#nya and jay deserve the world

[morshuu]

Thinking of Skybound and I can't be the only one who found Nadakhan calling Jay his 'canary' and being touchy is predatory right? It feels creepy and makes Nadakhan more just a straight up creep added onto the fact of him wanting to marry Nya when he just needed a person to marry- and only mostly did it because she looked like someone he "loved" (and to probably get Jay's 3rd wish out).

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but how he touched Jay's shoulders and would tilt Jay's head gave me the fucking shivers and creeps. He and Nya are young teenagers!

I hate this guy man. Creepy asshole. Glad he's gone and it better stay that way

[pan-annigans]

Jay x Nya: best ship!!!

Zane x Pixal: they are soulmates and no one can say otherwise.

Kai x Skylor: the two of them balance each other well, plus seeing Kai get all lovey-dovey around Skylor is just cute.

Lloyd x Akita: Akita likes Lloyd for himself and isn’t interested in his status as the Green Ninja, she just might be the one person he could be with without having to worry about keeping up appearances.

Cole x Vania: they’re just great together (as lovers or as friends), their dynamic is sweet and both admire and encourage each other with just simple honest words.

hi!! thank you so much!

I'm going to post art for all of these, along with a few of my thoughts on the ships that have been sent to me. Just for funsies :)

Fun fact, I used to hate Jaya. I thought it was really forced in the canon, and Jay's really obsessive behavior that is the catalyst for all of the events in Skybound always really bothered me? But tumblr has completely turned me around on this ship. They have their moments in canon, but in fanon they're really wonderful. thanks tumblr <3

these two...... 🥺they are really good i will admit. I'm a big fan of glaciershipping myself and I tend to prefer it over pixane, but these two are so lovely to each other and i totally see the appeal. I just wish pixal wasn't so sidelined in the canon fr what were they doing with her character??? let her be around more often let her and zane be sweet together. please smh

SKYLOR ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO MOST OF THE TIME-- honestly this show sidelines like all of its female characters so hard. but these two are great toooo theyre sweeeet 😊 i just wish skylor was used for more than cameos. i like that she's the only one that can consistently shake kai's ego it's a great dynamic

lloyd and akita!! i'm gonna be so real with you guys i forget about akita so often ;v; which is a shame... i give her the award for most sidelined female character because she existed for half a season. but she and lloyd are sweet! I don't tend to ship lloyd with anyone personally, but i do love that they meet under the circumstances of "lloyd is in a world where his name and status mean nothing so he has no pressure to perform". it's a fantastic break for him. holy shit he deserves it

im gonna be so honest with all of you um. i actually. havent seen MotM yet. i was in the middle of my rewatch, and i got up to the point i stopped, right before MotM, and then Netflix changed their watch policies. and then of course i got busy

but from what i've seen of these two in fanon they seem alright! I usually prefer them in other wlw or mlm ships because of ONE ninjago vine compliation thing i saw with the two of them as this one tiktok and i've never been able to think of them as a couple since then. But they seem like they have a lovely friendship, whether that ends up turning to romance or not!

Thank you so much for sending me an ask, this was a lot of fun and I got to draw a lot of characters that I've never drawn before! To those of you who have sent me asks and reblogs and comments on the original post, I will be working through all of them in chronological order from when I received them in my activity tab :)

[sharksandjays]

Ive been reading Splinter in the Blind Mans Eye and ok. First of all, Lloyd has some serious issues. But we all knew that. What I came here to talk about today is one of those specific issues that is highlighted in this book.

His responsibility as the Green Ninja.

Listen, Lloyd has been feeling the heavy mantle of being the Green Ninja since he wore the gi for the first time. Hes been feeling the pressure on his shoulders from the ripe age of 9 years old, according to the book.

And the Ninja have been doing everything in their power to hold that away from him, to share the burden, to block him feom the full weight that could crush him. Theyve been doing that since day one, not letting him go on missions and expressing how upset and unfair it was during Childs Play when Lloyds fate accelerated.

And in the later seasons, when Lloyd takes on the mantle of being leader, they do their best to share that burden. But each time he disagrees, reminds him hes a leader, and takes on the full weight of being what Fate wants him to be.

The interesting thing is in the Wildbrain seasons, when Lloyd seems to change his mind, and let them help. While he might be making overall decisions, he tends to let Cole and Kai take over the emotional responsibility of being the leader. He allows himself to be babied sometimes. He lets his brothers and sister carry the weight of the world every once in a while.

And in SitBME we see why.

Lloyd was pushed to the edge in the MotO trilogy. He was put through things that messed him up and he’s slowly coming to terms with that. He put so much weight on himself as the Green Ninja that it was so easy for Harumi to get into his head, promise peace and understanding, and abuse him through it. He realized that his family was his strength, and while in SoG he was pushing them away constantly to go his own path, he now realized that he needs them.

The Green Gi may be a symbol to many, may be a source of strength, of responsibility. But the wearer is only a child, put through things unimaginable, sacrificing his life so that others can have theirs. Its unfair, he was paying a price that he didnt even understand, as the book says.

Lloyd realized he deserved more, in a sad way.

In Wildbrain he’s healing. Slowly, but surely. He puts trust in others, lets himself be a kid—something his siblings GREATLY encourage. He is broken, in a way. He is less trusting, and as he said himself—angrier. MotO took a toll on him, Hunted took a toll on him. But he is trying his best to heal. He is realizing that he is more than his gi, that he is a baby brother, a son, a nephew, a child. His whole purpose in life might be to be the savior of the world, but why cant he do that while playing videogames with Kai? While rambling about Starfarer to Jay? While eating candy with Cole? While learning to cook with Zane? While running with Nya?

He has fun more. He leans into his family. He accepts their hands and their swords by his side instead of behind him.

And that, my guys, is character growth.

[nyaskitten]

The FSM Family is like, BEYOND inherently tragic and heartbreaking...

The FSM was said to be born from the ashes of the Oni/Dragon War, and his whole childhood, possibly even further along the road, he was pursued by Oni and Dragon (well for all we know the Dragons stopped after he left the First Realm, but the Oni were still desperate.) He could never escape suffering, he's fought so many battles in his youth that it hardened him, almost as if it stripped him of all emotion and joy.

The FSM had a son, and another son. Both were forced to bear the pain of a father whose gone through so much its made him a terrible man.

Garmadon, his first son, was bitten at a young age by a serpent created (Idk if the Overlord created her but I decided he did) by the incarnation of evil, which brought his darkness to slowly overwhelm him. For millennia, he fought against it, he held it back. He had a wife, and a son, and he was happy, but the temptations overrid him, and he succumbed to them. He tried to steal the weapons, and in return he was struck down to the Underworld, unable to leave without the power of the weapons. Then, when freed, he continued his dark scheming, and went to a realm wherein he could manifest the ability to wield all of the Golden Weapons. In doing so, he brought himself closer to destiny.

When he got his son back from the Serpentine, he left, because through whatever compelling darkness, he could never truly be good. He left, and eventually, he took the weapons, and eventually he became the Overlord's vessel, and then he was freed, and then his brother turned against him for a period of time, and then he sacrificed himself to save Ninjago, and then he was resurrected as this dark, cold, unfeeling monster. He was only the worst parts of him, and now his son can barely even bear to speak to him! All of this suffering has brought him all too far from his family! The ones he once loved!

Wu... oh Wu... he was the favored, pure son of the FSM. The FSM was awful to both sons, but Wu was certainly favored (as evidenced by Garmadon's line in the Pilots which flatout said Wu was always FSM's favorite, and season 8 telling us that FSM kept a lot of shit from Garmadon and he told it to Wu instead.) Wu was from a young age, just constantly being betrayed and abandoned. Betrayed by a serpent he befriended, betrayed by two brothers which he clearly cared about, abandoned by the odd child he took in, and betrayed AND abandoned by his own brother! He spent a couple decades alone, no family, probably no friends either. His brother was gone, he was alone, he knew his brother wouldn't be gone for good, but that didn't stop it from hurting. Additionally, he had the weight on his shoulders of the Green Ninja Prophecy, and the fear of the chance maybe HE was supposed to be the Green Ninja at one point (Book of Spinjitzu,) as well as knowledge of a catastrophic, world-destroying event known which would cause all the realms to come together, and eventually they'd be destroyed!!

Now Lloyd... he was robbed of his childhood and molded into a destiny he didn't deserve. He lost his father, he was possessed by his uncle's former student/Green Ninja wannabe, he lost his uncle in a magic Time Vortex, he fell for a girl, and she was the secret leader of a biker gang/cult which wanted to resurrect his father, TO KILL HIM!!! He watches as the girl he liked dies, the building she was on crumbling to the damn ground! He fucking dies fighting the Oni! And he doesn't choose to rest even though he SHOULD rest! He's been through so much... he needs to just rest... AND THEN his best friend is killed, or so he assumes! Because turns out his friend is actually in another realm and he committed genocide at one point and he has to live with that!

Then he's in a magic videogame and oh would you look at that? He watches two of his friends sacrifice themselves to help him, Jay, and Nya win a race! AND the girl he likes is now a digital manifestation feeding on his guilt and pain! YAY!!!! THEN, Nya merges with the sea, and he's devastated, he's broken! He quits, not wanting to be responsible for anyone ever again. Then the girl he likes is revealed to have been resurrected by the Overlord, in a council of villains, and he has to tap into his Oni side, a side he fears due to how he can only see it as his father, someone he's TERRIFIED of becoming! And then he like, loses all his friends for approx 5 years and lives in isolation, and has no clue where any of them could possibly be so. YAY!!!!

