it didn’t still sting. It wasn’t important anymore. Maybe it never had been.

He thanked her again, and she knew she should tell him a little more about fae, knew she should warn him about that kind of thing so it didn’t come back to bite him in the ass later on, but she didn’t. She was so much more selfish than she wanted to be, sometimes. So much more selfish than she ought to be. Heroes weren’t supposed to do things like this, but she tucked the gratitude away anyway. “You’re welcome,” she replied with a small smile. “Coffee would be fun, I think. But after you’ve healed up a little. I don’t know if you’re supposed to drink caffeine when you have a head injury or whatever.” They never talked about that subject on Grey’s Anatomy. 

—

It was such a loaded question, despite the ease in which Cass had asked it. Did Zane like the people he currently lived with? Who made sure he was fed and all things considered, were people he would be spending an indeterminate amount of time with considering the whole immortality of his new situation? As if his pause before answering hadn’t been answer enough in itself, Zane found himself blurting out the truth under his breath. “Not really.” His face portrayed just how little interest he had in elaborating, even though he knew he’d be spending the next few hours by himself just going over what this all even meant. 

He listened to her answer and despite still feeling woozy, Zane was adept enough at reading body language to see through her casual tone. Of course she was hurt. Not meeting your parent didn’t mean you wouldn’t yearn for them, think about what could have been. It didn’t mean that you wouldn’t feel abandoned which he could painfully relate to. “Hey, well, her loss, right?” he replied softly, going for uplifting even though one sentence would hold little power against a lifetime of feeling left out. 

Cass accepting the offered coffee made him feel a little more at ease. Even though Zane had plenty of his own shit to deal with, he wanted to look out for her. Probably saw a little bit of himself in the girl and as much as he hoped she currently had someone looking out for her, he couldn’t count on it. Not yet, at least, so he wanted to make sure. If not, at least she had a vampire with a truckload of baggage on her side now. “Eh, caffeine never hurt anyone,” he joked, hesitating as he wanted to offer a handshake but worried about feeling the warmth of her skin. So he settled for a gentle punch to her shoulder which he immediately regretted, shaking his head awkwardly before getting into the taxi. “Hey, uh… be careful out there.”

[al-luviec]

Don't even get me STARTED on this !!!

I cannot stand when people act like Krux is the evil one and that Acronix wasn't a willing party on what happened. Yes, he does want to make his brother happy (shown when he lied about wanting to go back to when there was no technology), but that doesn't equal him feeling forced to go along with things!!

They work as one! That's where the whole "hands of time" thing even comes from. You can tell time without both hands!! Their plan would've never worked / made it as far as they did if neither of them was 100% for it. Krux is more of the plan maker than Acronix (he even sits in the pilot seat of the Iron Doom), BUT Acronix quite literally enjoys going along with them.

I saw a fic where Acronix got upset with Krux for kidnapping Ray and Maya... and where he didn't actually want to take Cyrus. When Krux was having the vermillion warrior destroy stuff in the Borg store, Acronix got upset with him!! "Aren't we supposed to be kidnapping Cyrus Borg?" AND he makes a big fuss about their plan *potentially* not working because they don't have enough snakes.

"Krux is toxic!" ... "Acronix didn't want to do it!!" yeah, I totally believe that /sar. Because Acronix 100% didn't want to hit Wu with the time punch, and he didn't offer to 'put him out of his misery'. He totally didn't fight every single ninja and lead to the monastery being EVEN MORE burnt than it was before. When Kai was at the museum, he totally didn't want to suggest "handling" it instead of trying to distract him (WHICH KRUX DID AS SAUNDERS). He totally wasn't the one who actually knocked Zane into robot unconscious, and who actually pushed Cyrus' wheelchair AND who grabbed him by the shirt collar and snatched him up after they ~lost to Kai and Nya.

AND THAT'S JUST A FEW EXAMPLES.

Acronix was sooo on board with the plan, it was like he thrived from the violence. He makes fun of Wu when he's sick and dying. He tried to KILL KAI with the time punch (and didn't care when it hit Ray). When Krux reasons with Acronix and tells him (and Machia) to stand down when Ray takes the dragon blade, Acronix says he wishes there was a reason to fight.

Krux plans stuff out. He's constantly waiting for the best time to strike / make a move. Acronix just rushes into battle "like a blunt object" according to his official character description. Krux has to stop him from fighting people !!

Like yes, I do have a bit of an issue with how Krux is written in the later episodes -> "Why do you have to ruin every good thing." isn't something I see him actually saying to his brother. But 99% of what people say is "toxic" is just them disagreeing. Because they're separate people!!! They won't agree on every little thing 😭 especially when it comes to technology.

I have a whole thing on why Krux hates technology -> he wants to go back to 40 years ago... which is before he lost his brother. His hatred for advancements mostly comes from his hatred of his life being altered forever. For those 40 years as Saunders, he couldn't really act on his hatred for the elemental alliance so it went elsewhere. The world around him changed, but he didn't. He couldn't change!! He wasn't himself without Acronix there!!!

Which is also why I hate when people act like Krux is a bigot ??? Just because he doesn't like TVs, doesn't mean he is an awful terrible person. Just like how Acronix enjoying it doesn't make him a bad person. Everyone can have their preferences 😭 and he only really had a big issue with Acronix using that stuff when it was distracting from the plan. "We must find the time blade!!" -> cue Acronix on his watch. Krux has been working on this plan for 40 years, if I spent FOUR DECADES on something I'd be a stickler for getting it done ASAP.

Convinced anyone who thinks the twins hate each other haven't actually seen the season OR don't have siblings. Them fighting is more like basic sibling bickering. There's more instances of them being nice to each other than the other way. Acting like Krux doesn't love Acronix is insane to me because he quite literally spent more than half of his life on a plan that revolves around him coming back. Even though he's offscreen, we can infer Krux was the one who initiated their hug when they finally reunited!! He loves his brother !! He's not abusive or toxic or anything else I've seen people say 😭

Both time twins had a role in their betrayal. Both time twins were responsible for what happened in season 7!! They're both bad people but they're bad people *together* and that's the point of their characters !!! Guys !!!

I DID NOT SEE SOMEONE SAY KRUX IS TOXIC TO ACRONIX. HUH?? DID WE WATCH THE SAME HANDS OF TIME??

[weekend-whip]

Cole + Jesse, F

F. An absent look or touch (Mid S2!Legacyverse, also partially based on this art, and partially based on another prompt for Jesse to drag Cole out dancing...so, three inspirations for the price of one! Also very self-indulgent, run now)

(Send me a letter and a character and I’ll write a small fic!)

AO3 Version

. . .

“The Student Council did a really good job throwing this all together on such short notice,” Cole remarks, hands in the pockets of his dress pants. He and Jesse Marvell step into Ninjago City High’s giant gymnasium, which has currently been transformed into some semblance of one big party. 

Balloons are stuffed onto every table and into every corner of the room, streamers and ribbons crisscross all across the gym’s complex ceiling and walls, and the colored lights give the whole area an otherworldly glow. All the students are either huddled into their cliques, embracing their Inner Plant as they mimic wallflowers, or are actually doing what this event intended for: dancing.

Cole and Jesse continue to scope around, nodding their heads to the beat of the music that blasts out of the speakers. Cole waves over at the DJ, being an old friend from his music club days, while Jesse seeks out if any of their other friends are around. 

He spots Zane running around, trying to keep everything going smoothly and hammering down on any early rule breakers. He sees Antonia encouraging Harumi to dance, to which Harumi forcefully denies. He catches Lloyd following Kai around like a miserable duckling, trying to reign Kai in as Kai tries and fails consistently to convince a girl to slow dance with him. And he bears witness to Jay and Nya decked out to the nines, already lost in a world of each other as they flail around to the music, laughing and singing without a care. 

Jesse then slides his gaze over to Cole–who of course has finally discovered the snack table—and forcibly swallows around his dry throat. 

How had he gotten lucky enough to have Cole say yes to going with him? 

Jesse swallows again, very much looking respectfully as Cole makes his way to sample one of everything. His hair is pulled back in a slightly less messy bun than usual, with only a few stray strands framing his face. The black dress shirt he sports has his sleeves halfway rolled up—although it’s a miracle he hasn’t straight up flexed them off yet—while a bright orange tie sits pretty around his neck. It matches the gentle makeup around Cole’s eyes. 

...which Jesse actually did personally, at Cole’s insistence, with the trade off of Cole putting some highlights into Jesse’s hair. 

And while Jesse appreciates his hair having a bit of an extra pink punch to it, he now has to live with the torture of recalling just how close he had to get to Cole make sure that makeup was perfect. Leaning on his chest, all up in his face, close enough to see the faint freckles upon his cheeks, forced to look into marigold eyes as deep as the earth itself...

The memory pops into his mind every time he happens to glance in Cole’s direction now, or when he simply catches his eye, and he feels like he’s going to spontaneously combust every single time. 

...Jesse might not make it through the night in one piece. 

“Mmph, Jess, you’ve gotta try some of these!” Cole exclaims, gesturing to a huge platter of mini cheesecake bites. He shoves another into his mouth, blissfully unaware that Jesse’s been appreciating the scenery. “I think I’ve discovered the best thing since cake itself!”

“Ha, I know they’re good.” Jesse chuckles, grateful for the distraction from his thoughts. “My mom’s the one that did most of the catering. And I had to help her for like, eight hours.”

Cole gasps, immediately moving over to Jesse in a single stride. Jesse gulps, finding his hands swept up into Cole’s large, firmed, stronger ones. 

“You helped create these?!” Cole lifts Jesse’s hands, pressing small, delicate kisses to each of his knuckles. “May the Master bless these hands.”

“Tchhhh, stahp.”

Cole laughs and releases Jesse, sliding his hand back into his pocket. He pulls out a small pack of mints and offers one to Jesse before popping one himself. Jesse, again, is totally looking respectfully at the fact that Cole’s tie is gradually becoming undone due to his erratic movements, between scarfing down food and bouncing around as quick as he does...

But when Cole’s collarbone becomes visible, Jesse can’t take it anymore.

“H-Hold on, um, your tie is loose again...”

“Huh, what—?”

Jesse puts a hand on Cole’s shoulder to stop him from floundering off again, and sets to work on putting the tie back in place. His fingers move deftly, pulling the cloth through the motions...but his hands still tremble with a bit of trepidation. 

“Whaaaat?” Cole complains half-heartedly, yet not resisting. “Did you not tie it tight enough last time?”

“Apparently not tight enough to withstand your ability to immediately knock it loose.”

“You say that like I did it on purpose. What’s wrong, were you getting a little distracted—?”

Jesse pulls a bit tighter than necessary, cutting off the rest of Cole’s sentence, and completing the knot. 

“There, that should stay.”

Jesse smirks at his accomplishment...only to realize he has also succeeded in dragging Cole even closer to him. Cole’s been tugged down eye-level to Jesse now, and like magnets their gazes are drawn to one another. Jesse feels his ears turn pink; Cole just blinks before letting an easy, almost smug, smile slide onto his face.

“Well, hi.”

Jesse coughs out a laugh, releasing Cole’s tie. Cole doesn’t move from the position, however. 

“Ahahaha, um, I’m sorry–”

“What are you apologizing for? You are my date, after all.” Cole grins, making his dimples prominent. “I think that entitles me to a little bit of gazing adoringly into your eyes. Or just gazing at you in general.”

“Guuuuuuh—” Jesse’s brain short-circuits, unable to load a proper response in a timely manner. “Wh-Wh-Wh-Why would you want to do that, ahaha...?”

Jesse regrets the question as soon as Cole leans even further into his bubble. With a gentle, featherlight touch, he brings his hand to Jesse’s face, brushing a thumb absently along his soft cheek. Jesse swallows down a shudder at the contact. 

“Well for starters, you’re a giant sweetheart, you make me smile so easily, and you’re very pretty.” Cole confesses in a low voice. He sounds so conspiratorial; Jesse turns red enough to be mistaken for the Red Ninja. “And...I also really like eyeshadow on you. A shame you don’t wear it a little more often.” 

