Yes, it is finally here! (Hey, it's 11:08 PM where I am, so still technically Thursday :D) Updates for this story will be Mondays and Thursdays! BUT, with that being said, next Monday is Christmas. If I get around to it on Christmas, I'll post, but if not, updates will resume regularly next Thursday.
Thank you in advance to anyone who reads and reviews! I hope you like the new "Five Times!"
Kai was suspicious.
Now, Kai knew he had a reputation for being self-absorbed (was it his fault that his life was infinitely more interesting than everyone else's?), but he saw and heard a lot more than his brothers and sister thought he did. While he had been checking his hair in the selfie camera of his phone a couple of weeks ago, he really had been listening to Jay geek out over some great arcade in Ninjago City that allowed one to experience the vintage games in "the atmosphere they were intended to be experienced in."
So, when he passed by said arcade in Ninjago City while running an errand, even though getting caught anywhere near the nerd gathering place could seriously ruin his image, he took the risk and had been so kind as to grab a flier for Jay advertising some awesome special they were having soon, like any good, not self-absorbed brother would.
And, how did Jay repay such a selfless, incredibly dangerous act of brotherhood?
"Oh. Um, thanks, Kai."
Jay offered a half-smile, took the flier, and… quickly disappeared into the Destiny's Bounty, leaving Kai standing on the deck like an idiot.
And, now Kai was suspicious.
The red ninja sidled over to Cole, who was doing pull-ups on the chin-up bar and presumably had witnessed the entire exchange, or at least gotten the gist of it.
"What was that all about?" He asked the black ninja just as Cole muttered "ninety four…," (and they called him the show off.)
"What was what all about?" Cole huffed, letting himself hang from the chin-up bar so he could look at Kai properly.
"Why wasn't Jay more excited? It was like fifty percent off at that arcade he loves."
Cole raised an eyebrow. "Jay doesn't go to that arcade anymore."
"What?!" Kai shouted, realizing he risked getting caught by paparazzi for absolutely. No. Reason. "Why not?"
Cole dropped to the deck, stretching out his arms. "Not sure. He only stopped talking about it like two weeks ago. What, too busy buying hair gel to notice?" He smirked.
Kai ignored the gibe (especially since that had been the errand he was running that morning, but Cole didn't need to know that.) "So, Jay is totally in love with some arcade and then he stops going cold turkey and you have no idea why?"
"Probably just got bored of it. I didn't think it was that big of a deal." Cole shrugged, moving to lay on the ground so he could do some push ups instead. "I'm sure he appreciated the gesture, Kai. Don't worry about it."
Kai hummed absent-mindedly to show he heard Cole before walking toward the door of the Destiny's Bounty.
Fine, so maybe he was a little self-absorbed, but when he was focusing on other people, he gave it his all. The others may not have thought it was a big deal, but Kai had a certain intuition about these kinds of things. And, fine, maybe his gut wasn't always, one hundred percent correct, but he still trusted it, and right now it was telling him that if Jay had been so excited about this place only two weeks ago and now looked distinctly uncomfortable when Kai brought it up, something must have happened.
So, now suspicious Kai was in full ninja stealth mode. His mission? Figure out what bothered Jay about the arcade.
Kai spotted his target in the otherwise empty kitchen, staring down at the recently procured flier he clutched in both hands with a - perhaps longing?- look in his eye. Full ninja stealth mode entailed many disguises, so Kai assumed the air of one that was familiar to him: self-absorbed Kai that was oblivious to the subtle body language and emotions of others.
"So, when are you going? It said the special was going on all weekend," he said by way of greeting as he entered the kitchen, nonchalantly walking past Jay to grab a banana off the counter as if that had been his goal the whole time.
Jay jumped, moving the flier behind his back as if he had been caught looking at something he wasn't supposed to. "Huh? Oh." Realizing it was Kai who had given him the flier in the first place, Jay held it normally again, glancing at the page. "Um, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it. Training, you know?" Awkward laugh.
Kai raised an eyebrow. Leaning against the counter, he began to peel the banana very slowly, the picture of indifference. "Wu said we don't have training on Saturday. Some tea convention he was going to, remember?"
Jay blinked. He hadn't remembered. "Oh. Right." He coughed. "Well, I don't really have any money."
"You were bragging about that twenty dollar bill you found on the ground just yesterday."
Jay sighed, looking desperate for some- any- plausible excuse. "I don't have anyone to go with."
"I'll go with you."
The blue ninja recoiled, nonplussed. "You will? To the arcade? For 'nerds?'"