[cottoncandy1322]

I was just in the shower when something occured to me.

In Crystallized, right after Kai got his little sister back, he was dragged away to jail.

Do you know how devasting that must've been for him, to be taken from his sister before he even got the chance to hold her in his arms? To hug her and talk to her for the first time in, what, A YEAR?

Do you know how devastating it must've been for him, that Jay got to hold her and he didn't?

And don't even get me started on how he finally does get to talk to her and it's all just save the world business. No happy tears, no hugging, no “I'm so glad to have you back,” or “I'm so glad to be back with you.”

There was even a time where they were hiding away; where it was more calm. Kai and Nya could've gotten a chance then to have a true reunion, but instead it's all save the world talk AS USUAL and trying to flirt with Skylor.

PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. CAN THE SIBS NOT HAVE ONE EMOTIONAL MOMENT TOGETHER EVER???

No but I actually almost cried over this. It's a miracle I didn't. I love Kai so much, he deserves better than this.

Anyways I'm going to go write about it on Ao3 because my aching heart demands justice for the Smith siblings. (If you're interested in reading it when I put it out to the public, my Linktree is in my bio, or you can wait until I post a link to it here.)

Bye for noowww.

[fiberturkey89]

This time, we take a look at Harumi and Echo Zane in my AU Headcanons!

Her and Echo Zane considered each other family, because fate/the Ninja took something from them. (The Ninja took Dr.Julien away from the light house, and the Ninja's lack of spacial awareness/Lloyd's release of the Serpentine took Harumi's parents from her). Echo's also the only one allowed to call her Rumi on occasion.

Note: she let Lloyd use it because it was a way to lower his defences by getting to nickname level)

She was the one who got him a new body thanks to her status as the Jade Princess. (Nobody questioned her, and she asked kindly that nobody mentioned it either). Echo is Mr.E in this AU. (As it should've been in canon TOMMY.)

Harumi actually wanted to be a teacher when she loved a normal life, particularly.. English(?) Ninjargon(?) and a social studies teacher. She did still bother learning more than she should've though, she did like some of the lessons the Jade Palace offered.

Echo Zane would have been a painter of various kinds! But his favourite would have to be water colour or acrylic paint - though he has a fondness for pastel art too. That's also how he enjoys understanding the world around him, capturing it in art.

Echo Zane would remember the Skybound timeline better than others. He has a distinct hatred for Jay and Nya. The order it goes in, however, is Zane, Jay, and Nya. While he does dislike Kai and Cole too, it's indifference in comparison to true hatred.

Harumi and Echo would be split apart, as when Echo was destroyed, Garmadon had his parts hidden away so that Harumi couldn't repair him. She did shed some tears for the Nindroid, hurting as she couldn't do anything.

Echo was rebuilt around the events of Prime Empire-Master of the mountain while Harumi was revived not too long after the events of March of the Oni.

The Departed Realm was cold, and so she developed a resistance - it made her afraid of unsteady floors, shaky ground, and open spaces. After her revival at the hands of the Overlord, she was forced into subjugation.

She attempted to go back to the Departed Realm, but the Overlord would take control and stop her. He allowed her to create Mr. F who (stands for Failure - a reminder that she failed Echo, who is her companion.)

Post Crystallized, Lloyd would actually visit her in Kryptarium alongside the much more hesitant Morro. The two of them understood most that destiny/fate had dealt them the worst hands(even though Morro believes it's a stupid point as it happened to the Ninja a whole) but Lloyd and him did know what it was like to be without parents for the longest time.

Keep in mind, Lloyd didn't forgive her- not by a longshot. And he was afraid of her, but.. she didn't deserve to be alone like he and Morro were. So they kept coming and going (sometimes together or alone), eventually getting through to a different Harumi. She's not good by any means, but she does just want to survive.

Kai also gets it but he hates her for what she did to Lloyd. the same applies with Nya and both constantly threaten to either drown or torch her)

Note: I do love the idea of morally, gray Harumi and Echo Zane- I wish we got to see that Crystallized.

[destinygoldenstar]

The Sims is whack, especially for Ninjago characters.

I have 3 & 4, I don't like touching 4 because no matter how hard I try, no matter what I do to keep these guys alive, they always die for the stupidest reasons.

Kai? Died from a cardiac explosion mood swing. A MOOD SWING. How do you manage that?!

Cole? Eaten alive by a plant when I leave him alone for two seconds.

Jay? Drowned. I didn't put him in the pool.

Nya? RANDOM ASS LIGHTNING STRIKE WHEN SHE GOT HOME FROM WORK.

And Lloyd and Zane... are the only survivors. Ain't that ironic.

Idk if the four were dumb as a post or they just said 'screw sim life'

I keep resetting the world, and Kai is the biggest victim of this emotion system because no matter what I do, he dies from it OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Dead from embarrassment. Dead from cardiac. Dead from cardiac AGAIN. And I cannot do anything about it because the game is so quick to decide 'nah Kai doesn't deserve to live'

And then you have 3, where they are all perfectly fine. Everyone knows what they're doing. Nobody's suffering from random emotions. Everyone knows when to not be in a pool and how to deal with fires. They want to do stuff and live Sim lives. They're all successful firefighters. Cole for some reason always wants a karaoke and I don't want to give him that. And NOBODY IS DEAD.

It goes for my other saves too, but recently I was just like, "Yeah, there's a HUGE IQ difference here."

[helpmyinterestsareverywhere]

DRAGONS RISING SEASON 2 SPOILERS!!

I'm trying to just get my thoughts out because HOO BOY

Lloyd, my baby boy, how on EARTH did the writers fill him with MORE trauma - im pretty sure hes going to explode soon - Sam Vincent's voice acting WAS SO GOOD, the geniune panicky breathing put ME on edge and the way he sounded in AGONY everytime another vision came OUUUCH - AND AND his vision/fear thingy from the trials?? Devastating how could you let Wu say the words, writers when I get you - also he was trying to be so helpful to Arin please he's just a little guy trying to parent I love him so much

the SECOND we got told about the warrior wolf masks and them shattering the good inside people in order to get strength/Spinjitzu/power etc my IMMEDIATE first thought was "Arin..." and then they bring up the fact that HES SO GOOD SO OF COURSE THIS MEANS THAT HE WOULD GET SO MUCH POWER AND THEN HIS RUN IN WITH RAS AHHH (also while I know it was a weird like knock-out vision, seeing him see Nya and Lloyd as his parents was cute to me (NOT IN A SHIP WAY DONT BE WEIRD) - Nya has been very "Mama Nya" so far and I'm loving it <3) - Arin's arc has been PAINFUL (in a good way) and THAT LAST BIT WITH SORA HELPING HIM DO OBJECT SPINJITZU DONT I KNOW THATS GONNA COME BACK TO BITE THEM IN THE ASS

Nya,,, and Kai,,, AND WYLDFYRE MY BABIES OOOUGHHH HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO THEM - seeing more childhood stuff for Nya and Kai is ALWAYS a delight they were so small just little babies and the way that it was how BOTH of them unlocked rising dragon OOOUGH THEY LOVE EACHOTHER SO MUCH - "My big brother is my hero, and now he's the world's hero, again." 😭😭 genuine agony - especially with Nya and Wyldfyre's hug afterwards - the little sob Nya let out DONT TOUCH ME - they miss him so much, that's his sister and daughter ooooughhh

JAY??? JAY!! what a pleasant surprise - oh jesus how are you traumatised with no memories - he was so terrified to have it revealed that he can use lightning my boy im so sorry - I hope he recovers from the agony of desk jobs soon <3 ALSO THE FLASHBACK WITH COLE AND JAY??? THEY'RE NERDS, THEY'RE SUCH BIG NERDS I LOVE THEM AND MISS THEM PLEASE BRING THEM BACK I MISS THEM THEY'RE BEST FRIENDS YOUR HONOUR - I'm not even gonna think about the fear/vision thing from Nya in the trials because OUCH

Cole and Geo <333 and their family <333 my babygirl Bonzle i love her so much 😔 - WHEN (if) Kai and Bonzle escape that maze thingy they BETTER come out friends - as soon as he meets her he calls her kid??? That man needs to stop being a dad to every breathing that crosses his path

Ras was as awful as always, hate him with every fibre in my being I hope he perishes /pos /pos - Jordana was GENUINELY tweaking out at the end there, can't wait to see her go insane and absolutely rock the Ninja's shit <33

SPEAKING OF ROCKING THE NINJA'S SHIT - CINDER???? godDAMN - what a ruthless little man actually genuinely I want to wipe that dumb smug smirk off of his face /pos - I enjoyed Sora trapping him in a box like a feral cat, deserved <333 (I will say, hearing his voice for the first time was... interesting 👀)

Sora is as wonderful as always, I love her so much <33 SHE WAS SO EXCITED LEARNING SPINJITZU WITH RIYU THEYRE SO CUTE YOUR HONOUR - she's so silly I love her epsecialy since all she wanted to do was hype up Arin because thats her best friend who she loves so much dont talk to me <3

I think that's it?? Just goddamn what an EXPERIENCE - I love Dragons Rising - I can't wait for part 2 <3

[astroturf-enthusiast]

Ninjago Characters as RPG builds because God didn't skimp on my autism;

Kai - Sun Elf Forge Cleric, being that he was a working blacksmith for an unknown amount of years I think he deserves the special abilities this class has. It extends into lots of fire spells as well as giving him a solid martial offense but a strong arcane back up. He and Nya are half Moon/Sun elf but they take on their respective traits more so