Jesse makes a whining noise like a firework about to explode; Cole raises an amused eyebrow when Jesse buries his face into his hands.

“C-Coooole, you can’t just say that!”

“What, am I not supposed to tell the truth? Honesty is a virtue, after all~”

Jesse whines again; Cole bursts into a wild guffaw, barely pulling himself back together to speak again.  

“...all right, all right, let’s even the score then. Say something sappy about me! Try to get me flustered!” 

“That’s not fair; you’re like a rock!” Jesse pulls out of hiding to flail a weak arm in Cole’s direction. “There’s little that I could say that would break you! You take everything in stride!” 

“Awww, you haven’t even tried!” Cole leans against the gym wall, kicking up one of his feet against it. “C’mon, I bet you could do it! Of course, I’ll also totally accept you waxing poetic about how strong and gorgeous and hilarious I am, amongst other things—”

“I’m going to die,” Jesse bemoans under his breath, which only sends Cole into a fresh fit of laughter.

Despite how flushed his cheeks are from both embarrassment and adoration, Jesse still finds himself glancing absently at Cole. Cole’s so caught up in his own delight, his smile taking up his entire face. Just beholding it feels like staring directly into the sun; Jesse’s stomach does some sort of flip thing that his heart then decides to copy. 

But how can he not look, when Cole’s personality is so magnetic that good-hearted people can’t help but be drawn to him? When he’s so friendly without any effort at all, when he’s so kind without any ulterior motives, when he’s so beautiful inside and out?

“How am I supposed to tell you that you’re perfect and you don’t even realize it?! Or that I’m so glad I met you and I’m grateful I get to be your friend?! Or that I’d give you a flower every single day if it meant I could talk to you for even just a few minutes?! That I’ve adored you for longer than you’ve known I even exist?!” 

Jesse swallows, fighting really, really hard just to say anything.

The music suddenly hits a change in tempo, throwing him for a loop. The song changes, the beat drops, the lights flash with the colors of the Elemental Compass, and even Cole takes note of the change in atmosphere. 

“...hey, wait a sec,” Jesse says, eyes lighting up with realization. Sheer joy blooms onto his face as his foot starts tapping. “I love this song...!”

With renewed vigor, he twirls on his heel, grabbing Cole’s hand. Jesse locks their fingers together and pulls Cole away from the wall, guiding him out towards the crowd that seems to part specifically for them. Cole balks, caught off guard. Jesse revels in his surprise. 

“C’mon, let’s dance! We have to dance to this one...!” 

“W-Wait, now?!”

“Yeah, now! Why not?!” Jesse giggles, tightening his hold around Cole’s hand with the confidence of the Fuchsia Ninja. “What, afraid you’ll upstage everyone with a lil’ Triple Tiger Sashay~?”

Cole chokes on air, speechless for the moment, and Jesse takes that as his victory for making Cole flustered. He laughs and leads Cole through the sea of other students, fighting for a good spot towards the middle of the gym floor. Cole, swept up in the moment, simply allows himself to be led. 

Normally Jesse wouldn’t be bold like this, especially not with Cole of all people...but there’s just something about the night, the music, the moment that empowers him. 

There’s nothing more that he wants to do right now than dance with Cole. There’s nowhere else he rather be, and no one else he’d rather be with. 

He’s tired of pretending he’s not madly in love with this man. 

With strength equivalent to a Spinjitzu Master, Jesse pulls Cole into a spin, their arms outstretched yet latched with one another as they twirl. They’re not matching the beat of the music at all, but they throw care to the wind, the couple laughing too hard to bother. Once they stop spinning they break apart to bust out the first dance moves that come to mind, refined or not, and surrender themselves to the might and whims of the music.

Cole obviously has a far better sense of rhythm, able to make anything look good. He glides and shuffles across the floor with the grace of a practiced dancer, yet the strong gait of a seasoned fighter. It’s a mesmerizing combination to watch. 

But Jesse’s picked up a thing of two over last couple months of being exposed to Cole’s prestigious upbringing as a dancer. He uses what he’s learned to step, sway, and slide along the floor, putting his own touch on each move. He hovers and shimmers a little more than he probably should in public, yet he can’t bring himself to care, letting the magic fly right out of him as he dances. 

And at some point, the music hits a crescendo that sends the duo flying into each other’s arms, somehow matching the other step for step. Cole puts a supporting arm around Jesse to twirl them around before flinging Jesse outwards, and the two of them manage to burst out into identical dance moves. Cole goes right; Jesse goes right. Cole does a spin; Jesse spins the opposite way. They join hands and do something that Jesse thinks is a Quick Step (if that’s even a real dance), but he and Cole pull it off like they’ve been practicing a routine for years.

Only connected by the hands, Jesse and Cole grin at one another, stepping across the floor in a flurry of taps and miraculously manage not to step on their feet. Giggles of joy burst from their chests as they move and shuffle; Cole even pulls them chest to chest at one point before flinging Jesse out again, dragging them into another spin. They move so fast that Jesse almost thinks they’ll fly into Cole’s Spinjitzu, but instead Cole hoists Jesse into his arms and keeps twirling them around like that. Jesse throws his arms around Cole on instinct, and also briefly believes that he wouldn’t mind staying just like this forever.

Jesse eventually hits the ground again, his feet returning to the floor at the same point the music breaks to a stop. Cole’s arms are still supporting him and Jesse’s hands are still draped around Cole’s neck. Their chests heave with the exhaustion of being caught up in the moment, foreheads dripping in sweat...but neither of them lose their smiles even once. 

“I...always forget how much I actually do love to dance,” Cole says on a whisper. Jesse smiles, insides turning to goo.

“I just remember how much I like dancing with you.”

Cole beams back, only to gaze upon Jesse’s face, flushed a pretty shade of pink with glittering eyes to match. It’s bit of an absurd sight, and Cole can’t help but chuckle. 

“Hey, J-Jess,” Cole gasps out between laughs. “Your eyes are glowing.”

Oh, Jesse knows—he’s pretty sure he’s been blinking out sparkles for the last two minutes. But he catches Cole’s eye and finds Cole’s irises are just as vibrant. Light flows through them like lava down the side of a volcano. 

“Hey, yours are too...!”

Cole blinks, reaching up and feeling the warmth radiating off his face. “...ah, shit. Should we...go somewhere else until we calm down...?”

The next song emerges from the speakers. This one has a slower tempo that draws other student couples closer to one another. Jesse scans the area—everyone else seems preoccupied with themselves, so there’s no prying eyes...and even if there was, their “glowing eyes “could easily be chalked up to the dazzling lights of the room itself. No magical elemental emotional phenomena going on at all.

“...we should just stay like this.” Jesse tightens his arms around Cole’s neck, allowing him to lean his head against Cole’s shoulder. Cole hums in agreement, settling his hands just above Jesse’s lower back and relaxing. They both know that there’s a “proper” way to slow dance...but for right now, they’ll just take the excuse to be as close to each other as possible. It’s not like everyone else isn’t just swaying back and forth and calling it dancing.

After a few moments just enjoying each other’s company, Jesse pulls back, only slightly–just enough to get Cole back into his sights...and to remind himself that this is actually happening. Cole notices him staring this time and gives Jesse a gentle smile. Jesse smiles back...but he speaks into the silence, against his will, suddenly not in control of his own body. 

“...do you...regret coming with me?”

The word pour out of his mouth; bitter, abrupt, and unexpected like a drop of grape-flavored medicine rolling down his throat. Cole blinks in surprise, his grip around Jesse tightening. 

“Why...would you ask that?” 

“I...I don’t know...” Jesse furrows his brow. He feels like he’s forgotten something important. “I just...I guess I just wanted to be sure...”

“...Would you like me to convince you, then?” Cole stops them mid-sway, lifting his hands so they rest on Jesse’s shoulders instead. He gives them a gentle squeeze. Jesse thinks he stops breathing.

“H-Huh?”

“Would you...” Cole reaches up with his right hand, perching Jesse’s chin between his finger and his thumb. He gently tilts Jesse’s head back, and now, their gazes are laser-focused on one another. Time slows to a crawl. “ ...like me to convince you, that I don’t regret coming here with you?”

“I-I...Um...how do you...plan to do that? I mean, you could just say so, or–”

“Heh, why tell you when I could show you?” Cole asks, his voice light and airy and very unlike earth in this particular moment. “In other words...” 

Cole leans in, his face mere centimeters away from Jesse’s. The hand on Jesse’s chin moves up to cradle his cheek once again. 

“...can I kiss you?” 

Every nerve in Jesse’s body screams in the affirmative, yet none of them move to make Jesse’s mouth actually say the word yes. The entire expanse of the gym feels like its closed in on just the two of them, and you’d think it’d be somewhat claustrophobic...

...but when it’s just Cole filling his vision, gazing at him with nothing short of admiration and desire in his eyes, Jesse’s never been able to breathe easier.

His answer is obvious. Jesse opens his mouth to reply—

—a loud, obnoxious, blaring sound echoes throughout the whole gymnasium. 

People begin to scream and scatter, stampeding for the door like a giant herd of frightened cattle. Jesse and Cole pull apart, even while still clutching each others’ arms.

“...wait, is that the school’s emergency alarm?!” Jesse asks, straining his throat to say so. It’s definitely an alarm, but it’s a much different sound than the one the school usually uses for Garmadon attacks...even if it does ring with same amount of aggravating inconvenience. 

Still, it’s enough to throw Cole straight into Hero Mode. He pulls out of their embrace, romantic moment forgotten as the call of people to help, crime to fight, and justice to prevail drags him away. Cole stands up straight and battle-ready, slipping into his ninja-persona as easily as one would put on a coat. He’s perfectly silhouetted in the faint colors of the room, eyes shimmering with determination. Every contour of his muscles and body is framed by the dark, and the unrelenting desire to protect is outlined by the spotlights above. 

Jesse loves him so much. 

“I’ve gotta go, Jess.”  

It’s a statement as much as it is an abrupt goodbye, and Cole makes tracks for the gymnasium exit. The once upbeat music becomes muffled around Jesse, warping around him like he’s underwater or underground, and the colors blend into a single shade of gray, and the room starts to dim, and the air has become thick enough to choke—

Jesse knows this is going to end how it always ends—but please—not this time—they were so close to—!

“N-No, wait, Cole, you can take me with you! At least take me with you! Please! Cole!” 

Cole sprints out the door. It slams shut behind him, echoing throughout the now empty, quiet, barren, dark gymnasium. 

“COLE! COLE!”

And all Jesse can do is fruitlessly call after him, reaching out but never grasping, as he always does. 

X-X

“COLE!” Jesse yells, sitting up in his bed and throwing out a hand to grab what isn’t there. Reality quickly sets itself back into Jesse’s vision, leaving him surrounded by nothing but his bedroom. His phone is having a crisis on the side table, going off with his alarm to get ready for school in the same tones as in his dream. 

...With a grim realization, Jesse groans and flops backwards back into his pillow, scowling up at the ceiling. He slaps at his phone until the alarm stops. Even if that also results in it dropping to the floor...and lighting up the date in bold, white font. Jesse glowers at it from over the edge of his blanket. 

There’s still two weeks until the actual dance. And moreover, he hasn’t even asked Cole yet. Let alone dared to achieve anything close to his stupid fantasies. 

“...gaaaaah, can’t even escape the nasty surprises in my dreams,” Jesse grumbles. He pulls his pillow out from under him so he can scream into it. 

While muffling out his frustrations, his phone starts to ring—totally not with a ringtone ripped from one of Cole’s DJ sets. The sound forces him to slump out of bed with a devastated moan, flopping straight to the floor in order to answer it. 

“Whaaaaaat?” he groans into the mouthpiece, rubbing the sleep and disappointment out of his eyes. 

“...oh woooow, you actually answered on the second ring!” a higher-pitched voice chirps from the other end. “I thought it would’ve taken at least five, considering you sleep like you’re dead. Along with you having the manners of a dead person. As in, nonexistent. Not even a HELLO before nagging at me, you heathen?” 