Red lights were going off in Kai's head as he realized his mistake: offering to go to the arcade was not only out of character for him, but very well may have tipped Jay off to the fact that he was suspicious. What to do, what to do…
Abort mission? No, not yet.
Ready battle stations.
Kai scoffed, crossing his arms, half-peeled banana still in hand. "I like video games."
"You don't like arcades."
"Is it so wrong of me to want to prove that I don't care if my thousands of Chirper followers catch me in a place for geeks? That I can defy the stereotypes my cool guy online presence has tried to assign to me? That-"
"Alright, alright, sorry," Jay interrupted, waving his hands. Kai had to bite his cheek to stop himself from smirking with triumph. "Fine, we'll, um…, go to the arcade on Saturday, I guess."
"Good. It's a date."
Jay looked at him weirdly one last time before hurrying out of the kitchen, as if afraid Kai would talk him into doing something else he didn't want to do.
Kai stayed leaning against the counter, revelling in his victory even as he try to psych himself up for going to "dweeb central," before his eyes dropped to the banana he was still holding.
"I don't even like bananas."
"You know we can still go back home if you want."
"Jay, I'm fine."
"Or, we can go out to lunch instead. My treat."
"We can get lunch after we go to the arcade."
Jay probably thought super observant full ninja stealth mode Kai didn't notice him grumble, but Kai totally did. They were swiftly approaching the arcade, and Jay was fidgeting more by the second, looking all about him nervously as if afraid some predator was getting ready to pounce.
Finally, they entered the arcade that was crowded because of the special. It was dim inside with neon lights and various game consoles flashing constantly. Remixed classic video game theme songs filled the air in an unobtrusive manner. Kids and adults alike were running around amidst the games, dragging tickets behind them or waiting in line behind the more popular ones. Despite its nerd population, Kai had to admit… it looked pretty fun.
Jay traded his twenty dollars for an actual ton of tokens, and they were off, first challenging each other at every multiplayer game they could find, then taking turns at the single player ones to see who could get the higher score. Jay won more often than not, with Kai winning only at the racing games ("Somehow, your bad driving makes you better at racing games!") and Pac-Man oddly enough, though the red ninja had never played a day in his life (which only heightened Jay's frustration.)
But, Kai was laughing and taunting and elbowing Jay at strategic moments to make him lose on purpose and... having a great time. Just as he was trying to figure out why they didn't do stuff like this more often, he also remembered he was supposed to be on a mission. Yet Jay appeared perfectly happy, all the reluctance of before gone.
Kai pondered this as he waited in line to get a soda while Jay attempted (read: failed) to beat his score in Pac-Man, and tried to figure out whether he was going crazy or not and had imagined the whole thing.
"Oh, look who decided to show his face again?"
"What, finally wanted to stop being a baby and start being a man?"
"I think he likes the attention, Leo. I mean, with a face like that, you know he doesn't get it anywhere else."
Kai, like most of the people in line, turned to see what all the commotion was about.
And, his heart stopped when he saw the three guys gathered around Jay.
To his credit, the blue ninja was trying valiantly to ignore them, keeping his eyes carefully trained on the screen directly in front of him, but Kai, knowing Jay as well as he did, could see the subtle differences in Jay's face that told him those comments stung a lot more than he showed.
The leader, presumably Leo, grabbed Jay's shoulder, ripping him away from the game. Everyone in the now much quieter arcade could hear Pac-Man die as he was consumed by Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and/or Clyde. One of Leo's cohorts slapped the cup holding Jay's tokens off the console. Granted, there weren't many left, but that didn't make the laughter any less cruel or Jay's blush any less red.
"C'mon, pick it up, loser."
"Look, Leo, I think he's going to cry!"
"Aw, is the baby going to cry?"
Kai was surprised the sheer, burning intensity of his rage alone had not melted the entire arcade and burned Leo and his minions to crisps. He'd had to press his fingernails into his palms so hard they they drew blood to keep from interfering, hoping Jay would stick up for himself. But, now, as Jay glared at the fallen cup and scattered tokens and continued to try to ignore the insults, it was clear that he would not.
Kai's stomps left craters in the floor.
When Jay looked up to see Kai approaching, his eyes widened with alarm, and only then did he scramble out from the center of the three guys.
"Running home to your mommy?"
"No, look, he's running to his boyfriend!"
"Why don't you do us all a favor and go kill yourself already?"
Kai could see nothing but red, hear nothing but the blood rushing in his ears, and he was about to beat Leo's little gang until they begged for mercy- when he felt Jay's hand lock around his wrist, pulling him away from the scene of the crime. Leo's gang stayed where they were, but the laughter followed the two ninja as Jay dragged Kai toward the back of the arcade and shoved him into the single occupancy men's restroom, locking the door behind them.