Jay - Rock Gnome Artificer (Armorer), Gnomes are naturally crafty and whimsical and I think Ed n Edna are Halflings so it's understandable but also really funny he didn't know he was adopted. Artificers (Armorers) basically make themselves an Ironman-type suit and can shoot lighting from their gauntlets. I think he is flavored less like actual armor and more like some kind of harness/backpack system. They're pretty heavy arcane builds but with solid martial defense

Zane - Warforged Ranger/Clockwork Soul Sourcerer, the Ranger I think is his earlier years when he wondered the world with an affinity for animal companionship. The Falcon is his familiar and Clockwork Soul magic is when he's fully Titanium and embraces the tech abilities way more. I think he maintains equal levels in both classes

Cole - Goliath Wildmagic Barbarian, I think he's a technically half Goliath (Lily's side) and half Human (Lou). The rage is flavored to be his lava arms as well as his wildmagic surges being flavored like long lasting effects of being undead and then un-undead. Maybe the Eldritch Adept feat and its a prolonged boon of the Preeminent? Not sure

Nya - Moon Elf Artificer/Eldritch Knight, Samurai X was absolutely an artillerist's big mech suit. As for being the water ninja, I think she would translate to a fighter pretty well. She's a master of many weapons but we see she favors duel spear pull-arms so I'm thinking she's the type of fighter to only use utility spells since she fights with her hands/weapons

Lloyd - Aasimar (Elf) Rogue/Divine Soul Sourcerer, he was very tricky to decide on because so many could've worked, I think Lloyd is a Protector Aasimar and only has a couple levels in rogue (childhood) but often still uses his sneak attack in combat and his stealth for pranks. Sourcerers also get their magic by bloodline so I figure the grandson of god gets a bit of that magic

Pixal - Changling Artificer, now I know Warforged is the robot race but hear me out; vibes. Not only are Changelings white-skinned/haired but that one scene in Hunted where she goes through the other character's voices?? I think she likes taking the shape of a warforged though. She's got the elemental adept feat (cold) and it's because Zane resurrected her with his druidic magic

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

Was there anyone that you considered for different choices of tarot cards before ultimately choosing one?

The Fool was always Lloyd; it could be no one else *-*)/

The Magician would have been Jay if Jesse didn’t exist snksnk

I was trying desperately to make The High Priestess a girl, but none of the ‘main’ girls fit the themes—but then I realized how much Zane fit, and screw gender. I couldn’t really come up with a comp that suited him, but—oh hey! I gave him a mom I can use! :’3

Empress, Emperor, and Hierophant were always locked in, though I think I played around with Wu as The Hermit for a time

Of course I initially wanted to do a pairing for The Lovers, but again, none of the ~main~ ships really fits, so I shifted to a more character-focused approach. There was a point in time where it would’ve been Skylor and Pixal on the card, but I felt they both deserved their own spotlight, so Skylor got shuffled to The Star, and I had to get a little creative with Pixal (and it turned out so well, it’s one of my favorites!)

Took forever to decide between Chariot/Strength for Cole/Kai, since they’re both veeeery close to one another in meaning. But upon realizing Chariot is more about outer strength and Strength is more about inner strength, I knew what had to be done. Plus, The Strength card (usually) has a lion on it, that was just begging for Kai :V

Making Dareth The Hermit was a teeny bit of a stretch, but given how his role will be in Legacyverse, I do feel it suits him (also his card went super under appreciated, I put a lot of detail into those shelves!!!! But I digress.)

Wheel of Fortune kind of happened as a process of elimination. I did try to put Jesse there, but he is more about probability than luck itself, and I couldn’t NOT make him The Magician snksnk. However once I started playing around with Jay there everything start to click soooo beautifully

Justice was always Miranda, and the Hanged Man was always Ronin (though I could make a case for Wu or even Zane for the latter, though)

Originally, Olivia was gonna be The Death and Harleigh was gonna be The Moon—switched them at, quite literally, the last second, and ooooh what a good choice that was

Nya and Harumi were some of the first cards I did, and in Harumi’s case especially I couldn’t see them anywhere else xD

The Tower was the last card I nailed down, because I just absolutely blanked on a character for it and almost didn’t put in a character at all—and then I was like OH WAIT MYSTAKE (and then it became another of my favorites!)

Star, Moon, and Sun were the hardest to nail down despite having the most ideas for them. Though I dunno who The Star was gonna be before Skylor (I may have considered Pixal here too) and I already mentioned my dilemma of the Moon and Sun

The Judgement was originally gonna be The Overlord. But I didn’t wanna draw him lol…but, The Golden Master certainly made for a suitable replacement :3 (and I tried to invoke the vibes of The Overlord with the background still!!)

And, of course, The World was always going to be The FSM to bring everything full circle, like an Ouroboros~

[angeldrawsstuffs]

Ok look, whenever I post about the Nutcracker AU, it’s some kind of angst. So, I offer you all some domestic Jaya fluff:

So, after a particularly eventful loop of the story, the squad agrees to take one loop to get some much needed and deserved R&R. So, for the toy trio (Kai, Nya, and Jay), they do the battle scene and just don’t leave the living room area after that. While Kai relaxes with his boyfriend, White (Movie!Zane), Jay and Nya wander off to, for once, explore the rest of the space, since they’ve never really done so in previous loops due to time constraints to progress the story.

Eventually, after poking around a bit, they come across a massive, even by regular human standards, dollhouse. One they can assume was probably made by Dr. Julien (who, for the curse’s sake is filling the role of Drosselmeyer) for White and Echo’s new toys (aka them and Kai), so, out of curiosity, they take a look inside.

It’s a nice dollhouse, definitely. Almost indistinguishable from an actual house, if it weren’t in a giant living room and if they weren’t toys themselves, that is.

Nevertheless they decide to have a peek inside because why not, you know? They find that the inside is just as nice as the outside, once again almost indistinguishable from a human house (if you forget about the fake food and seam line where the house opens up right down the middle, though the house is close up right now so that’s not an issue). The couple ends up hanging around the “kitchen” for a while, and eventually Nya says something…

She mentions that it’s funny how the closest to a normal, domestic life with the other they’re ever going to get is in this dollhouse as toys.

Jay tries to refute this, but ultimately can’t, because Nya is right. They’re likely never going to get something so peaceful in their real lives, at least nowhere in the foreseeable future with how many enemies they have.

So, Jay has an idea: if they’re toys in a dollhouse, why not run with that? How about they play a game of house? If they can’t have a peaceful, domestic life outside of this cursed world, they might as well get a taste of it while they’re here.

Nya loves her dorky boyfriend, so she plays along, taking part in Jay’s proposed game as, of course, a working wife, returning home after a long day to her stay at home husband, who obviously prepared dinner for his beloved!

For the rest of the loop, their game continues, at times breaking character from how silly it all feels in the moment, but it’s nice, especially for Nya, who had to see all too young just how difficult maintaining a home is, even when her and Kai got help from the other adults in the village. To have a fun game where doing all that stuff isn’t so hard, especially with her partner… it’s nice.

FSM, she loves her boyfriend. And if his goofy smile is anything to go by, he feels the same way and more.

So congrats to anyone who actually read all this- somehow I couldn’t condense “Jay and Nya play house in a dollhouse” into less words. Anyway, hope y’all enjoyed the Jaya fluff (or maybe it’s hurt/comfort idk), because there’s not much softer than this for this AU (as of writing this, that is).

Also I might do a comic of this idk, we’ll see if the diverged neurons permit it.

[cherrybombfangirl]

Hey you, yeah you! Interested in my in progress Ninjago fic that I'm fucking obsessed with and want you guys to become obsessed with as well?

Ao3 Link: Battle Cry (8840 words) by cherrybombfangirl

Wanna read a Ninjago fanfic that spans everything from the pilots to Crystalized? It includes me fixing everything that needs fixing in my humble opinion as a writer myself (love triangles be gone), and my ninjago OC and the small OCs that come with her. 

Yeah you wanna read it!

This fic includes:

My Original Character Amy. She’s a human clone and a former assassin/child soldier, the Master of Space (forcefields and portals), falls in love with Lloyd and is very protective of him plus they have a cute aspec romance, and her arc is all about learning that her emotions aren’t a weakness to let people love her and that’s she’s not a broken monster.

The rainbow colored ninja being very queer as the universe intended: Gay Ace Cole, Trans and Pansexual Kai (plus Lavashipping galore!), Trans and Bisexual Nya (she and Kai swapped genders and names), Trans and Bisexual Jay, Genderfluid and Pan Zane, Asexual Demiromantic and Genderqueer He/They Lloyd, Genderqueer and PanAce Pixal and other characters are obviously queer as well.

Mental health issues galore that you can’t convince me these ninja don’t have at this point: everyone has PTSD, depression, anxiety, and lots of trauma!

Also autistic and adhd ninja because i said so: Autistic and ADHD Lloyd (he gets the autism from Garm and the ADHD from Misako), ADHD Kai (gets it from his mom), ADHD Jay (also from his mom), and Autistic Zane (his father built him that way because he is also autistic).