Jesse murmurs as he puts his phone on speaker, resisting the urge to just leave himself face-down in his carpet. 

“I’m sorry. Morning, Mira.”

“Well, that’s better. Jeez, what if that had been Dad?”

“Only you call me this early,” Jesse mutters, rolling himself into a burrito with his blanket. He’ll remake his bed later. Right now, he just wants to spontaneously reincarnate as a burrito. 

“...you seem upset.” Miranda ponders after a lengthy bout of silence. Jesse swears he can hear her thinking. “...nightmare again?”

“Nah...it was...actually a good dream this time, believe it or not. It just...ended too soon, as usual.”

“A good dream, huh? Must’ve been about ~Coooole~ then.”

Jesse scoffs, fidgeting in his cocoon of blankets. “I-I’m not that predictable...!”

“Ooooh yeah, definitely about Cole. For a Master of Surprise, you’re very predictable.”

“That’s probably because you’re my sister.”

“Or I’m just that perceptive! ...I’d ask what it was about, buuuut I don’t want the second hand embarrassment. Master spare me.”

Jesse grunts as he pulls himself into a sitting position, his burrito now more of a squashed dumpling. He leans against his bed, facing the mirror on the far wall of his room. His clothes are crumpled beyond belief, and his hair sticks out in every possible direction. He looks as miserable as Miranda claims he sounds. 

...why’s he so sad, anyway? It really was a good dream, and at least it had a realistic ending...rather than the usual ones of him literally exploding from embarrassment, or where his powers start going crazy and he can’t control it, or when Cole rides off into the sunset on a piece of chocolate cake with Zane instead...

And the thing is, it felt so real too. Like, maybe, two degrees off of what reality could be. 

The intimacy of being close enough to apply makeup on each other, to tease one another relentlessly, to know the other well enough to compliment the smallest things...all those moments palpable enough to leave a lasting impact even after he woke up...

He felt like he was there—the taste of the mint remains on his tongue, the notes of his favorite song still play faintly in his ear, the smell of Cole’s cologne doing little to mask his natural earthy scent, the sight of a thousand colors providing a palette for a perfect moment...

How easy it was to recall how it felt, to be caressed by the absent touch of Cole’s hand against his face, or getting lost in the wholesome look in his eyes, or the imminent feeling of them almost crashing together as one, Cole’s lips potentially against his own—

Jesse gulps, a little bit terrified of just how badly he wants that. 

“...soooo, anyway, Mr. Miracle Maker.” Jesse jolts, entirely forgetting that Miranda’s still on speaker. He really hopes he hadn’t said any of that out loud. “What are you going to do now? Mope about it all day? Whine about how reality isn’t as good as your dreams or something?”

Jesse grunts—that does sound like his usual go-to move. But maybe...this time could be different. If a dream could feel that real...then maybe it’s not so far off from achieving in reality after all. And if nothing else...it can’t hurt to at least try for it. 

Jesse locks eyes with himself in the mirror...and smiles with a fierce wave of determination. 

“...I’m gonna go make that dream come true.”

[sicksucculentz]

Do you think Jay and Nya are allergic to Zane, Cole, and Lloyd during the spring?

Kai never does yard work right on purpose to get out of it. Nya and Jay have allergies so bad they legit can’t see half the time. Zane, Cole, and Lloyd just really like being/working outside during the spring so they are always given those chores.

Zane just ends up have pollen stuck to his shirt. Cole does the heavy lifting and gets a lot of plant material and pollen all over him. Lloyd gets distracted by something moving in the grass and tries to catch it, roots through bushes, etc so he’s covered in pollen and shit.

Then they come inside getting pollen all over the place.

((When my brother still lived at home im pretty sure this situation occurred a couple times. Im not effected by allergies unless the pollen is REALLY bad. My brother on the other hand has really bad allergies. I would spent a shit ton of time outside collecting pollen and shit all over then come in the house and trigger his allergies. I think thats how it happened))

[mitzle]

Some Of My Prompts From The Prompt Website

Zane: *Trying to fill out legal paperwork stuff* Were you guys born AMAB or AFAB?

Cole: Bold of you to assume I was born at all.

Jay: I personally was created in a lab.

Kai: I just straight up spawned lol.

___________________________________________________________

Zane: I think we're missing something.

Cole: Teamwork?

Jay: Cohesion?

Kai: A general sense of what we’re doing?

___________________________________________________________

Zane: I currently have 7 empty notebooks and I have no clue what to put in them. Suggestions?

Cole: Put spaghetti in it.

Zane: I'm currently taking suggestions from literally anyone but you.

Jay: Put spaghetti in it.

Zane: I'm currently taking suggestions from anyone but you two.

Kai: Put spaghetti in it.

Zane: I'm no longer taking suggestions.

___________________________________________________________

Zane: I think Kai was right.

Cole: I'm surprised he hasn't marched in here to say 'I told you so.'

Jay: He wouldn't do that.

Kai: You're right, Jay. For once in your life, you're 100% right. I would never say that.

Kai: *turns around, the shirt he's wearing says 'Kai Told You So' on the back*

___________________________________________________________

Zane: *Gently taps table*

Cole: *Taps back*

Jay: What are they doing?

Kai: Morse code.

Zane: *Aggressively taps table*

Cole: *Slams hands down* YOU TAKE THAT BACK-

___________________________________________________________

Zane: How did none of you hear what I just said?

Cole: I’ve been zoned out for the past two and a half hours.

Jay: I got distracted about halfway through.

Kai: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

___________________________________________________________

Cop: You’re receiving a ticket for having three people on one motorcycle.

Zane: Shoot-

Cole: Wait, three?

Cop: Yeah?

Jay: OH MY GOD KAI FELL OFF!!!

___________________________________________________________

Zane: Dammit, Kai!

Kai: What?! It wasn’t me!

Zane: Sorry, force of habit. Dammit, Jay!

Jay: Not me either.

Zane: Oh...Then who set the house on fire?

Lloyd: *whistles*

___________________________________________________________

*Zane's helping Cole out after he gets injured, while the others are watching*

Jay: How does Cole look?

Kai: A little better than you, actually.

___________________________________________________________

Nya: Why are you on the floor?

Lloyd: I'm depressed.

Lloyd: Also I was stabbed, can you get Kai, please.

[rosiehunterwolf]

... Morro

XD y'all really like your Morro, don't you? This is the second Morro request I've gotten (third technically, but there was an issue with the other one so it's not going to be filled) and the first one blew up XD, got way more notes than any fic I've posted before even though it was just a short little thing.

Since I already did a typical Morro fic, though, I decided to try something a little different with this one and tie it into the movie!verse. Hope you enjoy!

Spirit of the Deep

Summary: With Garmadon defeated for good, the ninja are eager to find another way to busy themselves. When Kai finds out about an ancient temple rumored to hold some sort of treasure, the others are immediately in.

Not all adventures are good, though. Before the ninja know it, they are in over their heads with a discovery they will never forget. (Movie!verse AU)

“It’s just through here!”

Kai’s voice rang through the temple, and Lloyd pushed his way through the vines, looking around carefully, his sword drawn. “Kai, not so loud. I don’t have a great feeling about this place.”

“Gee, I wonder why!” Jay squeaked from behind him. “I mean, look at this place!” He waved his hands at the crumbling stone walls, overgrown with weeds and vines. “Kai, what made you think it was a good idea to come here?”

“Oh, Jay, stop being such a coward. It’s going to be fun! There could be puzzles! Or booby traps! And most importantly, treasure!”

“You’re excited about booby traps?”

Lloyd stopped, holding up his flashlight to examine something on the wall. It looked to be an engraving of some sort, like a whirlwind, and below it, some sort of runes that Lloyd couldn’t read.

With a start, he realized the others were far ahead of him now, and he darted after them, desperate to keep up. “Guys! Don’t leave me alone like that! Are you forgetting I don’t have powers to protect myself like you guys do?”

“Fat lot of use powers will be when Kai and Jay inevitably trigger all the traps and the floor disappears beneath us,” Cole grumbled.

“Hey!” Kai yelped, at the same time Jay said, “Do you really think there are traps in here?”

Nya sighed. “If you’re so nervous, Jay, why did you even come with?”

“The rest of you guys were all going! I wasn’t going to be left behind!”

“There does not appear to be any signs of life,” Zane said. “I do not think anyone has been here for a long time.”

“What about traps? Can your sensors detect any traps?”

Zane frowned. “No. There seems to be some sort of interference with my signals.”

Kai suddenly stopped, the others bumping into him at the lack of warning.

“Kai?” Cole asked. “Why’d we stop?”

“There’s something in there.” Kai didn’t elaborate further, stepping over the rubble of the crumbled wall and disappearing from sight.

“Kai, wait!” Nya yelped, hurrying after him.

“So much for sticking together,” Lloyd grumbled as he followed the others into the room. “Seriously, one day this is going to-” he stopped short of walking right into Cole. “What is it?”

The earth ninja simply pointed, and Lloyd went slack.

In the middle of the room, there was a pedestal, intricate carvings in the side of it emitting a faint green glow. Atop it, a scroll was rolled up, the paper worn with age.

“What is that?” Nya breathed.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it one bit. Maybe we should just go-”

“Can it, Jay.” Cole grabbed the lightning ninja by the back of his shirt. “We didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

“What’s an old scroll doing all the way out here?” Lloyd asked. He reached for it, but Kai stopped him with a sharp yelp.

“Lloyd, don’t! I saw something like this in a movie once! This is a trap. When you take the scroll, the weight on the pressure plate will lift, and the whole place will come down around us! We need to find something that’s an equal weight to replace it with.”

Lloyd eyed the pedestal. “I don’t think…”

Nya sighed. “Kai, you’re confusing movies with reality.”

“I’m not! Trust me!”

“Fine.” Lloyd turned to the group. “Do we have anything?”

Cole pulled something out of his bag, holding it out to them. “I have a rock.”

They blinked at him. “Why do you have a rock?”

Cole shrugged. “Maybe I like rocks.”

Kai shook his head. “Okay, whatever. That should work.” Taking the rock from Cole, he positioned himself over the pedestal. He took a deep breath. “Here goes.”

In the blink of an eye, he had switched out the scroll for the rock. There was an ominous creaking sound, and they all held their breath, waiting. A few small stones clattered down from the roof, but other than that, nothing.

“We did it.” Unrolling the scroll, Kai’s relieved expression quickly changed to one of disappointment. “It’s just a bunch of symbols and gibberish.”

“Zane, do you think you can decipher it?” Lloyd asked.

Zane took the scroll from Kai. His brow furrowed. “This does not appear to match the dialect of any of the official Ninjago languages.”

“Lemme look at that.” Jay took the scroll from him, and Cole scowled at him.

“Be careful with it, nitwit! As far as we know, this is a priceless artifact!” As the others squabbled over the scroll, Lloyd approached the pedestal. Now that he was closer, he could see that there was an engraving on the top that he had missed before.

A funnel, sort of like-

A whirlwind. It was that same symbol he had seen near the entrance.

“Hey, guys,” he called. “I think this may be important, I saw it earlier-” Reaching out, he let his fingers lightly brush the engraving. Suddenly, there was a bright flare of light, and a gust of wind that seemed to come from nowhere sent Lloyd hurtling across the room. He groaned, rubbing his head.

“Lloyd!” Suddenly the others were beside him, Kai gripping his arm so tightly his knuckles turned white. Lloyd waved him off. “Kai, don’t worry, I’m fine-” he stopped, realizing that the fire ninja was no longer looking at him.

Lloyd followed his gaze and froze.

Hovering over the pedestal was a young man with long black hair, a green streak running through it. His clothes were ripped and disheveled, and he was examining himself in awe.

Most noteworthy, though, was the fact that Lloyd could see right through his body.

The man looked up suddenly, spearing them with his gaze. “Who are you? Where am I? What happened to me?”

“Oh. Oh my gosh.” Jay gripped Lloyd’s arm. “I think we just awakened a ghost! Oh my gosh, Lloyd, what have you done?”

“What have I done? Kai’s the one who brought us here! Blame him!”

