Guess who's baaaack! Yep, it's me. I'll still be very busy with schoolwork and stuff, but it won't be as bad as before.
I was going to call this "Oneshots Through The Heart 2", but I didn't like that, so I decided to call this "A Thousand Ways To Love".
So, for our first oneshot, have some ninjas and a samurai just being bros and bonding during a blackout. Happens after the second season finale. Also, mentions of Christmas. Even though it's only November now. Don't judge me.
December in Ninjago City was always an exciting time. Everyone would be outside, hanging coloured lights in the trees along the sidewalks, decorating store windows with anything that would lift their holiday spirits. Freshly-cut pine trees would be brought in from the forests outside the city to be decorated, and the largest one would be erected at the centre of the city to be lit up. Needless to say, they took Christmas decorating very seriously.
However, Ninjago City, unlike the other towns and villages of the region, was almost always unprepared for snow. They never had much reason to prepare because of how rare a heavy snowfall was. So, if a blizzard ever reared its ugly head, power outages would result indefinitely. Even if they had everyone together to fix the issue, it often took a couple of days to bring the power back.
Of course, the Ninja were completely and blissfully unaware of this fact, and were probably the most unprepared for the coming snowstorm. While weather warnings were rampant among television stations, they were happily decorating their group apartment with varying colours of tinsel and beads, singing carols all the while.
"Lloyd! Quit eating the candy canes! We kinda need those!" Kai scolded, snatching them out of the blond's hand and giving them to Cole, who hung them on the branches of the pine tree in the corner of the room.
Lloyd swallowed the remains of the minty candy before he spoke. "You guys have used pretty much all of them for decorations," he complained. "They're gonna go bad by the time Christmas is over. Why can't I have a few?"
"Lloyd, they'll still be good even after Christmas, and your definition of 'a few' is more like twenty," Cole replied with a smirk. "You can have one when we're done decorating, okay?"
Jay, who had been hanging lights along the edges of the window, elbowed him playfully. "Kinda like how your definition of a slice of cake is, like, half of it?" he teased, throwing a candy cane to Lloyd, who smiled gratefully at him before unwrapping it.
Cole narrowed his eyes. "Cake and candy canes are two completely different things. For one thing, cake will go stale if you leave it out for too long."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He turned at the sound of the door opening, rushing over to it when he saw it was Nya, carrying a shopping bag in each hand. Before she could say anything, he pointed up at the ceiling to the sprig of mistletoe hanging by a string.
"Jay, did you hang that there just so you could kiss me?" she asked, a teasing tone in her voice.
He looked away, a blush quickly spreading across his face. "Maybe..."
She rolled her eyes, putting down the bags to place her hands on Jay's freckled cheeks, bringing him close and touching her lips to his for a few seconds. He smiled against her lips, pouting when she separated from him.
Zane peered out from the small kitchen, smiling when he saw the bags in Nya's hands. "Are those the ingredients I asked you to purchase?" he asked.
She nodded, walking over and handing them to him. "It was a bit difficult, though. There's a snowstorm warning in effect, apparently, and now everyone's buying whatever they can to prepare for it." She sat on the couch beside Jay. "Not to mention the snow's coming down pretty hard now."
"I certainly hope I can make dinner before it happens, then," Zane remarked. "I do not know what we would do if it gets too serious."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"Apparently, Ninjago City is famous for power outages in the winter, especially if there is a blizzard."
"Well, hopefully it won't be too serious," Cole said, peering out the window at the city below. He felt a twinge of nervousness at the sight of the snow falling from the dark clouds, moving quicker with the addition of the wind. "If we still had our Elemental Blades, we could just ask Jay to bring the power back, but since we don't..."
"Hey, lightning can be used for more than just bring back the power during a blackout!" Jay protested. "But yeah, I guess I see your point. I wish we got to keep them after the battle..."
"We will just have to make do with what we have, Jay," Zane said, putting out the contents of the shopping bags one by one. "If the electricity goes out, then we will cope."
Kai sat down next to Lloyd on the floor, folding his arms and smirking. "Yeah, but these weather warnings happen all the time," he pointed out. "I mean, what are the chances that the power's gonna go out just because of a little wind and snow?"
The power went out the instant he finished his sentence. Though he couldn't see them, he could feel the glares of everyone in the room falling on him. He didn't say anything, instead giving a nervous laugh.
"You just had to go and say that, didn't you?" Cole hissed.
"Hey, it's not my fault the power went out," he snapped. "You want someone to blame, go outside, scream at the sky for a few hours and see where that gets you."
Lloyd gulped. "Well, I sure hope it comes back on soon. The room's already getting pretty cold..."
Zane came to join the others, sitting down on Kai's other side. "I highly doubt the power will be out for longer than one hour. But my probability readings tell me otherwise..."
Nya sighed, inching closer to Jay's side. "Then we'll just have to hope for the best."
The group sat quietly in the darkness, unsure of what to do. Cole had brought a few blankets from the bedroom, but even with all of them draped over one another, they were still very cold. Cole huddled next to Jay, whose teeth were chattering slightly. Nya tried to focus on something other than the cold, but found the task difficult with Jay's shivering.
After two hours of waiting, everyone, minus Zane and Kai, was clutching the blankets closer to their bodies, which were wracked with shivers. Zane watched them with interest, fascinated by how much they were all affected by the decreasing temperature. Being a robot, he knew the room was cold, but he didn't necessarily feel cold. He then looked over at Kai, who seemed almost unaffected by it, and was near to dozing off.
"Kai? How are you not cold like everyone else?" Zane asked.
The brunet's eyes opened, appearing almost annoyed that his sleeping was interrupted. "I'm the Ninja of Fire. It's easier for me to stay warmer than other people. Also, I have most of the blankets." He flinched when he felt Zane's cold hand touch his arm. "But that doesn't mean I can't get cold."
"You are very warm," Zane remarked, inching closer to his side.
Lloyd raised an eyebrow at this, and he, too, went closer to Kai. He sighed at the warmth coming from him. "Zane's right. It's almost like sitting next to a heater..." He eventually shut his eyes, resting his head on Kai's shoulder.
Cole, Jay, and Nya exchanged a glance, before moving down from the couch to sit around Kai, relishing in the warmth. Kai was soon surrounded by them, and he frowned, looking up at the ceiling.
"I think if it ever gets cold, we should just stay with Kai," Jay murmured, leaning on Kai's bent knee.
"Definitely," Cole sighed, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"I swear, if I wasn't trying to focus on sleeping, I'd have kicked all of you in the face by now," Kai grumbled, shutting his eyes and attempting to ignore the bodies huddled around him on every side.
Now, the one thing that's different about my oneshots this time around is that I'm going to be a bit more organized. At the beginning of every oneshot, I will say who requested it (if you want to remain anonymous, that's okay, too), what they requested, and any warnings for it (violence, yaoi, etc).
I will write anything that is not: OC pairings of any kind, Self-CenteredShipping (because I still don't understand it), or incest. Other than that, fire away.
Stay tuned for whatever the next oneshot will be!