Addressing the Garmadon family’s generational trauma BECAUSE THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL-

Lloyd’s relationship with his mom is complicated BUT after Lloyd has an understandable anger outburst Misako realizes “Fuck I messed up and hurt my kid” and spends a very long time trying to be better and fixing her and Lloyd’s relationship- and they do have a good relationship by the end! (because fuck doing nothing over actually working on fixing their mistakes and actually making up for it and people being complicated and imperfect people)

Love triangles are OUT, trauma triangles are IN

Jay actually gets character development in Skybound AND KEEPS SAID DEVELOPMENT, including Jay having to learn how to have a healthy relationship with Nya and stop bulldozing over people’s boundaries/having unhealthy obsessions with people (which is actually a result of trauma)

^^^ also actually exploring Jay’s birthmom in Prime Empire instead of introducing her then only mentioning her once several seasons later (and not even by name)

Also more sibling stuff in general over the romance because Jay and Nya’s relationship over Kai and Nya’s WHY?!?! (also Smith sibs adopting Lloyd, and all the ninja being even closer as a family obviously)

Consider the stupid love triangle with Wu Garm and Misako GONE. Don’t worry though, I give the brothers a much more believable and angsty reason to start fighting in Season 4 :))) (hint, it has to do with their repressed trauma from their dad’s not so great parenting)

Kai gets his own season with plenty of angst and character development as he deserves. The Green Ninja thing and Chen’s staff thing and being abandoned with a baby sister to take care of and putting all his worth on protecting others will ABSOLUTELY BE DISCUSSED

^^^ also Lavashipping will be included with Kai and Cole finally confronting their feelings for each other and going from on and off friends with benefits to the cutest boyfriends/husbands ever

Exploring the Dragon vs Oni and Creation vs Destruction concept more and using Lloyd and his family to illustrate that what the world really needs is a balance of both (also Lloyd and his dad keeping some Dragon/Oni features at the end!!!)

The ninja actually having to recover from when they very severely injured, or say, fucking possessed (why didn’t they even mention how Lloyd would’ve had to recover from that, the fuck)

Also Wu being confronted multiple times for his bullshit (which, suprise suprise, is a result of trauma), and he actually has to fix his mistakes and try to be better

Fixing everything wrong with Rebooted, Skybound, March of the Oni, Fire Chapter, Prime Empire, and Crystalized (I’m a writer myself, there are some things that drive me crazy and I NEED TO FIX THEM-)

More family time and mundane domestic stuff in between the ninja-ing- just the ninja spending time together and acting more like family/roommates in general

Prime Empire actually makes sense, Jay gets actual character development AND we actually explore his birthmom

Morro and Harumi are deeply traumatized BUT they let said trauma make them assholes and use it as an excuse to hurt people and they become even worse (Morro and Harumi stans BEGONE THIS IS NOT FOR YOU)

^^^ this will include Harumi developing an unhealthy obsession with Lloyd and it turning into creepy/predatory behavior, and there will be off screen sexual assault at some point, be wary of that

Exploring what life with Lloyd and his parents pre-banishement was like, complete with angsty-fluffy feels

Actually talking about addressing everyone’s trauma in general (and giving them more trauma because I’m that bitch :DDD )

There’s probably more I’m forgetting but that’s the gist of it for now

[cboffshore]

could you tell me about ossas? is it an au?

- @my-apollo-gies

OSSAS - full government name On Sea, Sunlight, and Sky - is, in short, my answer to the grand tradition of Skybound gap filler fanfic. It's a Nya-centric series set between "The Last Resort" and "The Way Back" in the gaping holes where her experience lurks. (More notes below the cut, spoiler free with a few broad content notes, because I don't want to clog anyone's dash - but I love to yap about my work.)

I would save this for later, but this is a pretty big disclaimer, so I'll start it here and elaborate in a bit: there is no Jay in OSSAS. That's probably the greatest difference between OSSAS and the more prominent Skybound rewrites you see bopping around, which tend to be HEAVY on the Jay and treat Nya as an afterthought. OSSAS is an experiment in what happens if we change camera angles. For my purposes, Jay is off on a beach somewhere with a tiny umbrella smoothie, taking a well-deserved break.

OSSAS is also my attempt to write the Skybound fic I wish to see in the world, because for a while there there was not very much variety, and I freely admit: I got bored! It felt like the same several tropes and trends on a permanent loop, and I could only take so much angst. So I noted what bored me so much and decided my best route was a hard U-turn. A few key differences between OSSAS and the most popular Skybound expansion works (aka what you may well be expecting of OSSAS) that I've seen are:

No gore. None. Nobody loses an eye. There are a few injuries and close calls, a few mentions of blood and sedatives and needles and guns, but generally everyone makes it through with clean clothes and all their limbs. (Generally. Trust me on this one.)

Also: no SA, hinted at or otherwise. The closest I ever come is a brief flashback mention of the infamous E62 ending shot and how that feels on Nya's end, but I never, ever go beyond what canon does. That canon compliance informs most of OSSAS, but comes across most strongly here. Is my Nadakhan still winning the Creepo Championships? Of course. That boundary crossing is a crucial part of his character, and I think it would be as boring a move to ignore it entirely as it would be to amp it up for the sake of drama as I've seen so many others do. Writing Nadakhan as close to canon as possible has been, and continues to be, a delightful puzzle. That does mean keeping the yuck factor - but it doesn't mean raising the rating or making up new crimes for him to commit. His existing ones give me plenty to work with. I've been told I write a pretty accurate Nadakhan, if that's any incentive.

As mentioned above: OSSAS is entirely Nya-centric. Jay gets a few more mentions early on (particularly in the first installment, which was originally meant as a standalone. however, that let me set up a fun system of tapering his influence off when I decided to turn it into a series!), and I'm working to balance that out with everyone else on the team, but that's just set dressing. Nya, and the gaps in her experience, are the foundations of this series, which leads to a final difference:

There are no rewrites of onscreen moments if I can avoid it! A few flashbacks break this rule, but I try to keep it as vague as I can. A tradition I've noticed in Skybound fic is to take existing scenes - such as Scrap 'n Tap, which is probably the most common version of this - and soup them up. More action, more detail, more dialogue... that's all well and good, and done well, I do love it! However, I'm trying to stay so close to canon plausibility that I'm hesitant to mess with those moments. The Hageman Bros already said what they said; I would rather pull threads to weave over the gaps than spin new ones, if that makes sense.

That's about as much as I can say about OSSAS without venturing into spoiler territory - I hope you check it out! I know you asked about another Skybound playlist of mine earlier, so I'm including a link to my official OSSAS Playlist as well if you'd like to sample that first.

These songs either reflect the general mood, hint at specific plot points, or are what gave the different installments their names! I'm always happy to explain why I picked any of them, so feel free to ask - but I would recommend you read the series first.

A final note: OSSAS updates once per year, generally in/around December, and this year is the series' grand finale - so now is, genuinely, a fantastic time to get caught up. OSSAS is currently locked to AO3 users only to prevent bot scraping, so I can't link to it from here, but you can find the whole thing under my AO3 profile at OffshoreWriter.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

(@my-apollo-gies - tagging down here since you sent this on anon and I want to be sure you get this :) )

[whydoibe]

Ok so anthour what if because why the hell not what if jay was the biological son of the source dragon of energy how could this happen cliff gordan never existed he was the identy taken by energy when he began to live amongst mortals eventually falling in love with jays mother she would pass shortly after jays birth his father looking at him with fear knowing his son would never be safe with him here there would always be those chasing him wanting to take his.power so he looked through all the mortals finding a couple incapable of having biological kids so kind so deserving of a kid he would apear to them as his true self asking them for help he would ask the to raise his son being given a letter once they belived him ready for the truth placing 7 seals on his child one for each source dragon and only once each has been broken he would learn the truth.

Much would stay the same except jay would when he unlocks his true potential the first seal would break seal of strength breaking alerting his father to the beging of his treck to the truth

The 2nd seal breaking at zanes death as he procces the grief the seal of focus energy noticing his son starting to gain dragon features the other ninja also notcing.

The 3rd seal being broken once him and Cole have a thier reconciliation the seal of balance

The 4th seal broken when he fights the premnit and sees and senses Lloyd's light leaving the realm the seal of life

The 5th seal broken once jay fixes the world with his wish jay starting to really notice the increases in power and the fact he's starting to get visions this being the seal of motion

The 6th seal to break would break when the ninja are all taken from him and he saves them from prime empire this being this being seal of flow

And finally, at nyas sacrifice jay, the true jay would be released as she moves into the sea. jay just stares as the 7th seal breaks the ninja stared as jay would be engulfed by lighting wings sprouting and moving a tail growing swaying eyes glowing yellow with blue pupils staring back at them fangs fully visible sharp jaggered horns on his head ears now sharp and pointed hands now possessing sharp long claws yellow across jays arms were skales which seemed to make a lighting pattern across him the ninja stared in astonishment as jay goes through every stage of grief in a single second and then calms passing out.

Jay awoke weeks later to his parents watching over him Cole sleeping against his bed jay got up feeling better than he had in years like he'd been renewed he new what to expect he had dreamt so vibbdly about his new body. Getting up waking Cole and his parents and learned that Lloyd had left much to his dismay he new he'd left in grief kai was a dojo master made sense he new kai liked teaching kids he new he wanted to be a dad one day. Zane had turned off his emotions jay was horrified by that thought but that was a latter issue nows issue why is he a Goddam half dragon his paremts giving him a letter and leaving back to the junk yard. Jay stared at it. The golden writing glowed. The paper was undamaged. The wax seal had a sysmbloe he did not recginise opening it the paper flew out and small dragon was summoned flying out to the court yard jay ran to follow it Cole also doing so the dragon glowed brightly a storm began to brew above then an unatrual storm then a dragon larger than any ever before known that would make firstbourne feel small sensi ran out with Zane and pixal shock on his face. The dragons eyes were glowing yellow its horns wings and tail matching jays the pattern in both thier skales nearly identical it shrunk appearing more mortal than before eyes locking with jays being a connection with it a deep connection.