“Me? You’re the one who touched the pedestal after I clearly told you not to!”

“Well, maybe if you guys had listened to me about the symbol, I wouldn’t have!”

“The scroll distracted us! Blame Zane, he’s the one who couldn’t read it!”

“Me? Nya was the one who-”

“Enough!” a voice bellowed across the room, and they all froze, turning to look at the ghost. “I can’t believe a bunch of kids just released me from the dead. I can’t believe I’m dead!”

“We’re not kids!” Nya snapped. “We’re ninja.”

The ghost looked at her. “Right.”

“We are!”

“Um,” Lloyd swallowed. “Mr. Ghost, sir-”

The ghost rolled his eyes. “It’s Morro.”

“Okay, Morro- we could get in a lot of trouble if our master found out what we did. So, um… maybe you could consider… going back? To wherever you came from?”

“Are you kidding?” Morro laughed. “I was trapped in there for years! I’m never going back!”

“Uh, I think you are.” Kai stepped forward, igniting his fist. “Get back in! Or else!”

Morro’s eyes widened. “An elemental master. I’ll be damned.”

“And there’s more where that came from!” Nya shot a jet of water at him, and Morro shrieked, darting out of the way.

“Watch it! Didn’t anyone ever teach you that water kills ghosts?”

“To have a ghost roaming the city would be unwise.” Zane stepped forward, ice crackling between his fingers. “We have you surrounded. Please go back inside your pedestal.”

“Two can play at that game,” he muttered. As Zane blasted him with ice, a powerful gust of wind shot from Morro’s hands, repelling the ice.

Lloyd felt his jaw go slack. Suddenly, the whirlwind symbols made a lot more sense.

“You’re an elemental master, too?” Cole whispered.

“Got a problem with that?”

The others turned to look at him. “What do we do, Lloyd?”

Lloyd glanced back and forth between his team and Morro. “I have a feeling we’re not going to get rid of him. And… Master never told us about an elemental master of wind. He should probably know about this.”

“Alright.” Nya turned towards Morro. “We’re going to take you to our master. Cooperate, or else.”

Morro sighed. “It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice, do I? Fine, let’s go.” And, in a flash, he was sliding into Lloyd’s body.

Lloyd screamed, falling to the floor as the chill overtook him, the feeling of a foreign presence taking over his brain-

“Okay, okay kid, I’ll stop!”

Lloyd looked up to see Morro had left his body and was hovering over him, the others just behind, their expressions ranging from horrified to furious glares at Morro.

“Lloyd, are you okay?” Kai reached out, helping him to his feet.

“Geez, kid, you act like you’ve never been possessed before.”

Lloyd blinked at him. “I haven’t.”

Morro snorted. “Look, it’s not going to hurt you. I’m a ghost- I’m weak to water. The city has water everywhere- dripping from the roofs, pooling in the streets- the protection of a human body makes it far less likely that I’ll die on the way there. Besides, a ghost floating around isn’t exactly subtle, and… I have a feeling that attention isn’t exactly something we want.”

Lloyd exhaled slowly. “Fine. Do it.”

This time, he was prepared as the coldness numbed his body, although it still wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

The others looked at him anxiously. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Lloyd?” Nya asked.

“It’s fine, it’ll be over soon. Now come on, let’s go find my uncle and get some answers.”

Let’s hope this guy actually knows what’s going on.

It took Lloyd a moment to realize the thoughts were Morro’s, but he found himself thinking the same thing. If Master Wu couldn’t fix this… he didn’t know what he was going to do.

[ninjago-happens-here]

'Bandages come in many ways. There are gauze bandages, treating all kinds of wounds the Ninja may have. There are bandages used to prevent injury in Martial Arts. What P.I.X.A.L. is wondering, is that if mankind has a bandage for the heart.'

@ninjago-angst-week am I late or what? Sorry but I think spewing out 21k words over teh course of 3 days killed my motivation. It took 3 days just to write 6.1k words.

Summary:

P.I.X.A.L. notices that the store of bandages is running low. She thinks about all the times she had to use them on one of her teammates, and its purposes.

“Hey Pix! We’re running low on bandages. Can you help us order some before we go to Shintaro?” Nya’s voice came from the medical bay of the Destiny’s Bounty. The Ninja and Master Wu were going on a trip to Shintaro. Unfortunately, Pixal never got an invite, but she has long been used to being left behind. It’s not that it was a bad thing, per se. Pixal knew the importance of having a backup, and having someone watch over Ninjago whilst the Ninja were gone. Still, to distract herself after placing a digital order, she thought about anything that could distract her. That thing just happened to be about bandages.

Bandages. Neat, white little things that wrap around any land or sky creature. According to Wikipedia, a bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to or to restrict the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applied directly to a wound, and a bandage is used to hold the dressing in place. Other bandages are used without dressings, such as elastic bandages that are used to reduce swelling or provide support to a sprained ankle. Tight bandages can be used to slow blood flow to an extremity, such as when a leg or arm is bleeding heavily.

At first, that was all P.I.X.A.L. knew about bandages. Given that she was built with the main purpose of being Cyrus Borg’s assistant, her primary knowledge consisted mostly of the ins and outs of Borg Tower, emergency protocols, customer service skills, and basic first aid, given that her maker was frailer than your average Ninjago citizen.

Of course, the longer she worked under Cyrus Borg, the more she learnt about the medical field. Curious about Mr Borg’s special circumstances, she was permitted to look through the internet for more information. In no time at all, she learnt about surgery, prosthetics, all different kinds of medication, and how to diagnose illnesses. In her given free time, she studied all the information available on the internet about the medical field. Even though the information was useless to her, an android who had no physical weaknesses like the humans do, her system determined that whilst the knowledge was a bit excessive, it only helps to prepare her to care for Mr Borg.

She never really needed to apply all that knowledge about serious and fatal cuts, but when Borg gets even the slightest injury, P.I.X.A.L. was there to offer her assistance.

A year after she had been created, Cyrus Borg had offered her to take a test of the field in medicine. P.I.X.A.L. had immediately felt lighter and better somehow. When asking Borg why she was feeling this way and if robots could get sick, Borg had laughed in surprise and shock.

“That feeling is happiness, P.I.X.A.L.! It’s an emotion that all living creatures feel, you included.”

“But I am not living-“ Mr Borg cut her off.

“Technically, you are right, P.I.X.A.L., but you are intelligence, and intelligence is what defines life. You can adapt, change, and overcome as all living beings do. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise! Because that would be an insult to my intelligence!” Cyrus Borg said encouragingly. “And robots can technically get sick, from a digital virus. But I created you to be strong, stronger than I ever will be. You should not have to worry about them.”

P.I.X.A.L. nodded her head to show her understanding. “Then I will go to the exam.”

P.I.X.A.L. didn’t pass on her first try, but Mr Borg told her that it was alright, given that she still did very well considering that she only had the free internet to look for answers to a test she was unprepared for. It was human for her to have failed.

“So why did you send me there with no preparation?” P.I.X.A.L. asked with a shaking voice.

“To prepare you for failure, my dear!” Cyrus Borg said patronisingly. “Since I’ve built you, you’ve been perfect in many, many ways. And that isn’t a bad thing! But life isn’t that simple. You may fail in one way or another in the future because like humans, the circumstances may not be what you desired and plans can fall apart due to errors. What I want you to know is how failure feels like, and I will help you recover from it.”

P.I.X.A.L. nodded. It won’t be long before she faced her first, real big failure.

- Lloyd - The first time she had to really apply those skills that she learnt was when the team had seen Lloyd in the village. After he was pulled out of the ocean because he had to escape from an exploding plane that the Digilord had trapped him on. The locals had wanted to help, but Lloyd wasn’t feeling like having strangers cut him up, so they offered him some basic and outdated medical supplies.

P.I.X.A.L. could see him trying to treat himself and to stay awake, and she could see him hiss as the alcohol drizzled on his wounds.

“LLOYD!” Kai shouted in a tone that conveyed panic. This made the young ultimate spinjitzu master look up from his handiwork and immediately break into a smile. As the team had rushed forward to greet him, P.I.X.A.L. could see that his shoulders were sagging, probably from relief.

“I’m so sorry that I got caught guys,” Lloyd wheezed with an apologetic smile before keeling over, to which Cole caught him with shaking hands.

“Oh god, Zane, quick, do your thing!” Kai panicked even harder, hands jittery as if he was in an internal debate about whether he should do something or not.  “I’m trying Kai! I just- my hands keep shaking for some reason!” Zane gritted his teeth in frustration. “I’m gonna run some diagnostics on him” “Okay, Cole, lie him on a flat surface- medic! Medic!” Nya screamed out.

It was at this moment that P.I.X.A.L. knew that was her chance. To repay Zane for his heart. To prove to the team that she was useful. To finally implement her knowledge. Sometimes, she wonders if she’ll ever have what Zane has with the other humans, but for now, she is glad that she can separate her emotions from her work.

“Let me handle it,” P.I.X.A.L. said authoritatively. Running a scan with her own diagnostics, P.I.X.A.L. isolated the most dangerous injuries before telling the group out loud, staring at her apprehensively.

“Master Lloyd has suffered a concussion, lung damage due to smoke inhalation, and fractured bones in his tibia. He also has a sprained ankle and several bones on his upper chest area have several bruises. Luckily, there is no internal bleeding. He also has some first and second-degree burns, but those look like they have been treated by the ocean water. However, he is at risk of hypothermia should he not change out of those clothes. Other cuts and bruises should not be life-threatening as long as we keep the infection away, and-“

“WE GET IT! Can you just PLEASE start treating Lloyd NOW?” Jay shrieked in frustration. P.I.X.A.L. blinked. Oh right, the ninjas are still panicking.

“Apologies, can I have a look at the medical supplies?” Taking a scalpel out of the medical box, P.I.X.A.L. removed Lloyd Garmadon’s shirt and so multiple bruises as well as the look of someone who’s emancipated. It didn’t really make any sense to her, but she supposed that being drained of his elemental powers must have caused some damage.

“To treat his concussion, he needs peace and to rest. I would like if all of you can speak in whispers from now on,” P.I.X.A.L. began. The soup suddenly looked ashamed and guilty, with Jay whispering a soft ‘sorry’.

“To treat his hypothermia, we would need blankets-“

“Why can’t I just warm him up with fire?” Kai cut across. “Well, the extreme heat can damage the skin or, even worse, cause irregular heartbeats so severe that they can cause the heart to stop. However, starting a campfire some meters away could help a little. using this fire, we can make some warm beverages and some food.”

“Just say what we gotta do doc, we’ll listen!” Nya begged swiftly. P.I.X.A.L. thought for a moment, before choosing to sort people out based on their perceived abilities.

“Kai, Jay, Cole, Sensei Wu, and Sensei Garmadon- please look for blankets in the village and start a campfire over there,” Pointing at a spot a satisfactory distance from Lloyd, P.I.X.A.L. continued with giving instructions. “Start making some sort of soup- not too heavy. Zane, Nya- you’re with me.”

Garmadon, who was silent all this time, started to protest. “I cannot leave my son, Pixal.”

“Fine, you may stay and just keep tending to the campfire,” P.I.X.A.L. conceded, not wanting to waste time arguing. There was the matter of fact that the smoke inhaled by Lloyd Garmadon could be fatal, but there was not much that she could do in his location. All she could hope to do was to treat his minor injuries before ensuring that Lloyd is stable enough to go to a hospital in Ninjago. Which would have been impossible, given that the Digilord had control of the city already. What could she do? Maybe there’s an elemental master of the air who could treat Lloyd?

“Pix, do you not have any ideas on how to treat the smoke inhalation?” Zane looked at her with kind and understanding eyes. Pixal nodded, defeated, before preparing a cast. “We need concentrated oxygen and a nose tube or a tube down his throat. Unfortunately, there is nowhere in Ninjago where we can get to such technology.”

Hearing this, Nya immediately perked up. “But we can make them. Zane, do you have any wires that you can spare for a bit?”

