Hello friends! Finally got around to getting up the first chapter of the new AU I was planning! It was really hard to do anything for the past WEEK because I've been binging hard. Like extreme binging. On the Office. I won't even go into it. Let's just say I have a lot of catching up to do... I am about six or five episodes from finishing season six, look at that :)

Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter and look forward to the rest of it! Also, be sure to check out Ninjago 'Sons of Garmadon' on your TVs on CN if you live in the US (and anywhere else really - it just started airing here officially today) to help support the show!

I have drawn pictures of Jay, Cole, and Rumi so far in this AU and they are up on my DA and Tumblr!

Enjoy!

"We got a new shipment of books coming in today in about a half an hour…"

His manager's voice droned on and on. But Cole wasn't listening.

Instead, the young man had his head slightly turned down over the table with a pencil in hand as he made several scribbles in his sketchbook.

Drawing was a passion of his. He doodled all the time during classes and at home. And when Cole got the job to work at the bookstore that was in the same complex as his favorite art supply shop, he took it. Just like that.

"Are you even listening to me, Cole?"

Cole's head snapped up at the sharp voice of his manager. Dark brown eyes met with piercing jade eyes.

"Books. New. Half hour. Shelf em." He said cooly.

Rumi drew her bottom lip and turned her head at Cole's answer. She opened her mouth to fire back a response at her working partner but immediately closed it after the realization that it was useless. Classic Cole, she told herself as she strutted away.

Cole clicked his tongue and swiveled around, switching on his phone. "Timer… starts… now…" He delicately tapped his finger on the small screen and set an alarm for a half an hour on his clock app. As soon as that was done, Cole invested himself back into his drawings. In the beginning, he only drew a couple of small, simple things - things like flowers and cartoon animals. As Rumi was talking to him, however, he started a sketch of none other than a hummingbird.

As the minutes ticked by, Cole only continued to doodle away on his hummingbird. People were coming in and out of the bookstore but Cole paid no attention to them although he was at dead center of the store under the large sign that read: customer service. Several people came up to him asking for help to find certain books and Cole did his job… then immediately drawing his attention back to his sketches.

He glanced at the clock and realized half an hour was already almost up… which meant that the books would be here soon.

Suddenly, he heard the door swing open rather unlike the other times customers were entering the store. He detected a woosh of a sling bag and the huff of an out of breath student.

He knew who it was alright.

And Cole was determined to keep his posture composed.

He kept his eyes on his paper, daring to look up now.

The stranger at the door jogged up to Cole at the customer service desk and began by drumming his fingers on the table.

"Er, yes. Hi." A voice started.

Cole didn't look up from his sketchbook.

The person standing in front of him cleared his throat. "I'm looking for a book called 'My Dirtclod Friend is an Egghead'... You know where I can find that?"

Cole exhaled and tsked. "That would be in the…'My Friend is a Total Pain In the Ass' section. Buuuutt it looks like there is no more in stock and we don't have any in the back, so, sorry."

The familiar voice scoffed. "You didn't even check the computer!"

Cole snorted and closed his sketchbook with his pencil tucked between his current drawing and the cover. Resting on his shoulders on the counter, he leaned forward and cocked his head.

His favorite part of the day was whenever Jay rushed in after class, looking dead inside but still wide awake and chipper on the outside. The two of them had been friends for over two years, and while Cole had been a little suspicious about it at first - finding it hard to deal with everything about Jay - he grew a bond with the other, and Jay, no doubt the same. He liked everything about Jay.

The brunette still had his brows drawn together, a small noticeable cut through his right eyebrow. Cole began to speak slow and calmly. "We still do have, however, 'Jay Walker is Simply a Pain'." The brunette in front of him wrinkled his nose as his stare threatened to get back at Cole. "How was art class, Sparky?"

"You know, the usual." Cole nodded approvingly and reopened his sketchbook. Head down, he mouthed a countdown starting from five. Just as he suspected, the second he hit one, Jay slammed his sketchbook down on the counter right next to Cole and threw his arms up in the air. "Zane's throwing me off, dude! He's so good! Argh, why is he even taking that class?" Jay stopped momentarily and gaped. "And what is this?!"

Cole raised a brow and followed Jay's pointing fingers to his sketch. "A hummingbird?"

Jay rolled his eyes and pushed his sketchbook towards Cole. "You gotta help me, please. Why don't you teach me outside of class?" He opened to one of the sketches in his book and shoved it in his friend's face.

The alarm on his phone went off and Cole abruptly pulled away. "Jay, hang on okay?" His friend only pressed further. "I have stuff to do still."

"Cole! The books are here!" Rumi's sharp voice called out. Cole pushed the sketchbook away from his face and looked to Rumi. "Oh, hello, Jay. Didn't see you walk in, you sneaky ninja."

Jay rested one arm on the counter. "Hey, could you tell me what you think of this…" He fixed his drawing next to Cole's, "and this…"

"Improvement."

"Wow, thanks!" Jay nudged Cole's arm as the young man's face started to slide off his hand. Cole didn't notice, however, how Jay's smile quickly went away.

Rumi sauntered up to the counter and rested her arms on top of it, a sly smile spreading across her smooth cheeks. "Side note, while you're here, do you want to help Cole shelf these books? They are new to the author's series, so we best put some up at the front. She's pretty popular, you know?"

Cole shot his friend a snarky smile and twirled the pencil about his fingers. "Yeah, Jay, why don't you help me out?"

"Oh. Uh. Well I was just going to sit over there and work on my drawings… yanno?" Rumi caught onto Jay's excuses and collected their sketchbooks as if to tell Jay there was no way out of it before slowly backing up.