"Jay walker" the dragon started. "I am the source dragon of energy embodying the entirety of all that requires my presence you have summoned me because Ed and Edna belive your ready the unanswered question being do you belive you are?" It finished vioce full of so much command so much care for jay

"What do you mean the truth that I'm adopted I know that I know who my bio parents are what do you mean ready" the dragons eyes narrowed before suddenly the world around all of them faded they saw two figures standing at an altered one with one blond haired womman freckles and had jays eyes she was in a pastel blue dress anthour stood a smile on his face cliff goradan jays bio father.

" I know this day" sensi started '' it was"

"My wedding day" the dragon stated Cole noticed the woman in black standing next to what Cole assumed to be jays bio mother was lilly his mother.

"If this and then that's my oh ohhhh" Jay stated concting the dots like sensi clearly was "your My"

"Father" the dragon stated locking eyes with jay " I jay walker am your father"

"Why are u here now" Jay looked as the dragon smircked.

"I thought that much was obvious" gesturing to jays well everything "you have unlocked your other half your power that rivals the entirty of creation and destructions domain" Jay looked contplative as the scene shifted to cliff or energy stood a grave grief in his eyes a small baby jay cradled in his arms" your mother passed shortly after ur birth I was left with little choice the realms needed me so I found a famlie that I new would cherish you jay I love you I looked from the side lines and made sure u were safe thier were times were I got distracted but I tried" Jay saw the monstary shift to being the monstary. They all stared at the source dragon as it continued to explain everything jay looked distressed as the dragon finished explaining what jay could expect visions, new powers, getting stuck in time loops, and the ability to reshape his form at will.

"That concludes everything of importance" the dragon finished

"Are you leaving" Jay asked

"Yes I am afraid I am needed else where I will vist one day" and with that the dragon vanished the weather calming.

It felt empty at the monstary with out his complete family but jay felt happier he had the explanation he needed as the days turned to weeks to months and Zane never turned back on his emotions and Lloyd didn't return jay felt empty he wanted his familie back so he was for the first time in a while was leaving the monstary to talk with his brothers Lloyd first he took cole with him cole and him seemed to be processing it better but jay new he was only processing it well because he felt her. Her energy deep in the sea he could feel it she was alive somewhere lost but alive jay had to admit at first he hated his dragon features but now he kinda liked them now. As he and cole walked through the city, the amount of strange looks he was given were a lot. Jay then felt something familiar a power Lloyd he looked around but couldn't see him.

"Umm jay what you looking for" Cole asked

"Lloyd I feel him hes near bye but where" Jay grabbed Cole by the arm "hold on"

"Wait what" cole didn't get to finish that sentence before jay held him tight wings extending out and then jay was in the sky Cole held close he didn't like this but he knew jay wouldnt let him fall jay eyes darted around looking for Lloyd then he spotted a window cleaner scanning him before notcing familiar blond hair the power given off by him it was Lloyd he was safe that's all he wanted to know.

"Hey jay can u pit me down" Cole asked

"Oh yeah you talk to Lloyd I talk to kai ok" Jay stated placing Cole on a building parallel to Lloyd. Jay than flew off. The flying was peacfull until he spotted a crystal spider watching him.

Much remains the same from this point on wards the ninja save nya and ninjago all over again. Then once the meeg occurs jay lands in imperuim and is imdently captured and placed in a spark next to his father jay notcing imdently creating a call into the earth to call Cole to help him

[xdxenon]

My thoughts on Dragons Rising (Spoilers)

At first I was very skeptical about dragons rising replacing the ninja with a bunch of new characters. It happens in a lot of shows I used to like and it never feels the same. However, I have grown to love them just as much. They're all just younger versions of the ninja, and they're starting to realize that.

First there's Wyldfyre and Kai. Aside from basically having the same power, (I'm still saying heat and fire are almost the same, idc that some cans burned and some melted) wyldfyre is very unpredictable with a more showy style of fighting and huge love for pranks. She also has a very hot temper, and thinks she's in charge. At first they're always at each other's throats fighting and yelling until Kai finally realizes that she's just like he was when he was younger. Did we really think we would ever see Kai, KAI???, of all people teaching meditation? I don't think so. And they're duo is absolutely deadly. We saw that armory explosion. I'm so excited for more WyldKai duo (Not a ship name, just a duo name) Aside from all the fighting, which lets be honest is bound to happen any time Kai is in the room, they are perfect partners and any time you need an explosion, they'll be there.

Sora and Nya fit as well. Tech savvy? Check. Trying to prove they're strong enough without their parents? Check. They both also struggled to find their true potential. Both had different specific problems, but in comparison to the other ninja, it was the hardest for Nya, and that might be true for sora as well as she's still reliant on Ryu for her power. Another big thing for Nya was being the "Girl Ninja", and I think that might come up in conversation with those two if Sora ever feels powerless. They would also make some absolute killer mechs and vehicles working together. With Nya's experience and intelligence, along with Soras intelligence and Powers? So many possibilities for kick ass rides and kick ass Lego sets (unfortunately at a price that kicks my wallets ass.) Nya also having Sora there is definitely helping distract her from Jay's absence. She still absolutely misses him, but having someone like herself around is definitely good for her.

Then, there's Lloyd and Arin. If these too match up just as well as the others, I'm quite scared about what Arin might have coming. The absolute amount of trauma that Lloyd went through throughout this entire thing is absolute absurd. And Arin is just finding out that Lloyd is the grandson of God himself. But I feel that Lloyd having a pupil is very good for him. He never got a childhood, literally having his child body taken from him by the aging potion, and he had to spend what short one he did fighting against the embodiment of evil inside of his father, multiple times. And if Arin is to follow in his footsteps, I don't even want to imagine what he's eventually going to have to go up against. Im hoping we can see some of father Lloyd peak through. Maybe him being the father and mentor he always wanted Garmadon to be but wasn't. And I wholeheartedly believe that Lloyd will be a good teacher. He doesn't have thousands of years of experience, but he's definitely been through the ringer. (And if Arin falls in love with a princess and Lloyd tries to talk him out of it I will lose my shit)

All of the ninja are now realizing just what Master Wu had to go through in order to train them all. They've learned and grown from his teaching tremendously yes, but now they're watching and teaching younger versions of themselves and relearning what they were like back then. I can't wait for the 6 million times Arin, Sora, or Wyldfyre make a mistake and say they don't deserve to be a ninja, and they all get to look at each other and laugh, and tell almost too many stories of all the times they've let the entire city get destroyed, died, been resurrected, destroyed realms, and all the fun quirky little traumatic world ending shit that they went through at their age. I'm glad that Dragons Rising still focusses on the ninja and they truly have just moved on to a different stage in their life by being teachers and mentors to the new generation, instead of just being cast aside as "Legends' and nothing more.

[purplerose244]

Lessons learned

Hello hello! Here’s to participate to the @ninjago-valentine-exchange! Thank you so much for hosting the event again, it was really fun working on it! 😍

My fic is based on Bruise, Cole/Jay Pair A

It’s an exchange to @destinymanticor’s amazing bruise fanart! I absolutely love it, tired Jay is just so adorable with all of those curls, and it’s also an excuse to throw in some cute couple moments! 💙🖤💙🖤

Hope you like it! Enjoy! 😚

Read it on the AO3

Summary: Years since the black ninja had first encountered the shocking experience that was Jay Walker. Months since the master of earth had his best friend made him the happiest by confessing his feelings. Days since the latest evil threatening Ninjago had been defeated by them all.

Still so much to learn.

Cole wouldn't have it any other way.

Being the official heavy lifter of the team and the master of earth itself, many people were probably quick to judge him as interested solely to physical work. Cole could say that they wouldn’t be totally wrong considering his strength, his climbing skills, his physic, and his dancing abilities – unironically the hardest to obtain of the bunch –, but he could also argue that despite all the workout, something he really liked to do was learning. Maybe he wasn’t as smart as Zane or as witty as Nya, but whenever he was put in front of something new it was inevitable for him to grow fond of the studying process. He had learned how to draw, he had gone to lots of museum, he wasn’t picky over what to explore in the slightest.

Especially when it was sudden, unexpected. Challenging.

Like months ago, when Jay had come to his room to blabber in his very own Jay way, talking for a full five minutes almost without breathing, solely to ask him out on a date. Something new, something unknown. Something inherently beautiful.

Cole was always quick to jump over a book the moment a specific topic caught his interest, to the point of knocking down the whole shelf. That time, he had compromised with sweeping the blue ninja off his feet and hugging him, unleashing that suppressed feeling he had feared would had accompanied him for the rest of his life without mutuality. With the way Jay had gasped so sweetly, laughing breathlessly against his chest, that had been a silly overthought of his and his new boyfriend was going to do his best erasing it from that moment forward.

It was another world to explore. More complex and exciting that he could had ever imagined.

They had known each other for years now, yet perhaps the most exciting part of it all… was getting to know Jay from another point of view.

 Lesson number one.

Jay was an absolute bundle of energy.

It was just another day in Ninjago, which obviously meant that the latest enemies of the whole nation had been defeated and most of the ninja’s daily work lately had revolved around helping the population rebuild the city… again – how many New in front of Ninjago City were there now, it was hard to say. This particular night though, it was a break for them all.

You could say a lot of things about Ninjago. It was big, it was dangerous, it had the lowest prizes for its main city in regards of renting and buying houses, and had the worst luck even seen in all of sixteen realms – fifteen… fourteen, alright the whole ordeal of the different dimensions was still a bit confusing in his head. But one thing for sure, the people here could throw a party. Only a couple of days of work and as soon as the main hall of the theatre had been rebuilt, all had been organized to contain as many decorations, dancers, exhibitions and food as humanly – and inhumanly, too many unusual creatures hanging around at this point – possible.