“Redirecting power from the right hand,” Zane replied as he opened up his arm to take out a tube. He’s so self-sacrificing. For some strange reason, P.I.X.A.L. felt her heart beating faster. Maybe Zane was nervous? “Nya, if you could please clean this?”

“Of course. HEY KAI!”  “Yeah, sis?”  Nya was looking at P.I.X.A.L. expectantly. Oh yes. she was supposed to know this, wasn’t she? “Can you get us 10 cups of potable water and 1 cup of vinegar? Also, get some detergent or soap.”  “Okay Pix, not gonna question this at all!”

Meanwhile, Nya was using pure H2O to just start blasting the tubing As much as they wanted Lloyd to not die from smoke inhalation, they also didn’t want him to be infected. Speaking of infections…

“Ow!” Lloyd woke up sleepily as Zane used one hand to dab his cuts. Looking sheepish, Zane immediately offered an apology before Nya cuts in and admitting her mistake.

“Go back to Lloyd,” Nya said, petting his hair. Once Kai had returned with the necessary materials, Nya sanitised her hands before delicately cleaning the tube with 10 parts water and 1 part vinegar.

Tightening the wrappings around Lloyd’s ankle, Pixal studied her handiwork. The splint was holding up nicely against Lloyd’s leg, and all the infections on Lloyd’s legs were taken care of. Seeing as Zane is treating Lloyd well enough, P.I.X.A.L. immediately began to start diagnosing Lloyd’s burns before seeing blood flow from Lloyd’s back.

“Oh, dear.” In her hast, P.I.X.A.L. had forgotten to check Lloyd for injuries from behind. Maybe she wasn’t as professional as she thought. There was no other choice. Looking at Zane firmly, they pushed Lloyd onto his side as he gave a pained groan.

P.I.X.A.L.’s mechanical heart sank. Lloyd had a reason for sitting up without any support. There were several pieces of debris stuck to his back, and they were all pushed in due to them lying Lloyd on the desk. Nya looked up from her task in horror.

“I’m so sorry Lloyd, I didn’t know-“ “Nya, please focus on your task,” P.I.X.A.L. cut her off before she could begin crying. She felt bad, but what’s done was done. Blocking Lloyd from’s Nya’s view, P.I.X.A.L. picked up a pair of tweezers before picking up the small pieces. But the large piece of metal stuck in his shoulder blades- Pixal had to cut Lloyd’s skin to get that out. Eyes narrowing, hardening her resolve- P.I.X.A.L. lightly cut Lloyd’s skin using the scalpel before pulling up a long shard of bloodied glass. Picking up some of the unused water, P.I.X.A.L. quickly cleared Lloyd and the flat-surfaced of their blood. Applying pressure to those wounds would be hard from this angle, so after disinfecting the openings, P.I.X.A.L. took several rolls of bandages before tying them around Lloyd’s chest. Not too tightly, that would further bruise his ribs- but tight enough to ensure a sense of security and staunch the oozing bleeding.

“Zane, do you have an oxygen filter?” Nya asked, having been satisfied by the cleanliness of the tubing. Sanitising her metallic hands, P.I.X.AL. heard Zane sigh before declining.

“I do. Mr Borg wanted us to be at least a little environmentally friendly, given that the Nindroids would be using large amounts of energy every day. So I can filter out excess greenhouse gases in the air and store them in their solid form before giving the raw materials back to Borg Industries,” P.I.X.A.L. offered.

“You’re a lifesaver Pix,” Nya said in relief, handing P.I.X.A.L. the tubing. P.I.X.A.L. smiled. She supposed that she actually was. Opening Lloyd Garmadon’s mouth, P.I.X.A.L. inserted the tubing down his throat with NIndroid precision. Connecting the end to her oxygen filter, P.I.X.A.L. adjusted the settings so that she was inputting air composing of at least 60% oxygen into young Garmadon’s lungs.

As Zane finished applying some frost to Lloyd’s burns, the 3 of them stood there and watched as Lloyd breathed in and out.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’ll go find what the guys have been doing,” Nya informed their group. “I too will go into the village, but to ensure that we have permission to stay here for the night,” Zane stated, giving a nod to P.I.X.A.L., before walking away into the dusk, right hand locked and useless.

P.I.X.A.L., knowing that she can’t really move, sat next to Lloyd Garmadon as she watched the campfire grow as shrieks from the ninja team rose. At the end of today, all P.I.X.A.L. wanted to do was to just shut down and recharge. She knows she doesn’t need to know that she had half of Zane’s heart (which just skipped another beat for some unknown reason), but all she wants was a break.

Too bad that being a ninja means that you don’t really get to choose when to stop. P.I.X.A.L. thought to herself.

But at least today, I’ve proved my usefulness. I can repay Zane for his heart.

- Kai - Having been stuck alone, disassembled and scrapped, P.I.X.A.L. found that she really, really missed the Ninja team. She also missed Zane, though he was in a cell next to hers. He’s been offline for such a long time, P.I.X.A.L. had fears that he would never wake up.

But he did. And the ninja had rescued them from Chen. But along the way, they had lost Sensei Garmadon, and the year apart had caused some major issues.

Kai doesn’t know that they’re here. But he shouldn’t be here either after Zane had ordered that everyone go to rest after this long day. Still, the glint of red from his eyes even scared P.I.X.A.L., but she would never tell anyone that. She watched as Kai shredded the bandages he wrapped around his hands by destroying a metal training dummy, before turning around to wrap some more.

“Why is he doing that?” P.I.X.A.L. wondered from inside Zane’s head. Zane started whispering, “He… has some anger issues.”

“I get that Zane, I mean why’s he wrapping his hands in bandages?” P.I.X.A.L. corrected herself. Zane quirked an eyebrow but continued with answering P.I.X.A.L.’s questions. “Well, martial artists wear hand wraps and bandages because they can prevent injuries and improve the power of their punches. Wraps and bandages also protect the martial artist’s skin and soften the impact on hard surfaces.”

“I see,” P.I.X.A.L. stated whilst both of them cringed, as Kai delivered a particularly hard blow to the metallic dummy that Zane was supposed to fight with.

“KAI, PLEASE SHUT UP!” came Jay’s voice from down the corridor, moving closer towards them. Zane and P.I.X.A.L. watched in apprehension as Kai breathed heavily, staring down the metallic dummy before all the tension from his shoulders sagged.

The Nindroids watched as Kai cleaned up the training room and head out to use the bathroom to wash up.

“He’s being too hard on himself for the death of Lloyd’s father,” P.I.X.AL. commented blandly. Zane shifted from his position. “I’m afraid that that’s not the only reason. Do you remember Jay telling us that Kai had almost killed both Lloyd and Skylor using Chen’s staff?” P.I.X.A.L. stayed silent.

Bandages come in many ways. There are gauze bandages, treating all kinds of wounds the Ninja may have. There are bandages used to prevent injury in Martial Arts. What P.I.X.A.L. is wondering, is that if mankind has a bandage for the heart.

- Jay - It was only a few days after Master Wu had been lost in time. Whilst the Ninja team were recuperating and in shock, Pixal has been remotely using Samurai X to patrol the cities whilst maintaining in the current Ninja’s headquarters- the electronic system of Yang’s temple. P.I.X.AL. had really wanted to go full into Samurai X, but she knew that she could not just desert her teammates at this moment. But there wasn’t much she could do, other than counting reps for Lloyd. (You skipped a number, I know what you’re doing Pix, and I ain’t gonna stop training-) helping Jay prepare breakfast (Jay! The pancakes are burning!) or accompanying Zane as he retrieved bits and pieces from all the fighting. (Someone has to clean up Ninjago city, and I guess that that would be me and Samurai X.)

P.I.X.A.L. knew that she shouldn’t be keeping Samurai X a secret, but she couldn’t help herself. She felt a strange sense of duty, and the ability to finally be on the front lines, fighting the same enemies as Zane. And she wanted some secrets to herself.

Still, it surprised her when Jay had demanded her full attention during one of her free times.

“Hey, umm… Pix? Do you- do you think you could maybe check out my left eye?” Jay stammered whilst twiddling his fingers. Pixal was curious, but she’s already moved to Jay’s laptop. “Why do you ask so? Did your eye get hit sometime recently?”

Jay had flinched at the word ‘hit’, but shook his head at the word ‘recently’. Huh. Maybe it was phantom pains? Still, Pixal had run a diagnostic on it.

“I can’t seem to find any physical abnormalities, but if this is a case of phantom pain, over the counter pain relievers should work.”

Jay nodded whilst his eyes were blank seemingly off to another world or lost in his memories.

“Jay? Jay, can you hear me?” Pixal once again ran a diagnostic scan. It seems that Jay was slipping into dissociation. Dimming the lights in his room as well as all the screens the blue ninja had put into his room. Pixal started playing a calm Ninjago lofi mix from the speaker she was in. She gently called Jay’s name and he slipped back into reality.

“Jay, just take 2 doses of ibuprofen. They’re at the lowest shelf at the kitchen counter. If it hurts again, tell me and we’ll bring you to a professional.”

Jay who was nodding at the instructions froze at the thought of being taken to the hospital. Still, he slid off his bed and made his way downstairs. Pixal filtered through the electronic system of the temple, landing new the smart fridge and watched as Jay swallowed 2 pills dry.

It seemed to create some results because Jay stopped shivering and shaking. Pixal wondered if that was just a placebo or an actual effect. Still, watching Jay’s face relax in bliss, free from whatever pain that was bothering him, Pixal knew that she made the right call.

- Nya - S9, fight with SOG

It had been brutal. Pixal was just treating the training injuries Lloyd had when Skylor came into the noodle house, helping Nya to walk as her left arm dangled without any purpose. Immediately, Pixal stood up and took quick strides, scanning Nya for all her injuries.

“We were getting supplies when a bunch of Harumi’s goons jumped on us, we had to be quick so that none of them could call up for back up, when-“  “When- fuck, when this dude pulled out a fucking gun,” Nya said, pained and heaving as Skylor slowly helped her to sit on the training mat.

“So you were shot?” Lloyd’s voice came from behind Pixal as he took the medkit to the mat. Nya eyes looked everywhere but at him. Gesturing to her limp and bleeding arm, she gave up all her dignity. “Yeah, right here.”

“Okay, Nya, here, take these.” Lloyd handed her 2 tablets of ibuprofen and a cup of water. “W-what? No, I can’t take these!” Nya hissed in pain.

“Yes, you can!”  “What if we need them later? What if one of us loses an arm or something happens where we have a worse injury?” “That does not matter, Nya. Look, I’ve been shot in Ninjago city before, I know how it feels.”

Pixal immediately flashes back to the nights where she had to help Lloyd through a computer screen, and her metallic fingers curled up. It was horrible, watching him choking down painkillers before trying to pull the bullet out himself. Never again.

“Nya, it would be alright, just take these- we can always go out to get more,” Pixal tried coaxing Nya to just swallow the pills.

“Take them or I’ll force you to take them, Water Ninja.” Skylor admonished. With the combined strength of their motley crew of 3, Nya hesitantly reached for the medicine, almost choking as she had swallowed too much water at one go.

“Okay, good, now we just need to pull the bullet out,” Lloyd reached into the medkit, pulling out a pair of tweezers. Pixal watched as his hands, fatigued from all the trains, couldn’t stop shaking.

“Wait, Lloyd, let me see if the bullet should be removed at all.” Pixal interrupted, taking a more in-depth scan at Nya’s shoulder. In the meantime, Lloyd started to check through Skylor, who said that he was all clear except for a few knuckle bruises. Of course, Pixal would check on her later, but now she had to make sure that Nya would be alright.

“The bullet has missed your major arteries and it actually isn’t in too deep, possibly because of the protection offered by your suit-“ “Just tell me when you’re gonna remove it!” Nya snapped as her brow furrowed in anticipation.  “Well, let’s see… first, we need to remove the clothing around the area of the wound, which-“

“AHH!” Nya shrieked as Pixal twisted and pulled out the bullet without any warning. “Sorry Nya, sometimes fear of a thing could be greater than the actual danger that it poses,” Pixal explained as Nya stared at her with a look that could only scream betrayal.

