Here's Jay's Five Times, even earlier than expected! Jay is such a fun character to write, so I hope you guys enjoy reading his Five Times!


It was no secret that Kai was very expressive.

For someone extremely self-conscious like Jay, who was endlessly analyzing other people's behavior to try to find some hidden meaning, studying everyone else's reactions intensely after saying or doing something and then convincing himself that they must be irritated with him despite nothing in their expression suggesting anything of the sort, there was something refreshing about Kai's blunt, "Knock it off. That's annoying."

One could always tell exactly what Kai's mood was.

But, for Kai, an unfortunate side effect of expressiveness was explosiveness.

Nya and Zane were sitting in the living room animatedly discussing some book they were both reading in their own miniature book club. Jay, who had not read the book, sat with them and listened to the conversation anyway because he didn't feel like sparring with Cole and Lloyd on the deck and any moment spent in Nya's presence was a good moment.

The peace was shattered when Lloyd slammed the door open and rushed in, though.

"Guys, Kai's back, and he's in a really bad mood," Lloyd whispered, glancing over his shoulder as if the ninja in question would appear at any moment and bite his head off. "Cole's distracting him so I could come warn you guys but he's already broken like three pieces of training equipment."

"Kai's always in some bad mood or another," Nya replied flippantly, readjusting her grip on her novel in a way that she suggested she was irritated with the interruption of their discussion for no important reason. "He'll get over it."

"But, this time, it's really-" Lloyd squeaked when he heard someone approaching behind him and quickly dove out of the warpath.

Kai stormed into the room, seemed angry that the door was already open so he couldn't slam it open himself, kicked said door so hard it slammed against the wall and probably left a dent, and then stomped toward his room, all but leaving a blazing inferno in his wake.

"What would you like for dinner, Kai?" Zane called after him in a sort of test.

"Leave me alone!" He yelled back, punctuating this order with a slamming of his bedroom door that shook the entire Destiny's Bounty.

Nya slowly exhaled. "Wow, that is bad."

"Cole?" Lloyd called out the doorway, fear dripping from his voice. "Oh my goodness, he killed Cole!"

"I'm fine," the black ninja grumbled as he trudged into the living room. They gasped when they saw he was cradling his quickly swelling cheek though. "I thought we could spar so he could blow off some steam. I lost."

"And, it didn't help," Jay pointed out unhelpfully.

"I'd like to see you do better, Zaptrap," Cole snapped, wincing when he put too much pressure on his bruised cheek. "At least I tried. You always just hide when somebody's in a bad mood."

"What? No, I don't," Jay argued, but even as he said it, he knew Cole was right. He abhorred the thought of someone being angry with him. Knowing he was not the cause of that anger didn't make it hurt any less when someone lashed out at him.

And, Kai was very good at lashing out.

"Fine," Cole replied, crossing his arms as he always did before making a challenge. "Go find out what's bothering Kai then."

"Cole," Nya said in chastisement. She placed her hand on Jay's shoulder. "You don't have to, Jay."

And, the blue ninja had been on the verge of refusing Cole's dare… but now that Nya had automatically assumed that he would refuse and had to go to the trouble of reassuring him that it was okay for him to refuse, he couldn't chicken out.

"Fine," Jay responded with more confidence than he felt, standing up. Cole's raised eyebrows suggested he was more than a little surprised that Jay had accepted. "I will."

"Can I have your computer after you die?" Lloyd asked, which did nothing to calm Jay's nerves as he forced himself to walk down the hallway toward the dragon's den.

"Ha ha," Jay grumbled sarcastically, though he now found himself composing his imaginary will in his head.

Nya, of course, will get anything of value I have, including the computer.

Lloyd can have all my Fritz Donnegan merch.

Zane, you can have all those books you loaned me that I never read. (So, I guess they're already yours…)

Cole gets NOTHING because he's a jerk, so HA.

And, Kai gets nothing because he'll be in jail for murdering me, so who gets the last laugh now?

Not me. Because, I'll be dead. And, dead people don't laugh.

Jay couldn't stall any longer. He was directly in front of Kai's bedroom door.

"Any day now, Jay," Cole whispered from down the hall, where both he and Lloyd were watching him.