Kai was a party animal and an attention seeker, so of course he was into it. Lloyd was always getting kidnapped by massive figures of Ninjago to get some very well-deserved thanks. Zane actually kind of loved these kinds of situations, showing off his best of his funny switch – which at this point was simply a Zane switch. Nya always made time for the little fans that would always tail her during the celebrations. Pixal was looking after them all with a satisfied smile.

On the other hand, the black ninja wasn’t too keen on these situations. Perhaps it was a bit of misconception from when he used to be a dancer and all those massive and obnoxious celebrations, but despite this he had always made the effort to be present at least for a while.

The blue ninja, on the other hand… were there words good enough to describe such a sparkle?

“Hey gloomy, that’s not how you blend in into a party! You know you’re really hard to ignore, right?” It wasn’t common for them to dress fancy, so it was a bit appalling seeing Jay rocking his brownish suit – yes they could all wear other colours besides their signature ones, shocker. “Leaning on the side-lines, not talking to anyone while still being impossible handsome, are you even allowed to exist?” There was a tiny possibility that he drunk a bit, mostly given that droopy look he was giving him.

Cole wasn’t sure if it was because of them dating, or this guy had always been absolutely adorable and this was simply paying a closer attention. He put the glass he had been uninterestingly holding the whole night onto the table and stepped forward.

“Is this you trying to flirt with me, Zaptrap?”

“No, this is me working my way up to ask you to dance, Dirtclod!” Jay snickered – alright yes he definitely had some wine –, offering his hand but not completely able to keep it open. “I’m glad I refused the last glass they offered me, I’m pretty sure I would’ve forgotten if I asked you out or not already. Not like it matters, I can make a full of myself and you’ll still find me cute!” Oh this little devious lightning. He was such a jester and a huge dork, so sometimes it was hard to remember how much brain was hidden under that ginger head.

The black ninja grabbed his hand.

“None taken, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to be elegant about it.” The master of earth snickered. “Besides, for all the times you embarrassed yourself, I should be desensitized by now.”

“Rude!”

“Am I wrong?”

“I’m asking you to the dance floor, be happy about it!”

“Am I wrong, though?”

“No you aren’t now get your butt into action!” Hard to say if Jay shouted that one line specifically to get a couple of weirded out eyes directed towards him or he was still in a bit of a bliss. He was at least lucid enough to lead him towards the centre of the room. “Finally! I’ve been dreaming of this moment for a while now, even your snarky remarks will not stop me!”

Cole blinked, letting him take the lead of the dance as too busy acknowledging what his messy guy had just told him.

“You wanted to dance with me that badly?”

“You’re so unaware of how charming you are it’s infuriating, it makes me nervous even now! Why do you think I got a bit funky with the drinks?” Oh. Oh. “Had to tone it down a notch before I exploded, you know how I am.” To think that he would – or perhaps the best word was could – purposely unable himself, solely because of a couple of butterflies in the stomach. He truly was quite the resourceful guy, in a very amusing way.

You know who I am, he said. The black ninja did and didn’t. He always did, yet lately he didn’t. It was a marvellous paradox that made him smile, wrapping his arms around the engineer’s waist.

“I guess so. Interesting, my looks are intimidating then.”

“Focus on the music, Cole.”

“I just hope me wearing a tux isn’t too much for your little heart.”

“DON’T MAKE ME REGRET THIS, COLE.”

It was a bit of a wonder how there was a time Cole absolutely despised being a dancer and everything that the discipline included. He could very well give the blame to how little he was communicating with his father, the bad experiences he had at school, his own insecurities. It had been a while now and honestly, it felt like a whole other world altogether. Maybe it was because he had matured. Maybe it was because he liked his partner a whole lot more.

 Lesson number two.

Jay was a pretty busy person.

Partying was great obviously, and Cole was never going to be a hypocrite by saying that helping the city being rebuilt the day after was better than stuffing his face with celebratory cake – yes, he liked saving the world for that reason too, it was a very good reason –, but there was definitely something about embracing the peace they had fought so hard for and work on dealing with the aftermath. It was disappointing in some ways yet uplifting in others, besides citizens of Ninjago were almost too good at fixing at this point, they almost barely needed them all. Then again having someone able to weld with fire alone and another power up a generator with a snap was better than not having them.

And while it was a bit of a prideful thing through them all to fight over who was the strongest, Cole knew that at the end of the day his guns were the most fitted to do the heavy work. Therefore, after some time that day, he had been left on his own to deal with the last granitic pieces, feeling every muscle turned into mush but still active over the pleasurable thrill of having done something good.

One of the citizens had brought water for the bulding team, him included, so he could take a break. He couldn’t keep going relentlessly – well, he could, but he didn’t want to. It was nice but also weird being the only ninja here, perhaps he was too used moving as a flock with the team.

Right as that thought caught him, his mask started to vibrate. The new communicators were still a work in progresses, but so far, they had not exploded – well done Pix.

He wore the mask and answered.

“Hello?”

“-No no no, you have to use the codename! You chose one, right? Over.-”

This dork. Cole felt all of his tiredness evaporate.

“Ahem. Rocky speaking, over.”

“-Rocky? Really? Over.-”

“It’s simple and immediate, what do you want from me?”

“-For you to have a bit of imagination, and also to use proper walkie talkie language!-” This guy could be the laziest of them all during their vacation days and non, but honestly very few people he knew committed this hard when something truly interested them – or was absurdly silly. “-Ahh, your lack of enthusiasm is making me lose too much time! Rocky, this is Bluejay-flying-in-the-night,-” Dang it, Cole adored this absolute idiot. “-Sensei Wu, I mean the Beardinator, asked me to call everyone and making sure you’re not falling behind with work for today! Over.-”

Cole frowned a little. Jay sounded absolutely charged as usual, but the kind of blabber was almost screamed at this point. He knew the guy enough to recognize when he was hyperfixating over something, or he was overworking himself.

“Well, everything’s good on my side, but I’ll probably be back after dinner… say, are you okay? You sound a bit hysteric, and that’s a lot coming from you.”

“-Okay so on your front everything’s good, same with Nya and Zane, I’ll check Kai next.-”

“Jay?”

“-… sorry, I know you asked me something, but I completely spaced out on you. What is it that you need from me?-” Okay, this confirmed it. “-Whatever it is it will have to wait until tomorrow, Nya and Pixal need help to repair our latest mechs and vehicles, Zane wants me to supervise his check-up since you never know, Kai and Lloyd wanted a sparring partner for the training regime and I got to finish the blueprints for the new security system of our place.-” Wow. Just, wow. It was in equal parts worrying and impressive. Life was easier with such a bright mind around and a reminder was always welcomed. “-… I’d love to make time for you, though… over.-”

The black ninja managed to take off the mask before he let out that embarrassed squeak, because how dare he distract him with how much work he was doing and how dare he take advantage of it by dropping such a cute line.

The main battle for the sake of the world was over. All they needed to do was get through the recovering, and possibly getting some time to enjoy together.

Cole inhaled happily.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get our moment. Focus on what you need to do, but don’t overwork yourself.”

“-Roger that, Rock-hard-muscles.-”

“…”

“-Too much?-”

“I’ll have to close the call, that was too charming and I might faint… over and out.”

What more to ask for this idiot to cheer in delight for finally getting him to use proper walkie talkie slang, putting an end to the conversation with a huge smile on his face? It was ordinary business, but it was different too, this time there was more to look forward to at the end of the tunnel. It was the first time for the both of them. Possibly not going to be the least.

 Lesson number three.

Jay was very light.

There was always a bit of satisfaction in knowing that there was a time to be yet being able to finish earlier. Cole felt like he could go on a bit of a pride parade and mention how he didn’t know his own strength and it kept surprising him all the time – unironically his fans liked to hear that more than him, he didn’t know who was cringier between them and himself –, although this pleasant feeling from being on time likely came from his earliest moments at the monastery training as a ninja, therefore the very beginning of his strong earth power. He liked to keep the time more than how he used to during those ballet years, which was kind of ironic, so when he got back home he had a plastic bag in his hand from groceries and a grin on the top of his lips.

Likely the rest of the team already had their dinner and he himself had provided through the closest supermarket, along with a few over things he was carrying right now – no of course he didn’t by himself a whole cake to devour later, who was he an animal. He could hear the living room animated, a familiar soundtrack coming from Fist to Face 2 and what seemed to be Kai’s perfectly calibrated anguished scream from losing – likely against Lloyd, the poor hothead.

He went to the kitchen to put down his small groceries and join the fun, when he saw the blue ninja in precarious equilibrium onto a chair while getting to the highest shelf. This wasn’t the weirdest he had ever seen in his life – like, not even close –, but he did have a bit of a gasp.

“Jay?!”

“What?” Somehow this guy had the nerve to turn around with a frown on his face, right as the change of position destabilized the whole balance on the chair – it was a flipping stool what was wrong with this guy. “Oh hey Cole, what are you-” Amazing his comedic timing, so perfect Cole barely had a fright when his boyfriend lost it and capitulated, right into his awaiting shaking arms – alright perhaps there was a bit of cold sweat, only a bit!

The chair fell down, the cookie jar that had apparently been the reason behind this recklessness were splattered all over the ground, and Kai groaned again from the other room – unrelated to this and likely because of Lloyd’s superior gaming skills again.