Dropping the bullet to the ground, Pixal took up some disinfectant and sanitised the area around the entry wound. Nya hissed as Pixal gently presses a cotton gauze to stop the bleeding before finally applying some sort of disinfectant cream. She finished off the wound with a bandage around Nya’s arm, with extra padding using gauze at the point where the wound is at.

“Alright, so now you should not move this arm too much for the next few days, and in the next few weeks, you would not be able to raise it over your shoulder. But in a few months, you can use it again and in a year it would be pretty much healed up so that you may do your weight lifting sessions with- with Cole again…” Pixal said, starting brightly but dropping to a small whisper.

The mood suddenly went from cheery to depressive. “Remember to take lots of rest,” Pixal finished lamely. As Lloyd escorted Nya to the sleeping bags they had gathered, Skylor picked up the bullet Pixal had removed.

“Girl, you were quite mean back there,” Skylor began. “And I think that you’re cool. One problem- the pharmacies have not been able to continue business as normal. All the drugs have to be given to the Sons of Garmadon. In the meantime, all supply chains are disrupted. Over the counter medicine won’t be so easy to find. “

Pixal kept quiet. “Well, I’ll have to keep this bullet as a souvenir for Nya. FSM knows that she deserves this.”

Of course, the bullet would be lost later as they were hunted down throughout the city. But every time Nya changed into her swimsuit, Pixal could see the bullet wound. The scarring left wasn’t pretty, but Pixal thought that the courage Nya showed made her the most beautiful woman she’ll ever have the chance to meet.

- Cole-  Cole was alive. Cole was alive!

Pixal watched as the Ninja went into a momentary stop before cheering and becoming more alive. She saw Nya pass the Scythe of Earth to Cole, who promptly swung it into the oncoming Oni. Pixal was trying her best to fend off the Oni herself, but her mind, or rather, motherboard, was spinning really, really fast. How did Cole survive? It should have been impossible!

Pixal heard that Cole justify his survival, stating that the Oni clouds must have broken his fall. He didn’t know how he wasn’t attacked at first, but many tendrils then came to attack him.

Still, this was impossible for Pixal to figure out. Was it because Cole had been a ghost? Maybe it was his elemental power protecting him? Or perhaps it was divine intervention? Either way, Pixal was going o scan him later if there was even a later.

“Watch out!” Pixal saw a blast of green hit the Oni in front of her. I can’t afford to get lost in thought now! Come on Samurai X, focus! She chided to herself.

Yet, as the battle once again turned tides, and the elemental masters got together to do the Tornado of Creation, Pixal watched from her position behind the holding doors to see Lloyd Garmadon get thrown out of the tornado, hitting his head with an earth-shattering crack as he collapsed against the walls of the monastery before debris-covered him.

Frantically approaching him, Pixal saw out of the corner of her eye that the rest of the ninja were left dizzy, exhausted, and possibly some having passed out. That was alright. It was time for her to do her duty anyways.

However, whilst lifting slabs of concrete, Pixal felt her heart drop. The calculated survival rate of the impact sent shivers down Pixal’s circuits as the percentage just kept. Dropping. Lower.

Heaving the last piece of concrete off the young bearer of green power, Pixal heard her teammates rushing into the scene. She could have warned them, said something, said anything. But her joints were frozen in place with something much colder than what her sensors had detected when she went into the Oni cloud.

The motley crew, now only 5, took the last piece of debris off from their teammate.

“Lloyd. Buddy, wake up,” Kai pleaded, desperate.  “He-He's not moving!” Nya exclaimed, voice shaking as tears start to form. She looked at Pixal, asking for anything, anything at all.  “Someone find Wu. Where’s Wu?” Cole ordered.

In no time, Master Wu arrived and lifted Lloyd’s arm, checking his pulse. He would find nothing there.

“You can do something, right? Right?!” Jay panicked.  With a defeated look that Pixal knows is mirrored in her eyes, Wu shook his head and said, “There’s nothing to be done.”  Nya finally cries out, sobbing. “Oh, Lloyd!”

PIxal wanted to cry as well, but she never could. When rebuilding her body, she had used the same blueprints that Cyrus Borg had with some upgrades. One thing she didn’t consider adding was the ability to cry because there wasn’t any time. She had to save Lloyd from the vermillion. But what she can’t save Lloyd from, was from an early- early- d… fate.

There’s nothing Pixal could do. And she felt hopeless.

She watched from the corner of her eye as Garmadon backed away from their small group, and in a flash, she felt her wires burning. She couldn’t just let him leave. Not after what he’s done.

Yet, just as she was about to boost straight towards the Oni and tackle him off the mountain, Lloyd started to cough. Lloyd. Started to cough.

Whipping around to see a golden petal float away, she watched the team cheer as Lloyd started to breathe. How- this was impossible!  Pixal almost short-circuited from shock. There had been no way! No way! She didn’t even go through all 5 stages of grief yet.

And not too soon, Lloyd woke up from a sleep that she was sure that he never would.

Catching him mumbling something about the First Spinjitzu Master, Pixal smiled. Divine intervention had definitely happened at least once today. The first time being….

“Cole, please come with me to the med bay,” Pixal requested with a smile. Divine intervention or not, five-sixths of the Ninja team knows how to hide a serious injury, and she had to be certain. Cole, who looked shopped, resigned himself and walked with Pixal o the medical centre. For now, she trusted that Zane was doing all the scans that he could to make sure that Lloyd was right in the head, and sought out to take care of her own, albeit selfish, worries.

Scanning Cole on both sides, Pixal noticed a particular bad bruise on Cole’s spine. Yet falling from that height and the fact that Cole isn’t paralysed due to spinal injury made Pixal reaffirm her theories that the First Spinjitsu Master was alive, just in another realm.

“You know, Lloyd might have actually seen the First Spinjitsu Master,” Pixal began, which led Cole to choke on the water he was ordered to drink. “No way, he must have just hit his head hard…”

“I’m sorry Cole, but the injuries you have is comparable to sleeping on a rock hard bed for one night, not falling from a height of 500m, even if your fall was broken by the Oni cloud, you should still have been paralysed,” Pixal explained.

“So God is real and Lloyd’s sharing a fourth of his blood? Neat! Next time tell him to not scare us with a fake-out,” Cole brushed it off.

At this time Pixal was about the shutdown and delve deep into theorising. Lloyd technically had a fourth of his grandfather’s blood and possessed the same power, could he possible have powers that control life and death-

Yet, she watched as a steady stream of Ninja enter the medbay, and resolved her thoughts to her inner GPU. She can think later. For now, she had to make sure that everyone is okay, and everyone will be okay. Even if she threatens Loyd to shave his head so she can get a better look at his skull, to which a chase around the monastery ensued. Her family was alright for now, and the concerning mortality of humans was left deep in the recesses of her mind.

- Zane - Too soon, Pixal had to face her own mortality. Being a Nindroid, her lifespan would naturally be much longer than a Ninja’s. But she still could be erased, dismantled, destroyed, sent to another realm-

The days waiting for the group of 6, not 5, to come back were some of the hardest. Even though all Pixal wanted to do was to shut down, lie on her bed and stare into the picture they had taken on their first date, Pixal knew that the team was entrusting her to keep Ninjago safe. Even if it means recapturing escaped convicts. Even if it means fighting the… undead-dead Preeminent (Pixal still hasn’t figured out how she worked). And they had to find ways to reach the Never Realm, by going through different infusions of travellers tea.

Yet, all the waiting and longing was worth it. Pixal prefers a Zane stuck in another realm for 40 years as to no Zane. There was no other choice. Yet, as she sees her loved ones trudging out of the frosty realm, some of them had worst frost bites than others. Even though all Pixal wanted to do was to smother Zane in a hug, she can see the edges of Lloyd’s skin turning a deep, dark black. From the corner of her eyes, she can see Nya taking care of Cole whilst Jay and Kai attempt to remove the ice from everyone else, including lubricating Zane’s frosted joins. She had not a single moment to lose. This kind of frostbite was not exactly lethal immediately, but losing limbs could mean the end of Lloyd’s ninja career. So calling everyone to attention, she went all in to salvaging Lloyd’s limbs, doing everything she could.

Later that night, Pixal spotted Zane wandering around the outskirts of the monastery whilst the Ninja finish up dinner. She watched as Zane’s hands gripped the staff so tight that the wood would be snapping in 3…2…1.

A harsh crack and splinters flying out later, Pixal could see the shaking in Zane’s hands as he cursed, something that the Zane she knew never would.

For her, it had been a hellish week. But for Zane? It must have been a hellish 40 years.

“…Zane?” Pixal called out from the monastery doors. Zane immediately whipped around before pointing the tip of the staff towards her, to which Pixal reflectively grabbed. Zane, eyes widening in shock and horror, immediately released his grip on the now shorter staff, before turning around, trying to run away. Pixal won’t let that happen.

“Zane,” Pixal said once again, hand now gripping onto the collar of Zane’s Gi. “Please don’t run away from me.”

Zane, froze, hands twitching before dropping them to his side. Pixal released her grip before tapping Zane on the shoulder, asking him to turn around.

“Pixal, I’m- I’m sorry…I just can’t- I can’t trust myself right now,” Zane vented out hands fidgeting with each other. Pixal smiled sadly. She knew that not everything could go back to normal so fast, but still, she had hoped that it would have been easier than this. “If you don’t trust yourself right now, why not spend some time with me?”

“Pixal- I…I could hurt you-“  “Yes you can, but don’t think that I can’t protect myself,” Pixal snapped back whilst carefully reaching to hold Zane’s hands. Once she made contact, Zane flinched back, before slowly reciprocating the action. “C’mon Zane, let’s go back into the monastery-“

“No!” Zane protested, wrenching Pixal back. Pixal clasped her other hand on top of Zane’s. “Not to the dining room. I’m thinking med bay.”

Pixal could see Zane’s processing unit cycle through his thoughts, noticing that it had considerable frost damage. Before long, Zane nodded his head, allowing Pixal to pull him into the light.

Opening the cupboards, Pixal took out a few rolls of bandages before carefully wrapping them around Zane’s hands. The ice ninja watched with curiosity as Pixal carefully finished tying and tightening the strips of cloth.

“Why are you doing this? You and I both know that Nindroids don’t need bandages,” Zane asked. Pixal smiled, looking at Zane’s now steadier hands. “Maybe bandages can’t fix our metal skin, but it still makes us feel better.”

Zane paused, looking down at his hands. “I don’t know how you’re right PIx, but they do make me feel more sure that my powers won’t hurt anyone accidentally. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now let’s get back to dinner, we have some desserts to bring out.”

Bandages. As much as PIxal uses them and finds them efficient, she can’t help but hope that team doesn’t need to use as many. But this time, t’s just a trip to a legendary city full of peace and prosperity. Maybe this time, Pixal doesn’t need to bandage their wounds away.

[spinchip]

Prompt for you! Lloyd comforting Zane after the ice chapter bc he understands what it’s like to be controlled/manipulated into hurting your friends (season 5 u kno)

Zane likes it out here, just past the gates of the monastery, where the stairs down the mountain make way for a stretch of pale green grass. He likes the side to the right specifically, because there’s no camera, and he’s so tired of being watched. They mean well, he knows they’re worried, but he needs… he needs space, he needs room. (Vex’s eyes on him, the skin crawling dread of being watched through that ice mirror, puppeteered like the perfect doll-)

He’s spiraling, what did his therapist say?

I am in control of my own thoughts and actions. I am in control of my body. I am safe. I am home.

He tries to fight the tension in his shoulders, focusing on his hands and forming a small, intricate snowflake. Sometimes that’s enough to help him distract from the creeping thoughts. He forms several before he feels calm enough to cast them aside- they melt in the sun, fragile lace-work running together, but he doesn’t bother watching them drip into the dirt. He doesn’t like that he has these sort of reactions now, they make him feel out of control of his emotions, and he never wants to be out of control again. Never.