"On second thought, you don't have a choice. They go under Fiction, Young Adults."

"But-"

"Remember, by Author! Buh-bye!" She chirped and went away.

Defeated, Jay turned to Cole and puffed his cheeks out, glaring daggers at his friend. "Ugh. Sometimes I wish I didn't know you two, then Rumi wouldn't tease me around." He muttered. He silently mouthed the words 'I hate you' just as Cole ushered him to fetch the brand new books. Cole pulled out a pocket knife and began cutting open the box.

"Rumi's cool, dude," Cole said to him and handed a box to Jay.

"Agh. Psh, I know that…" Jay swiped the box from Cole's hands and started to fast walk away from Cole.

Each carried a box towards the isles, and Jay found himself thinking about why he hadn't been able to find a job yet. And why he wasn't good at art.

Ever since he first saw Cole's drawings, something inside of him burst and he wanted to draw just like his best friend could. He wanted to be just as great as he was. So on, it took a long while to get Jay to finally take an art class. Although, if there was one thing he was a pro at, it was tinkering with gadgets and whatnot. His family practically lived in a junkyard. Better yet, they literally lived in a junkyard. The plus side of that was that Jay was always finding new tools to fiddle with every day.

But… coming back from art class and seeing Cole's sketches everyday made him sick to his stomach nowadays.

He flinched when he heard a box drop on the floor. Jay quickly looked to Cole and saw him carefully opening the box. "You know, Sparky," his friend started, "Rumi was right about one thing."

Jay sat down next to Cole. "Uh-huh, and what might that be?"

"Your sketches are getting way better."

Jay swore his heart stopped for a second. "You really think so?"

Cole spared a genuine smile as he shelved a book. He looked between the number of books between him and Jay. Noticing the saddened look on his friend's face, he tried switching topics. "Why don't you put some at the front and also scattered around the store?" Jay nodded quietly and pulled one of the books out and started to flip through the pages.

"I love the smell of new books." Cole said in a low voice, his face pressed up in one of the copies. Jay snickered and lowered his copy, sitting criss cross on the ground.

"It's only been two weeks and I already want to quit the class."

Cole's stomach sunk the minute he heard those words leave Jay's mouth. He always had a feeling that Jay would doubt himself, that he would want to quit.

"You're improving, Jay. Why stop now?"

"I hate it." Jay responded coldly.

"There's nothing wrong with your sketches, seriously. You're getting better."

Jay remained quiet. He knew another insult towards his own attempts would backfire on his as Cole kept throwing more and more words of encouragement. Instead, he lifted a stack of at least six books and carried them to the front of the store to display. Cole watched silently as he left and put another book on the shelf.

He figured Jay needed some time alone, after all, it was a classic Jay Walker move to storm out of a room and sit alone for a while. Picking up one of the books from the cardboard box, he got himself comfy against the bookshelf and stroked his fingers over the cover gently. Finally, Cole flipped to the first chapter and began reading.

He loved books, and he was a fan of many writers, including this one herself. Almost every other week, the bookstore would get a new shipment of brand new books to put out on display for every author's new release. Cole just so happened to be interested in many of the books that happened to released in the same year that he was working. He was a total bookworm with a creative mind.

"Hey, Cole."

Looking up from his book, Cole saw his manager leaning casually against a bookcase with one hand on her hip. Shoulders raised, Cole put the current copy of the book that he was holding on the shelf and stood up, dusting off his pants. "Hey," he muttered softly.

"Question, do you… know this author?" Cole cocked a bushy eyebrow at her. Rumi chuckled a little and brushed a strand of white hair out of her eyes. "I mean, you were looking through that book for a while… are you a fan of her works?"

Cole stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded slowly.

"You can take it." Cole tilted his head to the right. "I mean, if you want to." She cleared her throat suddenly. "You don't have to."

"Oh, no, no! Thanks! I was actually waiting for this book to come out… Didn't know it was today, though-"

"-technically tomorrow… we're just putting them out before we close."

"-Thanks."

Their conversation was interrupted by another alarm going off on Cole's phone. His hand shot out, holding his phone and he rushed to silence the alarm.

"Lloyd?" Rumi asked, walking over beside Cole.

With a sigh, Cole slid the phone back into his pocket. "Yeah. That little Champ needs someone to pick him up, right? Just while Kai's away and all that stuff."

Rumi waved him away. "I'll take care of the rest of the books. See you tomorrow!"

As Cole neared the front of the bookstore, he stumbled across Jay, sitting criss crossed on the carpeted floor with his nose in a book and the cardboard box next to the rest of the boxes and still filled with about five extra books. To his surprise, it wasn't the same book he was helping Cole put out on the shelves.

"Hey, Sparky, I'm heading out to pick up Lloyd."

"You're leaving early?"

"I am picking up Lloyd." Jay jumped to his feet and put the book back to its spot on the display shelf.

He started jogging to the cashiers and turned around the corner, "Hang on a sec while I grab our things!"

"I'll be in the car!"

Everyday, Cole thought proudly to himself. He thought that had chosen a great spot for a job. Not only did it have his favorite art shop within the same complex, but Jay's art class was in the same shop as well. Come to think of it, the art shop was a pretty big building. And on the other note, he hadn't visited it for a almost a week… Maybe next time he should visit Jay. That was, if Rumi would let him off a little earlier.

Jay pushed the doors open and walked towards Cole with the two sketchbooks in hand and his grey bag slung across his body. He stretched his arm out at Cole, the other man's coat draped over and Cole humbly took it, throwing it over his uniform.

With that, Jay bounced on his toes and linked his arm around Cole's. "Weeeelll… Got everything, so let's go!"