The black ninja was left a bit speechless between the rush, the anger, and the relief. Yet most of all, what remained was the feeling of having the blue ninja picked up. Oh. Huh.

“What in the world, Jay.”

The master of lightning looked at him, smirked, and Cole felt the migraine before it hit.

“Well I guess I-”

“No.”

“But I very clearly-”

“Don’t you dare!”

“I obviously fell for you!” Fury, betrayal, disappointment, despair, and Cole wished it wasn’t such a Jay thing to say, which was inevitably another reason to swoon for him. “Come on, it’s a classic! It was the perfect situation too, I wouldn’t hated myself for not taking the chance! Thanks for the help by the way, I guess I wasn’t paying too much attention to land on my feet.” A fair comment actually, they were all perfectly trained to handle falling, even from such a small height. It made the master of earth wonder if there was something going on. “Good thing you got that core strength of yours, I doubt the others would’ve been luckier!”

Ah, a chance for revenge. Cole grinned. This guy didn’t listen to him and came up with the cheesiest and most embarrassing of all puns? There was only one way to retaliate, one that could be developed only when living between three, then four, then five/six/seven other people all in the same place: teasing.

After all, he had just made another discovery. He really wanted to marvel over it out loud.

“Nah, I don’t think it would’ve been a problem.” Jay raised an eyebrow, Cole smirked. “Dude, you’re lighter than a feather, pretty sure kid Lloyd would’ve been able to catch you.”

What a wonder seeing a blush on him. He wasn’t that mean to teasing that detail as well, but he wanted to gaze at it as long as it lasted. It was weird in a way, it wasn’t like the black ninja was completely unaware of relatively light Jay was. The blue ninja had always been more focused on speed and agility, he was the only one of them that had a childhood without physical training – well technically Zane and Pixal too but you know, Zane and Pixal –, and there was simply a difference of built. It was perhaps this newfound need to find out more about him, that made it so incredible to rediscover this right in this moment, at this time of their relationship.

Jay was pouting, arms folded despite making no attempt at getting free. He liked to be pampered after all, not even his pride could take that away from him.

“I’m a strong ninja, I trained with a martial art master.”

“Yes you did, Zaptrap.”

“I have muscles! They’re just different kinds! It’s not my fault you all are buff in comparison!”

“No it isn’t, Zaptrap.” Cole kissed him on the forehead, that immediately relaxed. It felt like there was more tension though, beyond this silly circumstance. “How about you try fixing your hurt pride through a massive videogaming session?”

“Uh? But I got work to do…” More work? They had all finish their daily routine of helping around the city, what more was there to do? Thinking about now it was suspicious how he was here and not in the living room already. “… uhm, but maybe it can wait until tomorrow! Totally!” Hard to tell if he changed his mind or he noticed how weird it sounded. He simply pointed forward. “Onward, my dearest! Towards the arena, where I will take my victory!”

It was really hard focusing on worrying stuff with him being so adorably him.

Yet Cole was a very meticulous person and again, he liked researching. This moment was fixed in his head. He was going to give him a couple of turns of gaming though. Just this once.

“Alright! Hey everyone, I brought you a bag of grapes!”

“A bag of wha- oh you mean Jay.”

“I’M NOT THAT LIGHT YOU GUYS!”

 Lesson number four.

Jay was a glutton like him.

A premise had to be made that the blue ninja was the only one Cole harboured any kind of romantic feelings. Lloyd was his little brother, Kai was his middle brother, Nya was his sister – his mind refused to acknowledge the triangle fiasco, it was too cringe to compute –, in short they were his family. With that being said, it was really hard to keep his feelings down towards his favourite nindroid after seeing the huge piece of chocolate cake he left for him in the fridge, with the note ‘To my partypooper brother, great work today. Zane’.

Honestly, honestly, that gorgeous piece of metal only deserved love and Cole wasn’t going to be the one to deny him this right. Also, that totally meant he was his favourite brother, so he got to be a little giddy – he totally didn’t see the six other lunch boxes besides his, not at all.

Most of the others were either in bed or preparing for the night and he should have too, but he was feeling a bit too good to drown it all in slumber. He felt like being conscious for a bit more.

He sat on the table, slice on the table, and with the outmost care he took a big forkful of it.

“Oh I love you Zane!” There was honestly no other feeling like that. The moist cake, the creamy interior, the whole experience was simply magical and somehow worth all the migraine going through the most recent villain. “I gotta buy him a present…” His first thought was another pink apron and while it sounded like a fantastic idea, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure if Zane would have still not realized how silly it was going to look.

It was nostalgic though. Today Cole was feeling really, really good.

He was about to take another bite, when he felt steps behind him. It wasn’t even about being a ninja, he had simply lived with these people for so long that he knew them without looking. Perhaps letting his guard down only because it was Jay was a bad move, but despite the sudden hug from behind he definitely didn’t regret letting the attack happen.

Especially for the following kiss on the cheek. Maybe Cole was really easy to please but that made his heart flutter a bit, while Jay simply licked his lips.

“What? You have some chocolate over there!”

After one single bite. Right. Either the black ninja was a massively messy eater – not to be excluded but still –, or the blue one was playing around. The black ninja was much more into the second option, as he grinned all the way up to his cheeks.

“And you cleaned it up for me? Are you my personal maid or something?”

“Well not to confirm that, but I did look great in a blonde wig that one time I was pretending to be a victim!” Wow, that was a massive throwback to the whole mysterious Samurai X saga – Nya still hadn’t let them live it down. “You looked way too vulnerable while enjoying your thing, I just couldn’t resist. Especially after hearing you being so vocal about your love for the local nindroid…” Ah, he heard it. That pout looked a bit too forced to be actually jealous, though. “If I’d known all I needed was a cake to get your heart, I would have given a career in bakery a shot!” And now he was crossing his arms. Drama queen, thy name Jay Walker.

Cole rolled his eyes, getting another bite of the chocolaty heaven in front of him, while never taking his eyes off the ginger beauty in the room.

“Isn’t it even more meaningful? How despite not hiding a roll of cookie dough in your pocket, you still got a date out of me?” He winked at him, Jay snorted with his cheeks a bit red. “Besides, look at what Zane prepared for you in the fridge and tell me you don’t adore him.”

“He made stuff for me too?… OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU ZANE!” Yep, no one was above the kind of awe coming from having fresh treats from the fridge – quite ironic thinking of that time Zane was standing right inside of it. “It’s a bitter orange pudding too! The ones that got discontinued! Oh, this is exactly what I needed!” Followed the scene of a grown young adult squishing his face against a small container of pudding in absolute delight.

So cute, so cute, so cute. Cole sighed dramatically.

“Hopefully one day you’ll love me as much as you love puddings.”

“Oh that’s rich!” Jay kept the little pudding in contact, holding it like it was his child while giving him a glare. “But please do tell, who would you save from a sinking ship, me or a cake?”

Now he was forcing the pout a lot.

The black ninja couldn’t help it. He pretended to think.

“I mean… you can fly and summon dragons, you would save yourself.”

“Cole!”

“I mean, the cake is basically an innocent to save…”

“Cole!!” His offended glance made him burst into laughter. The blue ninja dropped on the chair right in front of him, full frown in sight – with one spoon in his hand, the little impatient. “Well maybe I’ll save my pudding too instead of you! But since you’re all heavy with muscle and mountain powers you’ll sink, how about that??” He started a bit of an evil laugh then shut himself up with a spoonful of pudding, which immediately turned her frown upside down. “I want to eradicate all that is evil in the universe so Zane can retire and open a restaurant.”

“Seconded.” There was still a bit of a frown in him though, Cole couldn’t stop smiling. He looked at his cake, took a forkful, then extended it towards him. Jay genuinely gasped. “Here’s the thing, if I save the cake and you save yourself, then we can share it.”

The master of lightning blinked. Then he smiled and took the bit, humming in delight.

“Alright, you sold me to it. Not a bad idea.”

“Care to reciprocate?”

“You num num. Here.” Jay grinned and offered a spoonful of his pudding. It tasted lightly bitter and acidic, yet immensely sweet. Annoying but lovely, how ironic. “Cake is good but the pudding is more my thing. You keep yours.” He took the fork and fed him more cake. Now Cole really felt like in heaven. “You got a little something again.” Another kiss on the cheek. Double heaven.

 Lesson number 5.

Jay was… a stressed person.

Cole knew something was up. It wasn’t even about their recently developed relationship, although he was pretty sure that uneasiness in his chest had become much more intense because of it. Once again, they knew each other, and no matter what was going to happen the two of them had started as best friends. Maybe the way they were going was different, but the goal of the whole path wasn’t diverse: they still had each other’s backs.

His sleeping schedule was pretty impeccable. Between being a dancer, a climber and a ninja, there had never been much time to waste. And yes sleepovers and game marathons with the guys were a given, but so was getting plenty of rest after a major fight. All the rooms were closed for the night. Only one was empty.

The black ninja had been waiting for those quick and light steps for quite a while now, laying on his bed without his covers. At some point he felt that enough was enough.

He looked at his phone. 2:30 of the morning.

Definity an enough was enough moment.

The place was dead silent at night. It had taken a while to find a stable place to live in again given how often they had been forced to change place… or for that place to be destroyed. The most recent one had given them all the chance to have their own rooms, and even had one reserved for projects. Between Jay, Nya, Zane and Pixal, it was very much needed – a given for an engineer seemed to be working in chaos, which meant quadruple the mayhem. In exchange for so much space though, the walls were pretty much paper thin, and Cole could hear all of them sleeping: Zane’s absolute silence, Pixal’s light sounds of recharging, Nya’s soft snoring, Kai’s light mumbling and Lloyd’s sleep-talking. Only that adorable hum, even purr, was missing.

