Chapter I
"So," Jay spoke, looking over at Cole, "that could have gone better."
The ebony haired boy sighed. "Yeah," His reply was curt. Jay could tell he wasn't in the mood for banter.
"Look, uh, we're going to find Master Wu," He tried, offering a winning smile despite his face being hidden beneath his shroud. Cole simply nodded as he kept his dark eyes trained forward on the snowy path ahead. Jay's shoulders visibly slumped. "Y'know," The Master of Lightning hummed, "this walk will be a lot longer if you spend it ignoring me."
"I'm not ignoring you." Cole was quick to refute. Jay was wholly unconvinced.
"Seems like it." The brunette insisted under his breath. Cole sighed again, this time more noticeably.
"Jay, please," He said evenly. There was something about the tone of his voice that clearly told the brunette that this wasn't the time nor place for his usual antics. Jay dropped it, becoming uncharacteristically quiet. This both relieved and unnerved Cole. He wasn't used to silence around the smaller teen.
They continued to walk in silence, trudging through the thick blanket of freshly fallen snow beneath their feet, with their faces to the wind. They kept their hoods up to protect their visages from the bite of the frigid air, but Jay could still feel it, seeping through his garb to nip at his skin.
Cole, on the other hand, seemed entirely unaffected by the cold. As the wind picked up he didn't so much as flinch, despite his sleeveless gi leaving his arms exposed to the intense cold. Jay couldn't understand how his companion seemed so...unbothered by the weather.
"I can see the cabin," The dark-haired ninja said suddenly.
"Great, it's freezing out here!" Jay shouted back over the howling winds, his arms crossing over his chest, and his hands rubbing them for some much-needed friction induced warmth. It took them only a minute or two before they were at the rickety wooden structure. It was a humble little shack at the base of the mountain, a single room encased by four log walls and lidded with a shingled roof. The pair had been informed by a local in passing that it was used by travelers making their way between the village and the shrine at the mountain's peak. It wasn't anywhere near a five-star hotel, but it suited their needs.
It took a bit of tugging to pull the door open, and it creaked loudly as it was pried from the frame, struggling hard against the billowing winds. Cole held the door ajar, allowing Jay to step through before following the blue ninja in. The pair kicked and wiped snow off, shaking themselves clean, feeling only slightly less cold inside the barely insulated cabin.
"We should start a fire," Jay said as he moved across the rickety floor towards an old stone fireplace. "It's freezing in here, seriously, I'm pretty sure I've got some nasty frostbite." The blue ninja knelt down and grabbed an old iron brush, using it to sweep out the ashes that had been left in the pit. "Can you bring some logs over here?" He asked without looking up.
Cole nodded and walked to the far end of the cabin where a stack of chopped logs was piled neatly against the wall. The Master of Earth grabbed a sizable armful and walked back to his companion, kneeling down and offering the wood out to the shorter male.
Jay turned, smiling appreciatively, taking two logs and tossing them haphazardly into the firepit. He repeated this twice more until he was satisfied with the amount of wood, using his now free hands to tug his hood down and free his face. "Ah," He breathed happily, now out of the confines of worn fabric. "That's better."
His shimmering blue eyes turned and met deep chocolate brown. "Take your hood off, ya goof," Jay teased, extending his arm to grab hold of Cole's hood, tugging it down to reveal his face. "There, that's better." The blue ninja grinned widely, stealing a glance to admire Cole's chiseled features and shaggy black hair. It was in that moment he realized how long Cole's hair had gotten in the past year.
"Hood's down now," Cole said, blinking, "we should start the fire, right?" The muscular teen swiveled slightly and dropped the remaining armload of wood down beside the fireplace. Jay nodded absently, moving a hand up to tease a few strands of curls in his own hair. He'd allowed it to grow out too, no longer slicked and styled, it was now shaggy and somewhat unkempt.
Cole cast a side glance and noticed Jay playing with his hair. He smirked. "Hey," He reached out and laid a large hand on Jay's head, tussling the smaller teen's messy hair. "You're getting shaggy, huh? You and me both." Jay ducked a bit under the weight of Cole's hand, his cheeks warming, growing pink under the dusting of freckles that adorned his cheekbones.
The black ninja brought his free hand up to tease his own locks, eyes up and narrowed on his bangs. "Hmm..." Jay turned his head slightly, still held down a bit under Cole's hand, and smiled sheepishly.
"I think the long hair looks good on you," He said confidently. Cole looked over at him and smirked.
"Yeah? Guess I won't get it cut then."
"Look at you, having bright ideas." The blue ninja teased, snickering at his own joke. Cole's brows furrowed, but then he laughed.
"I'm full of good ideas." He insisted. Jay snorted out another laugh. "I am!" Cole continued.
"Well, you did stick with me this past year," Jay reasoned, "I suppose that does mean you're capable of good ideas."