"What the heck, Jay?!" Kai roared, trying to muscle past the blue ninja even as Jay held him back. "If you think I'm going to let them talk to you that way-"
"No, Kai, you'll only make it worse," Jay replied, his tone completely and utterly… resigned.
Kai narrowed his eyes, "Well, I wouldn't have to if you did something about it! You just sat there and took it, Jay!"
Jay shrugged, eyes trained on the floor. "My mom always said you should just ignore bullies."
"And, how's that working out for you?" Kai snapped, making Jay wince. "What is wrong with you? You could floor all three of those guys in ten seconds flat!"
"Master Wu says we're only supposed to use our skills for self-defense or the defense of others," Jay whispered.
"You don't call that self-defense?!"
Jay rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what he meant."
Kai was staring at Jay incredulously, all of the rage redirected at the blue ninja standing in front of him instead of at the three real perpetrators gloating outside. " This is why you stopped coming here? Why didn't you just tell us some guys were giving you a hard time?"
"And look like an even bigger wimp than I already am?"
"So, that's it? We're going to hide out in the bathroom until they leave because you're too scared to face them?"
"I'm not scared," Jay mumbled, scuffing the tile with his foot.
"Then, what is it, Jay? Don't want to make a scene? Too late for that! I mean, it's almost as if you believe-"
Kai stopped.
"Jay," he said, his voice dangerously gentle, like the calm before the storm. "Please don't tell me you believe the nasty things they say about you."
Jay refused to meet Kai's gaze, swiping at his eyes. He shrugged, gesturing to the room as a whole. "Look at where we are! Pretty pathetic if you ask me." A sob caught in his throat. "I can't do anything right with Nya, everyone knows I'm the worst ninja, I'm a coward and a loser, so- woah!"
It was Kai's turn to grab Jay's wrist in a vice grip and drag him through the arcade. They burst out of the bathroom, and Kai led him directly to Leo and his friends, even as Jay struggled against his hold. The bullies were gathered around the same Pac-Man machine Jay had vacated, but one of the smaller ones nudged their leader when he spotted the ninja's approach.
"Look, I think they're done making out."
Kai stopped directly in front of them, yanking Jay to a stop beside him.
"This is Jay," he announced. The entire crowd in the arcade had once again stopped what they were doing to watch the second act of the drama. Jay was mortified, but Kai continued, unabashed. "You probably don't recognize him without the blue gi, but he's one of the ninja that has risked his life multiple times to save your sorry butts, and how do you repay him? By throwing around all this hate to make yourselves feel better about your own pathetic lives. Jay is one of the smartest, kindest, funniest people I know and I am lucky enough to call him my brother. What's special about you? That you go around calling complete strangers rude names and tell them to go kill themselves? You should go take a good, hard look in the mirror and hope that maybe one day, you can be half the person Jay is."
And, with that, Kai stomped out of the arcade with Jay in tow, leaving Leo's gang, every other occupant in the arcade, and Jay himself dumbstruck.
They were two blocks away before Jay could speak again. "Kai…, did you… did you mean that?"
"Of course I did." Kai replied immediately. He had released Jay as soon as they'd exited the arcade, but he grabbed his brother's upper arm now, halting their movement. "And, if I ever hear you say otherwise again, I will beat the crap out of you. Understood?"
Jay laughed, and the sound was like music to Kai's ears. "I love you too."
Kai grunted, wanting to clear the air of all the sappiness even if it was true, and pulled out his phone. "Let's see how many followers I lost after spending so much time in-"
1248 follow requests
"Wow, someone posted your speech on Chirper!" Jay exclaimed, looking at his own, severely under-used account on his phone. "It's going viral already!"
But, Kai, instead of being ecstatic as Jay thought he would be, buried his face in his hands and groaned. "No! I've spent my entire life building up my image as 'the cool one,' not the," he shuddered in disgust, "'sensitive one.'"
"Oh, the horror! The secret is out!" Jay cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. "Kai has feelings!"
"Shut up, will you?" Kai growled, ducking his head.
"Kai's a good big brother!" Jay continued, smirking at the red ninja who he could tell was touched by the assertion even if he quickly covered it up with an eye roll. "He cares!"
"Alright, c'mere!" Kai pounced, wrestling Jay into a headlock as the blue ninja protested.
Kai decided he could call it 'mission accomplished,' and he gave himself bonus points for being able to keep Jay in the headlock the entire walk home.