The engineers room was wide open, a soft white light was coming from it. Not enough to give food to his thoughts, but Cole did chuckle a bit at the thought of some sci-fi based moment, since Jay had been so adamant at making him watch the entirety of the Starfarer saga – “The first time was a three-way date, this time is you and me! I demand it to be special and with the least amount of sarcastic glanc- COLE!” –, as he approached the door.

There he was, the ball of ginger. The black ninja had seen him countless of times leaning onto the desk, his foot tapping and the protractor sliding so fast onto the blueprints it was louder than a pencil. The fact that the whole scene was almost dead silent was concerning already.

Cole took a breath and got inside.

“Jay?” He got an uninterested, braindead groan in response. “Jay, worktime is over, get off the chair.” A couple of quiet seconds made him think he hadn’t heard.

Then those shoulders shook a little. Ah, he listened.

“I’m not- I’ll eat later, I have to finish this.” Ah, he did not listen.

“It’s the middle of the night, babe.”

“I know I need to shower, I just need to get this done first…”

“You see, I don’t like when you ignore me or you’re too tired to hear, so how about I solve this the old fashion way?” He knew there wasn’t a single word going through to him. He was counting on it. So when without a single shame he grabbed him by the waist, pulled him up and over his shoulders, the strangled noise he got in return was even more satisfying. “You’ve been a very bad ninja and as you know, all bad ninja must be punished. In your case I’d say, sleep in for the time being and put whatever that was on hold.” Without another word he walked out of the room.

The blue ninja seemed to be ready to fight him off, but Cole’s perception must had been right about him being completely exhausted, because he gave up quickly. He opted for a full pout and folded arms, and as usual the unhappy kid act suited him. He leaned a bit to gave him a look, Cole could see him upside down, those curly ginger hair going everywhere.

“I don’t need a babysitter to tell me to go to sleep.”

“Are you sleeping? No. Therefore yes, you need it. Consider it a payback, I’m your nanny, you’re my maid.” Where was his mind going right now…

“I’m fine! There’s no need for this, I got so much stuff to do!” He squirmed a little, not enough clearly. Possibly only to be a nuisance. “The new security system needs to be up asap, the mechas are taking longer than expected, I need to ask dad for a compact converter giggly compressor…”

Memories of a pile of junk. Cole snickered.

“Yeah, no, I still think you’re making that stuff up. And we can go to your folks’ house anytime, no need to rush everything in one night. I know you’re tired.”

“Am not! I’m… not! I’m, like… not!” Not even the energy to go on a rant, it meant he really had zero juice left. Jay grumbled, wrapping his arms around his neck. “What about you, huh? You’re also awake at this hour, and you’re vital enough to pick me up! We have the same training regime, and don’t you dare tell me cute stuff like you were waiting for me and got worried because… because… I can and will smother you!” As a representation he clenched his hold, but it felt more like an embrace and he knew, because he groaned.

The black ninja laughed again. He turned to Jay’s room, as messy yet with a method as ever.

“Again, you weight as much as groceries, I barely need to think about it at all.” He got a light slap behind his neck for that one. “Now be a good boy and… sleep!” Without a warning he dropped the guy onto his bed, making him jump. “Tomorrow you’ll do the rest.”

Jay gave him a baffled look, then he glared again.

“I don’t have time for this, Cole.”

“And I told you you’re out of juice for the day, Jay.”

“I have loads of work left to do, Cole!”

“I’m not letting you faint on a compass, Jay!”

“I CAN KEEP IT UP, COLE!”

“WOULDN’T BE HARD GIVEN YOU’RE LIGHTER THAN A LIGHTER, JAY!”

“BOTH OF YOU! SHUT! UP!!” Oh yeah there we, like, seven other people living under their same roof, currently trying to sleep since it was unreasonably late. If they had managed to wake up Lloyd’s impressively deep sleep then they were shouting pretty loudly. “GO TO SLEEP OR I SWEAR I’LL BE THE NEXT VILLAIN YOU’RE ALL GONNA FACE, AND I KNOW ALL OF YOUR TICKLISH POINTS!” It would have been a weak threat wasn’t that guy some sort of natural tickler torturer able to genuinely knock them all out – if that tied up with being the son of the warlord that was Garmadon, that was to be discussed.

It was enough to make them both go quiet, but Cole wasn’t going to drop this solely because of the current time. Judging from his boyfriend’s still present glare he was ready to die on that hill as well, which was incredibly annoying – obstinacy, an inevitable consequence of ninja never quit. The fact that even like this he was showing some pretty swollen eyelids was ridiculous.

There had to be a way to distract him. And there was. The black ninja blinked, almost feeling stupid for not thinking immediately about it. He smiled.

“If you get under the cover, ready to sleep, I’ll bring you a pudding.”

Jay’s eyes immediately changed mood. There we go.

“Wha- I finished mine, you’re bluffing!”

“I bought one at the store, you know I like snacking. I’m willing to give it up if it means you’ll finally rest.” There was a moment of pondering, where it dawned to him how stupid this conversation was. Then the blue ninja finally relented and laid down. “Be right back.”

As soon as he got out of the room, he let out a sigh of relief, that seemed to remind his body how late it was and how tired he was. He had waited for so long fighting the urge to close his eyes, now his body was slowly shutting down and begging him to take it easy. Jay was high maintenance, he had known this from the very beginning way before getting together. Sometimes he really didn’t understand him, but perhaps that was just what made him… well, him.

He was so out of it he went into autopilot, and suddenly he was walking back with the cold vanilla pudding into his hand. With the hope that the master of lightning had fallen asleep in the meanwhile he got back inside, but obviously it was wishful thinking. He had his eyes wide opened.

… so much they looked tearful.

“Ah, thanks. You can put it on the nightstand.” He was hugging himself, looking at nothing, dark circles visible. “I’ll have it in a moment.” Hopefully he knew he wasn’t convincing in the slightest.

Cole felt a wince inside his heart. Without saying a word, he laid down next to him, making do to what space was left on a singular bed, and started caressing his back. It was very, very tense, it was a block of rock on itself. Under his fingers though it was slowly softening, and so naturally Jay leaned against him, his shoulders touching his chest. The black ninja didn’t think twice embracing him, leaning his chin over the mess that his hair was right now. It smelled like rust and oil. Even after a thousand of showers, that was simply his natural scent.

His breathing was still but heavy, like he was gathering as much air as he could.

“What are you thinking about?”

“… it didn’t work.” It came almost as a sob, but it was more likely that the blue ninja was too tired even for that. “All of those defences, all of those vehicles, I put my hand to it to make them the best they could be. But they’re never enough, it’s so much harder every time and I… I don’t think I can keep up.” He trembled a little.

The master of earth kissed his temple, holding him closer.

“You did good. You and the others, with all of these amazing creations, it’s thanks to that that we win every single time.”

“But every single time, it’s always because of something else. At worst, all it’s destroyed!”

“Yet even after all that, we’re able to survive and being here, talking about it. It’s not by some miracle that we triumph Jay, it’s because of so many different things.” He went over his hair with a hand, fingers between those curls, feeling him breathing. “Our training, our values, our allies, our city, and yes, our weapons as well. And maybe those don’t make it to the very end, but they do make a difference. So don’t push yourself, keep working as you did before. You’re doing great.”

There was silence afterwards. Cole genuinely didn’t know if his boyfriend was way too stubborn to let this one go, if his prayers had been answered and he was finally asleep, or he was simply not responding and pondering over the whole discussion. He didn’t have to wait long, because next thing he knew the blue ninja was turning around, the softest smile of all onto his lips, as he held the black ninja’s face and kissed him. It was always baffling the way he held him, because it was so delicate, like the master of earth out of all people was to be treated with gentleness. It was such a care for him that it made him feel so fuzzy inside, as he kissed back.

Jay’s kisses were, of course, electric. Cole wondered if he knew that the first contact was a genuine little shock, like touching something lightly charged. It always made him smile, it always made him look for more. They were both so tired, yet their lips kept looking for each other in need.

It was like dreaming, a bit. He liked opening his eyes better though, because he was always slightly earlier than him, and he could watch him with closed eyes, bliss in his expression.

The blue ninja giggled, before opening his eyelids.

“How do you know what to say every time?”

“Trial and error, but mostly I like researching.”

“Research?”

“Yep. And you’re my latest favourite thing to explore.” Cole kissed him again, embracing him, hoping to erase all of the worries and the stress from this body, even taking them as his own. But the best way for that was still resting, so he pulled back and leaned their foreheads together. “I want you to be okay. So… sleep, please?” He didn’t have any other trick to pull for this.

Jay smiled and nodded, thankfully. He wrapped his arms around his neck, putting his head over his shoulder.

“Can you stay here for a bit?”

Cole grinned, adjusting his position so he wasn’t going to wake up with a massive backache next morning. Extending his arm out without moving his body he managed to grab the blanket and messily covered the both of them with it, making sure the boy right next to him was completely bundled up and comfy. Right in that moment he realized, with immense relief, that Jay had finally given up and was completely out. Any time now that natural propension to hug in his sleep was going to kick in, making it impossible for the black ninja to escape.

Not like he had any intention to. He simply let his eyes wonder over his boyfriend’s exhausted face, finally getting what he needed. Pride and softness filled him as he let himself go as well.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

 Lesson six.

Jay was absolutely lovely.

… and loved him more than the pudding abandoned on the nightstand, apparently.