"Definitely a good choice," Cole moved his hand from Jay's head to wrap an arm around the blue Ninja's shoulders, tugging him over and into a side hug. The force of the pull made Jay lose his footing and he stumbled out of his knelt position into Cole's side with a soft 'oof'.
"Yeah, yeah," Jay flushed so much that the blush crept down his pale neck. "You big doof..." The lightning teen tried to steady himself, placing his open palm against Cole's broad chest, feeling the tone beneath the fabric of his friend's gi.
"I know I've been hard on you, Jay," Cole said suddenly, his tone carrying the slightest hint of guilt. "I'm just...really worried. Worried about Master Wu...about Ninjago...about our little family." Jay paused and listened as the Earth Master spoke, knowing that Cole wasn't the type to pour his feelings out. "I don't mean to take it out on you..." Jay tightened his grip on his friend's ebony gi.
"It's okay, Cole," Jay said softly, leaning more comfortably into the other ninja. "I don't always make it easy." He laughed dryly. "I probably shouldn't have screamed so much...we really pissed those monks off."
It was Cole's turn to laugh. "I probably shouldn't have argued with you." Jay shrugged a bit.
"I've been told I can be annoying at times."
"At times?" Cole parroted, his inflection conveying the humour in the statement.
Jay responded with a swift elbow to Cole's gut, making the taller teen grunt out a breath of air before laughing heartily.
"Let me be modest without the sass," Jay quipped, huffing as he crossed his arms, leaning his full weight into Cole without concerns he might fall. "Ya jerk."
Cole continued to chuckle. "Sorry, sorry," He pulled Jay closer with the arm around the smaller ninja, squeezing his friend close. "Y'know I love you." Jay felt his cheeks grow hotter and he ducked his face into the collar of his gi.
"Yeah," Jay breathed softly and reluctantly pushed himself off Cole, reaching around to slip his hand into a back pocket, tugging out a small fire kit. "I'll get the fire going." Cole looked down at him and nodded a bit.
"Sure, bro," The ebony haired ninja stood and brushed his pants off, walking across the room to where they'd left their travel bags. Jay stared down at his task, pulling out a sleeve of matches and a few tinder sticks.
It took a minute or two of struggling and cursing under his breath for Jay to get the fire going. Once it was ablaze the little cabin was lit up in hues of oranges and yellows and slowly grew warm enough for them to no longer see their breath. Jay sat back on his haunches, crouched in front of the fire, packing up his kit as Cole walked over.
"Here," The ebony haired teen said as he laid a blanket down behind Jay, "sit...don't want to exhaust your legs."
"Isn't that your blanket?" Jay asked, a brow raised. "I don't want to dirty it..."
"It's fine," Cole said, a second blanket tucked under his muscular arm, presumably Jay's. "We're off this mountain tomorrow, I can wash it then." Jay relented and sat on the blanket, stretching out his legs in front of him, his feet a foot from the fire. He rubbed his hands along his legs and groaned softly.
"Climbing a mountain isn't fun," He hissed softly as his legs relaxed painfully. "I'm sore." Cole laughed as he sat beside Jay, unfurling the blanket and tossing it around them.
"Yeah, well, we can relax when we find Wu," The black ninja said solemnly.
"Hmm," Jay replied softly, his eyes on the flickering fire, which combined with Cole, was the only source of heat in the otherwise rickety cabin. They sat in silence, side by side, occasionally stealing glances. It wasn't awkward, though, as they'd grown accustomed to spending moments of comfortable silence together.
The fire flickered and popped, the only other sounds being their combined breathing and the whistling of the winter winds outside the cabin. Jay leaned a bit into Cole, knowing the closeness wouldn't bother his stoic friend, and he could feel Cole leaning back into him.
"You cold?" Cole asked softly.
"Hmm, not really," Jay lied. He was a little cold, but he didn't want to ruin the moment, and he knew it wouldn't get any better until they were entirely off the mountain. Cole seemed to know despite the casual fib, wrapping an arm around Jay's shoulders and pulling the blue ninja up close. Jay blushed lightly, casting a sidelong glance to the taller teen, noticing the subtle pinkening on his own cheeks. Both reasoned that the other was blushing because of the cold.
"Sorry the whole temple thing didn't work out." The Master of Earth murmured tiredly.
"Hardly your fault," Jay was quick to reassure. "We've been following leads for a year...we're honour bound to find our master at any costs." The brunette chuckled. "Or something like that. You're doing your best, Cole, don't be so hard on yourself."
"Yeah," Cole breathed softly, resting his cheek against Jay's curls.
The Master of Lightning brought his hands together and wrung them out nervously. Cole took notice and bumped his side into the blue ninja's. "Something wrong?" He asked.
"No." Jay lied again.
"C'mon, man," Cole smiled lopsidedly, "I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying. You're terrible at it."
Jay rolled his eyes. "It's nothing to worry about."
"Try me." Cole challenged.
A/N: Definitely going to be a two-shot. Might even be a three-shot if I feel so inclined. See you whenever it is I post the next part! (Definitely before the release of season 8 in January...I think.)