"I'm working on it!" Jay hissed back. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on Kai's door.

"Go away!"

"Great start, buddy," Cole whispered, holding up a thumbs up.

Jay glared, then, spurred on by his brothers' judgmental gazes, opened the door and marched directly into the line of fire. He made sure he closed the door behind him so they wouldn't hear him crying if it came to that.

"What part of go away didn't you understand?!" Kai snapped from where he was currently buried in a pile of red blankets on his bed so no part of his body was visible.

"Kai," Jay began hesitantly, unsure how he should go about it to avoid getting a fireball to the face. "Um… I think if you talk about what happened, then-"

"Nothing happened!" Kai yelled, almost… defensively. "Now, get out of my room!"

Jay was almost cowed into giving up… until he came to a realization.

Kai was a very straightforward kind of guy. If he was mad, you knew exactly who and what had caused it. So, the fact that he didn't want to talk about it… suggested it was something other than anger entirely. Sure, he was mad now, but a lot of Kai's other emotions- sadness, disappointment, guilt, embarrassment- usually manifested themselves as anger.

And, if he was seeking comfort in a blanket fort and refusing to show Jay his face, then it was probably a mix of all four.

"Kai, c'mon, something happened," Jay insisted, creeping closer to the bed. It wasn't that an upset Kai was less scary than an angry Kai, but it was more like approaching a possibly rabid animal rather than a definitely rabid animal. If you came at it in the right away, it might eat right out of your hand.

Of course, there was always the chance it would bite you.

"If I had wanted to talk about it, I would have talked about it, Jay." The last word was a warning. "Now, get out before I throw you out."

Jay thought. What was the best way to wheedle someone into giving up a secret? Bug them until they admitted it out of frustration, of course! (Okay, that's probably not how Master Wu would have answered that question, but still. Whatever works.)

And, Jay was very good at bugging people.

Suddenly, he leapt onto Kai's bed, directly on top of the lump under the covers that was the red ninja.

"Ow!" Kai yelped. With his eyes being covered by the red comforter, he hadn't even been able to brace himself for the blow. "What the- Jay, get off me!"

"Nope!" Jay responded, more or less lying down on top of Kai who was still completely hidden by the covers. "Not until you tell me what's bothering you!"

"Jay, I swear, if you don't get off me-"

"That doesn't sound like what's bothering you…," Jay sang, pushing himself into a kneeling position (he guessed his knees were planted firmly on Kai's stomach, but he couldn't tell for sure.) He started bouncing up and down on his knees, gently at first and then more dramatically.

"Jay, quit it! You're going to break my bed!"

"I'll only stop when-"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Kai snapped, finally fighting his way out of the blanket cocoon. Folding down the comforter so he could properly see Jay leaning over him, he glared. "If I tell you, will you get off me?"

"Yes," Jay replied honestly.

"Fine," Kai grumbled. He suddenly seemed to lose his courage, though, and half retreated back under the comforter so his face was partially hidden from Jay. "Skylor… Skylor broke up with me."

All the playfulness drained out of Jay as he slid off Kai so he was sitting beside him on the bed rather than on top of him. "Oh, man… I'm sorry, Kai. Did she say why?"

Kai sat up, the anger reigniting in his eyes. "She said I wasn't putting enough effort into the relationship. I mean, where does she get off saying I don't put enough effort into the relationship!? What does that even mean?!"

Jay hesitated. The bro code dictated that he join in on bashing any girl that broke Kai's heart… But, Jay would have despaired at the thought of any of his brothers saying one negative thing about Nya when she had broken his heart (not that they would), because he loved her. Maybe toward another girl he didn't care so much about, but Nya was his soulmate.

And, sure, maybe Skylor wasn't Kai's soulmate, but he knew his brother really liked her. And, if he was this upset at their break up, then he still really liked her. And, that was more than enough for Jay to brand their relationship as salvageable; after all, when it came to relationships, Jay was nothing if not persistent.

"Well, we have been pretty busy with missions and stuff…," Jay led in carefully, his mind going back to the rabid animal analogy. He hoped Kai didn't automatically assume Jay was taking Skylor's side in the matter.