“Zane?” Lloyd calls in the courtyard, then, quieter, “Maybe he went to see Mr. Borg…”

“I am out here.” Zane says evenly, projecting his voice. Lloyds head pops out from behind the gate, and he brightens at the sight of him.

“Hey,” He greets, jogging over to him, “i just wanted to check on you.”

“Alright.” Zane looks away and the silence grows awkward, Lloyd seeming to realize that wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Yeah, sorry. I know that's probably annoying by now.” he chuckles, scuffing his shoes for a moment before joining Zane in the sun and dropping down, “I’ve got another annoying question for you: How are you feeling?” He leans forward, drawing up one knee to hunch over to try and catch Zanes eye.

A shadow passes across his face, “Fine.” He says, a little too curtly, and Lloyd winces.

“Guess that was a stupid thing to ask.” He notes, glancing out across the blue sky.

“Sorry.” Zane flexes his fingers in his lap, sitting criss cross and curled over, “I know you are trying to help.”

“It’s okay.” Lloyd says quietly, the afternoon breeze brushing at his hair, “I… uh, I get it. I know what you’re feeling. Of having someone else controlling your actions.” He doesn’t say Morro, but Zane can put the pieces together.

“I know you need space, too.” He adds, pulling his other leg up to cross his arms over them, “But I just wanted to let you know that I went through it too, and if you ever want to talk…” He trails off, picking at the sleeve of his shirt uncertainly.

Silence stretches, and Lloyd nods lightly, “Um, i’ll keep the others off your back, okay? Take your time. We’re here for you.” He stands, dusting off his pants and turning to head inside.

“Lloyd?” Zane catches him before he can go, sitting up and facing him hesitantly, frost spiraling out from where he’s digging his fingers in the ground.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. I love you.” Zane smiles, and it's not as full as it used to be, but it’s getting there.

“I love you too.” He pauses, “Will you come to dinner?”

“... Yes, I think so.”

Lloyd smiles, leaving the gate open behind him.

[isthisthingeven0n]

beneath : d.d

brief summary: you’ve always worn long sleeve shirts, and one day when it’s too hot to cope, david learns why and what lies beneath 

word count:  1.1k requested: yes by the lovely @squishybebe thank you for requesting again! warnings: nothing that i’m aware of??

* masterlistin’ / masterlistin’ 2.0

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

“Hey, guys!” Walking through the front door, you immediately notice everyone with a fan on them and chuckle at the sight. “Struggling with the heat, huh?” You joke, and Carly glances over her shoulder, nodding as she ties her hair back. 

“How are you not hot, Y/n?” Carly huffs as she sips her iced coffee, passing you one that she got for you earlier. 

Gladly taking the drink, you simply shrug your shoulders. “I don’t get hot that easily.” You state before taking a seat by Zane, the one spot left with a fan exposed for use. “Probably because of my home town.” You joke, but David keeps glancing over at you before tearing his eyes away.

“We were thinking of going to Scotts and using the pool later, you down?” David speaks up, everyone else has already agreed, leaving you to decide. 

“Sounds good.” You nod, sipping your drink as a distraction from his gaze. “I’ll meet you guys there so I can grab my bikini.” 

*

Arriving at Scott's house, you can hear everyone outside in the pool. Music is playing through the speakers and laughter echoes throughout the garden. 

“Hey, Y/n!” Scott calls out, David immediately turning his head to see you as you stand in shorts and a hoodie. “You coming in?” 

“I will eventually.” You comment before sitting on the edge of the pool, your feet dangling into the water as David swims over, resting against the ledge beside you. “Hey, Dave.” You smile down to him as he kicks his legs out behind him, focusing solely on you.

“You gotta come in, we’re planning a game and you’re headstrong,” David explains, but you pout playfully, oblivious to his heartbeat increasing as you chuckle. 

Looking away from David, you notice everyone chilling or chatting with one another. Erin looks beautiful in her new red bikini, exposing her newest tattoo whilst Carly rocks a black one piece. 

Scott sits down beside you in his shorts, leaving his chest bare and tattoos on display. “When did you realise you wanted to cover your body in tats?” You speak up, facing Scott.

Contemplating his response, David backs away, swimming toward the others to leave you and Scott to talk. 

“Not long after I was eighteen, I just love them.” Scott shrugs his shoulder. “How about you?” He mutters, taking you off guard as you raise an eyebrow. 

“How’d you know?” You mumble, leaning closer toward him. 

Unaware of your conversation topic, David cannot help but glare at the sight. “Calm down David,” Jason jokes, nudging him lightly. “free country, and Y/n’s a free woman.” 

David simply mutters incoherently under his breath, Jason missing the snide remark as David swims back toward you. “Hey, Y/n, mind helping me up?” David holds his hand out, and you smile before rising to your feet.

“Okay, I’ll use all the little strength I’ve got.” You laugh and Scott climbs into the pool and backs away. 

Holding your hand out, you take David’s and tug, only for him to pull you forcefully and fall into the pool with a loud scream and an almighty splash. 

“Please tell me someone filmed that?!” Zane yells as you rise to the surface, spluttering as you brush your hair out of your face. 

Leaning against the wall of the pool with wide eyes, David stares as you tug on your hoodie as it holds you down. “David!” You blurt out as you cough lightly whilst everyone remains still, unsure what to do. 

“It was an accident?” David’s voice rises at the end of his sentence, holding his hands up as you roll your eyes.

“This is one of my favourite hoodies.” You complain before lifting it up from your body and throwing the weighted garment onto the grass. 

Running your fingers through your hair, you tug on your shorts and fling them aside too, leaving you in your bikini. 

“Woah.” Carly is the first to speak up, and you glance around to see everyone is focusing on you.

“What?” You question, turning to see David’s jaw drop as he blatantly stares at you. 

Scott chuckles as he moves into your view. “We’re twins.” He jokes and you look down, realising what everyone is looking at; your tattoos. 

Across your left arm and stomach, you have floral tattoos mixed with abstract art coating your skin. It was something you’d been working on for the last two years, and you often forgot about it. 

“How long have you had those?” Erin speaks up, shock lacing her tone as you hum under your breath.

“Erm, like two years in the making?” You tell her, smiling innocently. 

“Why’d you cover them?” David questions, still eyeing them all slowly. 

“As I said, I don’t get hot easily.” You remind him, the previous statement being true. “And I just forget about them, I can’t feel them, they’re just there.” You say, looking over to see Scott nodding in agreement. 

“They’re beautiful.” David mutters, and you smile up to him, noting the blush crossing his cheeks.  

Moving closer, you lean against the wall next to him. “You think so?” You quirk an eyebrow to him, watching as his fingers glide across your arm, outlining various designs as a smile lines his lips. 

“He’s done for, isn’t he?” Scott jokes to Heath, looking over at the pair of you engrossed with one another, yet so oblivious. 

“They’ll figure it out.” Heath comments with a light laugh, watching as David tickles you and you bat him away, unable to stop your smile growing as you focus on him. “Won’t take ‘em long, just look at them.” 

And it was true, the pair of you were so infatuated with the other, you couldn’t see that it was reciprocated. “Maybe they just need a light nudge.” Zane interrupts the conversation with a devious smile and Heath sighs.

“What’re you planning, baby?” Heath questions, watching as Zane just taps his temple.

“You’ll see,” He swims away, leaving that thought lingering as you all begin to play pool games.

During the games, you remain at David’s side, his fingers brushing against yours as that electricity crosses your skin. You couldn’t deny it, and neither could he. But until one of you has the guts to speak up, these small interactions will suffice.

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

Whumptober 30

It took me a bit to get an idea for this, but I like where I took it.

Prompt: Ignoring and Injury

AU: Serial Killer Nya

--

Kai hissed in pain as he hit the concrete.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you!”

Kai wanted to yell about environmental awareness, particularly while on a motorcycles. The only reason the man “didn’t see” Kai is because he didn’t bother looking before he blindly gunned it around the corner.

He also wanted to yell in pain. That was a bruised rib and maybe a hairline fracture on his arm at least.

“Are you ok?”

At least the man didn’t try to run off.

“Yeah, I’ve had worse.” Kai hissed, trying to stand back up.

“Oh man, so sorry. I gotta get better about looking out. Here, let me help.”

The man helped pick Kai up and offered himself as support.

“Do you need a ride anywhere? I’ll pay for a doctor. This was completely my bad.” He said, as he helped brush dirt off of Kai’s shirt.

Suddenly he paused.

“Wait….you’re one of the ninja! The red one!” He yelled.

“Yup.” Kai said, distracted with assessing his injuries.

Defiantly a bruised rib on his right side, but it didn’t seem to be broken, thank goodness. His right forearm wasn’t too bad, but it hurt to move his fingers.

“Oh wow. This must be the dumbest way you’ve ever gotten hurt.” The man sheepishly joked. “Sorry about that. I’m not going to have to worry about any other ninja coming after me right? I don’t think I could do much if they wanted revenge.”

Kai almost laughed at the joke, until he realized how much it wasn’t a joke.

Kai wasn’t stupid, much as he would like to be in this case. He knew people that hurt him disappeared or turned up dead. He knew his sister was very passionate about his protection and with her hobbies, that protection got out of hand easily.

“So do you need a ride to a doctor? You probably need at least a once over, maybe a cast. That was a pretty bad fall.”

Kai gulped.

“No! No! It’s fine! I’m fine! All good! No need for any of that! Just forget it ever happened!” Kai babbled desperately as he backed away.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Completely fine! Let’s not freak anybody out over this, alright?”

The man looked concerned and suspicious but couldn’t seem to come up with any arguments.

“Do you at least want my number?”

“NO!” Kai yelled.

The man flinched.

“I mean, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.” Kai said, trying to play his panic off.

“Why not?”

“You know…ninja reasons.” Kai said with as much authority as he could squeeze out of his voice.

“Look, my name is Stan Emylles. If you need anything, just look me up, ok?” Stan said.

Kai gulped but nodded.

Finally the man left.

Despite the pain, Kai forced himself to walk normally.

Nya’s sharp eyes were on him too soon when he got home.

“What took so long? I was worried! I was just about to tear the city apart looking for you!” Nya yelled.

Kai tried not to think about how literal that sentence was.

“Just got a little lost.” Kai said, hoping she’d buy it.

If his sister found out that someone had hurt him….

“You sure? You don’t look too good. You’re kind of pale.” Nya said, aggressively poking and checking him.

Kai forced himself not to flinch or scream when she brush his bruised rib. He swallowed the pain in his arm when he gentle lifted her hands off of him.

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

There was a long moment where she studied him. After Kai had a melt down in his own mind, Nya’s shoulders finally dropped with a sigh.

“Alright. Just don’t scare me like that!” she said softly.

Kai smiled at her and pushed past to go to bed. He wouldn’t be able to hide his injuries for too long, so he’d have to think of a good cover story.

Meanwhile Nya carefully watched her brother travel down the hallway, noting every hitch and stutter in his pace.

Bruised Rib. And from the way his arm was hanging she was guessing it was injured too, though she couldn’t be sure how much. He seemed to be subtly staying off his left ankle too, but he didn’t seem to be hiding that as forcefully, so she guessed he didn’t even realize that it was hurt. With the pain of a bruised rib she wasn’t surprised a lighter ache wasn’t registering to him.

When Kai finally fell asleep, Nya plunged herself into her investigation.

She’d figured out that Kai had been hit by a vehicle and what part of the city it had happened in by the time Jay told her to head to bed.

By lunch the next day she knew the parking lot it happened it and the model of the motorcycle.

By the time Kai was back in bed, she knew Stan Emylles’s name.

She wondered why Kai would try to hide it. Stan seemed to be a complete nobody, so there wasn’t any personal attachments. It wasn’t like he had anything to hide himself, getting hit by a motorcycle while walking home wasn’t any kind of dirty secret. So why?

The next day Kai complained about his arm and convinced Zane he’d broken it in his sleep somehow. He played the bruised rib off as a training incident, which was believable since Jay HAD hit him there. The ankle was attributed to an old injury, maybe gained from a fight last week and overlooked.

Kai jumped through some major hoops to hide what had happened. Why?

Why? Why? Why?