"Like that's my fault!" Kai retorted. Good. He was being responsive instead of volatile. Jay could do this.

"Do you always visit her when we are in town?" Jay asked.

"Yes!"

Jay gave him a look.

"Okay, well, most of the time."

Jay continued giving him a look.

"Fine, sometimes, but it's not my fault she's always working."

"Why don't you hang out with her at work?" Jay asked.

"That's bor-" Kai cut himself, knowing that the end of that sentence would validate Jay and, by extension, Skylor.

"Do you text her everyday?" Jay asked.

"Everyday?"

Jay gave him a look.

"Okay, okay, I see your point," Kai admitted. "So, maybe I could have put a little more effort into the relationship." He sighed, falling back onto his bed and beginning to pull the comforter back over his face. "But, it doesn't matter now. She made it pretty clear we're through."

Jay grabbed the edge of Kai's blanket before he could fully cover his face with it. "Kai, do you like Skylor?"

"What do you mean? Of course I do," he replied, his tone offended.

"Do you really like her?"

"Yes, I really like her."

"Do you really, really like-"

"Jay! This better have a point."

"Then fight for her!" Jay exclaimed, hopping onto his feet and throwing his hands into the air. "You can't just give up! If she wants you to put more effort into the relationship, then prove that you can!"

Kai pondered this for a moment, both hands still clamped on the edge of the comforter, halfway between hiding under it again and throwing it off altogether.

Kai sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "You're right!"

"That's the spirit!"

"I'll win her back!" Kai announced, standing up.

"Yeah you will!"

"I'll show her so much effort, she'll be begging me to put in less effort!" He decided, marching toward the door.

"Yeah!"

Kai placed his hand on the doorknob… then turned around to face Jay. "How do I do that?"

Jay placed his hand on his chin. "Well, to win her back, you're going to have to make a big gesture, something really heartfelt and meaningful. But, also something that was hard or took a lot of work."

"I could… buy her something?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Kai, buying stuff takes, like, zero effort."

"I could… text her?"

"Kai! It needs to be face to face to show you mean it!" Jay placed his hand on his forehead despairingly. "You know, for a 'ladies man,' you're really not very good at this."

"Ugh!" Kai groaned, throwing himself face down on his bed. "I'm used to girls just liking me, not giving them a reason to like me." He glanced at his brother before grabbing his pillow and burying his face in it. "And, now I'm getting girl advice from Jay Walker. What is the world coming to?"

"Gee, thanks a million," Jay grumbled sarcastically. "I'll have you know that Nya loves the poems I-"

Jay gasped, causing Kai to lift his face from his pillow. "That's it! You can write her a poem!"

Kai shook his head. "No, I suck at writing!"

"Exactly!" Jay insisted, pulling on his brother's arm to urge him into motion. "It will require the ultimate amount of effort! So, when she sees that you would do that for her, she'll fall back in love with you!"

"Either way, it's going to be trash," Kai complained even as Jay dragged him half off the bed so his head was hanging upside down over the edge.

"No, it won't! I'll help you," Jay offered.

Kai looked up. "You will?"

"Yeah, of course!"

It took five minutes for Kai to clear off his desk, which looked like it had been used for every activity known to man besides writing. After Kai finally managed to scrounge up a blank, not-crumpled piece of paper and a pen that actually had ink in it, he sat in his desk chair while Jay sat beside him on an overturned laundry basket (its previous contents now scattered across the floor.)

"Okay," Kai said, pen poised over the piece of paper. "What should the first line be?"

"Kai, I'm not going to write it for you!" Jay reprimanded. "I meant I'd help you, like, come up with figurative language or what words to use. But, you have to write it so it means more!"

Kai dropped his eyes to the paper, now less excited about the gargantuan task that stretched out before him.

Jay sighed. "Now, do you want it to rhyme or not?"

Kai blinked. "There are poems that don't rhyme?"

Jay sighed again, and he suspected it wouldn't be the last time. "This may take a while."

Two hours, twenty seven balled up pieces of paper, four pens, and two very exhausted ninja later, it was finished. It had been easier once Jay finally got Kai to open up about what specifically he liked about Skylor, and once the red ninja worked through the embarrassment, the words had flowed out of him. It rhymed (since Kai seemed convinced that Jay was lying about non-rhyming poems), it was rather short, it was so sappy it was almost cringe-worthy, and it certainly wasn't winning any poetry competitions.

But, it was true, and it was Kai's, and Jay could see he was proud of it.

"Where are you two going?" Nya asked. The other ninja, either tired of waiting for Jay or convinced he was already dead and seeing no point in confirming that fact, had begun to watch TV, but looked up as Kai and Jay passed through on their way out.

"We've… got to run an errand," Kai supplied, apparently not willing to admit to the less than macho activity in front of his other siblings. "Oh, and, uh, sorry about hitting you earlier, Cole."

The ninja could only gape at Kai's complete and utter lack of the fiery and black anger from earlier- which meant that Jay had… succeeded. The blue ninja smirked at Cole's shocked expression, letting his brother know that the gloating would be forthcoming once he got back.

Cole pouted, crossing his arms.

As the two ninja headed into Ninjago City, Kai clutched the poem more and more tightly, rereading it over and over again, even though at this point he could probably recite it backwards, inside out, and upside down.

"Don't crease it!" Jay snapped, and Kai immediately loosened his grip on the piece of paper.

"What if she doesn't like it?" The red ninja asked nervously. "What if she laughs?"

Jay was certainly caught off guard by his usually cocky brother's anxiety. And, now Jay was being the reassuring one instead of the one being reassured? The world was certainly backwards today.

"She won't," Jay insisted, laying his hand on his brother's shoulder. "She'll love it. I promise."

Kai reread his poem again, unconvinced.

They stopped in front of the cafe across the street from Mister Chen's Noodle House. "I'll wait here," Jay said, pointing at the cafe's huge window. "Oh, and if she asks you to read it to her, do it."

"What?!" Kai whisper-shouted so as to avoid drawing a crowd. "I can't- I can't read this out loud!"

"Effort is the word of the day, Kai," Jay reminded him, physically turning his brother toward the restaurant and giving him a small shove. "You can do it. I believe in you. And, hey, if it doesn't work, we'll get ice cream after!"

"I thought you said it would work!" Kai protested, digging his heels into the ground as Jay continued pushing him.

Oops, Jay thought. "Um… it will! Don't worry about it!"

With one last push, Kai stumbled into the street and had to keep moving or risk becoming roadkill. Jay watched him go until he saw Kai disappear into the building. Hoping it wouldn't be the last time he saw Kai (he didn't know Skylor too well, but he did know that she was super tough, so who knew how she'd react to her ex-boyfriend traipsing back into her place of employment?), Jay turned and entered the cafe.

He sat by the window with his blueberry muffin, watching the door to Mister Chen's Noodle House intently. After the blueberry muffin was gone and Kai had still not reappeared, worst case scenarios began playing in Jay's head in full surround sound. Skylor had rejected him in humiliating fashion, and Kai was currently sobbing in the bathroom, unable to escape without facing her once again. Skylor had hated the poem and beat up Kai for daring to show his face around her again. Or, Kai had just disappeared into the back room and… never came back out.

Just as Jay was about to stage a rescue mission, Kai exited the restaurant and headed for the cafe. Squinting, Jay spotted something red on Kai's face, and now he knew option number two to be true and Skylor had punched Kai in the mouth. He jumped to his feet, words of comfort and ice cream on his tongue…

Kai entered the cafe and approached his table. He was grinning and not missing any teeth. And, that's when Jay realized it wasn't blood on Kai's face.

Lipstick.

"She loved it."


So, this one was a bit of a sillier one, but some will be more dramatic and hurt/comfort than others :D

Quick poll question: for Nya's chapter, would you guys prefer it to be romantic or strictly friendship? Not sure if I have any Jaya haters out there, so feel free to let me know!

Also, if you guys would like to leave ideas/requests for any future chapters, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Next up is either Lloyd or Zane. I haven't decided yet :D Updates this for this story will be Mondays and Thursdays! (I know I'm a bit early for the Monday update, but I couldn't wait to get this story out there!)

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked it! :D