Was he afraid?

Surely he didn’t think this Stan Emylles was going to hurt them? He should know he had nothing and no one to fear. Nya would take care of all of it.

Was it her?

Oh. Oh that was it. Kai was afraid of her hurting him.

Nya shook her head. It was cute how he was trying to protect even the people that hurt him. Nya couldn’t let it stand though. The man had hurt her brother, and that was an unforgivable crime.

Still, she made a note about how uncomfortable Kai was getting. She really needed to stop being so lax. Just because he knew, didn’t mean he needed to know all of it. It distressed him, and she hated that.

So she’d have to make sure Stan Emylles didn’t end up on the news. And as much as it saddened her, she couldn’t let anyone give her alter ego credit for his death either. She’d have to do it so quietly nobody mentioned it ever again.

It was boring and unsatisfying, but it was for her brother.

--

Poor Kai. He tried.

-Ivy

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

We’ll Be Alright

So I started writing this in November, kinda basing it off of the Zane Lowe interview, and stopped midway. But then I decided to finish it up yesterday and as I was rereading everything, this whole thing is very fine line!! so I recommend listening to fine line when you see the break: ••• is when you should start the song so it lines up!

*gif not mine*

It’s been a while.

Too long, in fact.

You feel like you’ve just experienced a series full of emotion and heartbreak, and you’re not quite ready to let go yet. Not ever.

Your chest feels like it’s carrying a ton of weight and you can’t quite put the feeling at ease. Everything was so simple, yet so chaotic. You wonder at the pain you’ve felt for years that if you’ll get a break from the uttermost feeling that’s been tearing you apart.

And you’ve been counting down the days when you’ll finally hear your heart beating rather than it breaking. When you’ll finally take that breath of fresh air instead of drowning. When you’ll finally be okay.

Truly okay.

You take a breath as you step onto the doormat that you used to call home; you feel your life coming back to you. All the memories that lie on the other side of the door, recalling in your mind as you reminisce on what was once yours.

Mornings with Harry were your favorite. How you would wake up a tad bit earlier than he would. You would lie on your side and admire how he looked in the early morning: so peaceful, calm, and safe. And sometimes before he would wake up, you would go downstairs to make both of you a cup, only for Harry to wake up and not feel you beside him.

“Ahh! Harry!” You squeal in surprise as Harry sneaks up from behind you and wraps his arms around your waist.

“Hello, my love.” He says in a raspy voice. You turn in his arms so you’re facing him. You’ve always loved the raspiness in his voice, especially in the morning. You don’t say anything, but smile at him. He smiles back and kisses you. The feeling of the kiss always seemed like it being the first ever. You loved the feeling of kissing him; it brought you back to the time of when it all started. You could do it forever.

Being with him was everything and more. The relationship was loving, supportive, and simply amazing. You didn’t know how lucky you got. How you’ve managed to get a guy like him. Being with him was so simple. Until it wasn’t.

“Don’t walk away from me! We’re not even close to being done here.” You say as he walks out of the room and down the stairs, you follow. “Hey!” Harry finally turns around as he’s feet away from walking out.

“I’m tired of this. We both need time to cool off. I don’t need this right now.”

“You don’t need this right now? That’s basically you saying you don’t need ME right now. We both promised to talk things through. This isn’t talking things through.” He looks at you for a moment and takes in your appearance: your lips are wobbling with tears threatening to spill out any second. You were right: you both promised to not walk out when times like this happened. For fucks sake, he was the one who brought up that promise. But he was right: he didn’t need this right now.

“I’ll be back later.”

You remembered that night clear as day. You waited for him the whole night, snuggled up on the couch as you looked for a movie or show to distract yourself from the pain you had to endure. All you wanted was for him to come home and be in his arms, telling you that everything was going to be okay; that you both will be okay, but you woke up to puffy eyes and damped cheeks as the door slammed shut at 6 am.

“Harry-”

“You’re still here.” He says straight away.

“I-Of course I’m still here. I was waiting for you all night.”

“Yeah, well, no one asked you to wait for me.” He says rudely.

“I was worried about you and was wondering where you were, and this is what I get?” Harry knew you were right. You were always right.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve everything that happened in the last 12 hours.” You were quite shocked at his apology because he doesn’t usually apologize straight away.

“Thank you for apologizing. But Harry, please talk to-”

“We have to talk about something.” He interrupts. You stay silent because of the fact that you have no idea what he might say right now. He takes the silence as the urge to keep going.

“We should end this.”

•••

You hear the door open and behind it was none other than the love of your life.

“Hey.” Harry looks amazing, as always. He’s wearing a colored checkered shirt with various food items on it, a white tank underneath, and some brown pants. You can see his swallows above his tank, with a bit of chest hair that you know he’s been growing out for some time. His hair looks amazing, which isn’t a surprise.

It feels like your breath has been taken away all over again just seeing how gorgeous he looks right now. He never fails to take it away.

“Hi.” You say softly.

“Come in.” He steps back slightly, opening the door wider to let you into his Malibu home that you both once shared. The memories that sit in the house suddenly hits you like a ton of bricks as you walk through his house. Everything from the beginning to the end; when you first stepped into the house to the last. Your eyes well up at the day of leaving his house for good.

“Would you like anything to drink?” He breaks from your thoughts. Harry can clearly see that you’re emotional being here, and nothing pains him more than seeing you cry.

“Just water is fine, thank you.” He nods and heads towards the kitchen. The tension between you two is so thick you feel as if you’re going to pass out. He comes back with a tall glass and hands it to you.

“Would you like to sit in the back?” He asks shyly. All you can think about is how he asked the exact same question when you first came over. So you nod your head and follow him to the patio. And of course, the first thing you see is the ocean you watched everyday, lying below the sun that is almost ready to start setting.

“How’ve you been?” You and Harry are sitting on the same side of the picnic table that overlooks the beautiful view of Malibu.

“I’ve been okay. Just been working and started working out lately. How are you?” You ask in return.

“That’s great. And I’ve been good. The album is done. Just waiting for the release day to come.”

“I’m happy for you.” You say truthfully. All you wanted was for Harry to be happy, and if he is then you’re happy.

He smiles at you in appreciativeness and you smile back with neither of you saying anything. Just enjoying the presence of something other than work. And it’s then when you realize just how much you’ve missed him. Sitting in front of him brought back all the times you had together. How you’ve missed having conversations with him and when there’s nothing left to talk about, he would just stare at you and admire your beauty, and you would do the same.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened.” He breaks the silence. “I know you’re gonna tell me to stop thinking about what’s best for you and to not make decisions for us both, but I hope you understand why I did it.”

“Y-You’re breaking up with me?” Harry doesn’t say anything as he looks down. “Just after a small argument, you decided you just want to end us?”

“Hey, me ending this is not over what happened last night. I’m doing it because it’s for the best.”

“Okay, please enlighten me on what you think the ‘best’ is.” You cross your arms. Harry sighed in frustration, not knowing how he’s going to put his heartbreak into words.

“I hear you, yknow? I hear you cry almost every night when you think I’m asleep. I know you cry about the fans, the media, and how I’m not home that often. But this is my job, I can’t do anything about it whether you want me to or not.”

“So that makes you entitled to decide what's best for our relationship? Harry, I can handle this. I’ve been handling it for the last 3 years, so don’t say you know what’s best for me.”

“But I do, don’t I? We both promised each other that when it got too much, we would tell each other. And it’s gotten too much, AND you failed to tell me.” He rubs his face as he tries not to break into tears. “I don’t want you crying anymore. Not about my career. I hate seeing you like this.” You see his eyes well up with tears, and it’s enough to make you break.

You take deep breaths as you’re trying not to sob loudly in front of him. He was right; it’s gotten way too out of hand that you’ve become remotely sad at everything.

Your breaths have become loud and heavy. He quickly walks towards you and wraps his arms around you; something you’ve wanted for the past 12 hours. Once he’s got you in his hold, you proceed to let it all out and cry into his chest.

“Shh.” He kisses your head and sways you, in attempts to calm you down.

“I’m- I’m just so tired.” You’re practically putty in his hold and without his arms around you, you could easily fall onto the ground. Harry sits both of you down into the couch without unwrapping himself from you.

“I know, baby. I know.”

You take a deep breath in. “I’m so tired.” You exhale heavily. “I’m tired, Harry.” You repeat into his chest, tiredly. Your head feels like it’s been pounding for the past week from all the crying, and all you want is for it to stop.

Harry can physically feel his heart break as he sees you completely lose yourself in front of him. It’s a sight that he wishes to never see again: you in physical, mental, and emotional pain.

“I understand why now. It would’ve been much worse if we had let it dragged on. Although it hurt like a bitch to hear that you were breaking up with me and I hated knowing you were making the decision for the both of us, I understand why it was for the best.” Harry nods.

“I want you to go through life being a little less worried, because ultimately everything will be okay.” You nodded, not just for the sake of it, but you agreed. You feel tears streaming down your face slowly, and you’re quick to wipe them. “I knew the pressure was getting to you and I know you didn’t want to say anything, which is why I broke things off.” It was true. The media and the fans were getting to your head, but of course you didn’t tell Harry. You didn’t want to make it seem like you couldn’t handle it.

“I agree. I see why you did it now, which is why I got into contact with you. I guess I just needed closure, in a way, and I wanted to see you.” Harry blushes at the last comment.

“You needed closure? Have you been dating?” He asks shyly.

“Oh god, no. I just needed closure to keep going. I’ve held in so much heartbreak for the last six months and I just needed to see you to reassure me that everything will be okay.” Which was true. Call it pathetic, but you do need to be told by your ex boyfriend that things will be okay. “Have you been dating?” You ask nervously.

“Uhh, I’ve been on two. Neither going anywhere passed the first date.” He chuckles softly and you feel nothing but relief.

“It’s difficult to move on from us.” You say honestly.

“We had an amazing time together, didn’t we?” He smiles.

“Yeah, we did.” You nodded as you wiped a tear quickly. “Can I ask you something?” You ask. You look out at the horizon, seeing the sun setting for the day.

“Anything.”

“Do you still… love me?” You ask slowly, dragging it out as you hoped the answer you weren’t looking for wouldn’t be said so quickly.

“Yeah, I do, yeah.” You look up at him, surprised and relieved by his answer. “Don’t think I would ever stop loving you, if I’m being honest. You were...are the best. The greatest person I’ve ever come to know.” You nod, taking in what he said. You feel so much weight being lifted off your shoulders and all you want to do is jump into his arms and kiss his face all over for the amount days you went without it.

“I… I just miss us.” You say as you look down onto your lap. The waves crashing onto the shore that can be heard over the conversation, seeming to calm you in some way.

He nods in agreement. “Don’t worry about it. Everything’s going to be fine.” You nodded again as you sniffle. You don’t trust your voice. You knew you would burst into tears if you spoke a single word.

Harry opens his arms and slides slightly on the bench towards you, and you slide forward, meeting him halfway. You wrap your arms around his waist and his arms around your shoulders. Your right cheek resting against his chest and your head fitting into his neck as you hear his heartbeat while both of you are facing the ocean.

You walked into Harry’s home feeling your heart break, but you’re walking out with your heart being reassured that it’s time to start healing. Whatever happens between the both of you, your heart would be okay for yourself and for Harry. You sigh deeply in contentment, missing the way he holds you. And Harry has never felt more relieved than this moment as he finally feels your presence against his.

But just like the ocean, Harry and his words helped you feel safe and calm. Just like the ocean, yours and Harry’s relationship went through tidal waves to the calming and beauty of how the ocean is. And just like the ocean, the love that is shared between the two of you will never run out. The love will always be powerful and beautiful forever.

After a few minutes, Harry lets go, causing you to frown slightly at how quick your moment with him was. But he places his hands on the side of your face, his thumbs caressing your cheek as the rest are laying on the side of your neck. He looks at you and is in awe of how beautiful you are, even after crying. He smiles at you and all you want is for his lips to meet yours, but you’re met with his words that start the process of your healing:

“We’re going to be alright.”

feel free to request anything!

MASTERLIST