Cole stood at his locker, listening to music through his headphones as he waited. People passed him and waved, and he waved back slowly, not moving his gaze and only half caring. He was far more concerned with the whereabouts of Jay, who had still not shown up with only ten minutes until the morning bell. He was always early, usually talking with the black ninja for at least a half hour before the school day began. Today, however, was not one of those days. He had tried texting the master of lightning multiple times, but he had gotten no response. That was certainly odd, because he always messaged back right away.
Finally, the shorter boy came around the corner. At first, Cole was happy to see him, but then that smile twisted quickly when he saw his expression. He was on the verge of tears, clutching his arm with a weak smile that easily betrayed his attempt to hide his emotional state. The master of earth immediately stopped the song and put his headphones around his neck.
"Jay, what's going on?" he asked in a hushed voice, rushing over to him. The blue ninja quit grinning and allowed his face to become contorted in a cringe of sorts. He pulled up his sleeve and revealed a long cut on the outside of his forearm that ran almost all the way up from his elbow to his wrist. It was not bleeding, but it still looked red and painful.
"It's just a scratch," Jay assured him. "I asked Sensei if I could have some one-on-one training with him last night and he let me stay at the base. I couldn't find him this morning and went in his study to look for him. I may or may not have knocked over a spear on the wall."
"Jesus, Jay," Cole growled, fear in his gut and determination in his mind. He grabbed his backpack and took his team mate by his uninjured arm, toting him to the bathroom. Nobody really used it in the morning so nobody would ask about the cut and therefore there was no chance of anyone finding out that they were part of the Secret Ninja Force. "You are so lucky that I keep medical supplies on me."
"Why do you have 'em?" the master of lightning wondered. Cole took out everything he would need and set them on the floor.
"Just in case any of us get hurt in battle and we can't get to a hospital immediately," he replied. "Give me your arm. This is going to hurt a little bit." Jay slowly held his hand out for the black ninja to take, and Cole applied antiseptic to his gash that made him wince. Once he had cleaned out the wound, he wrapped it in gauze to assure that nothing else would get into the cut.
"Thanks," said Jay, blinking away his misty eyes. He moved to get up, but the black ninja kept on holding his hand and brought him back down into an embrace. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"You need to tell me when these things happen to you," Cole instructed him with a stern, yet scared voice. "I texted you three times and you didn't answer me. What if you were in trouble and I just didn't help you because I assumed nothing was wrong? What if I couldn't help you?" Jay sighed and hugged back, resting his head on the taller boy's shoulder.
"You're always such a worry-wart," he sighed with a slight chuckle. "But, I get your point. I'll call you next time I'm late, okay?"
"You'd better," the master of earth huffed. Then, there was silence. It was true that they both shared romantic feelings for each other, but were not exactly open about that fact. Sure, they had their moments in public here and there, but for the longest time they had preferred to keep the matter of their relationship private. Only Sensei and the rest of the team knew about them. While his father did not care about who he dated, Cole knew that Jay's parents loved to gush and brag about their son, and they knew a lot of people who had kids that went to their school. If they were going to go public with their partnership, they did not want it to be revealed like it was some big secret.
However, now that he was here, holding Jay like this, he realized how much he wished that they could do this more often, without the fear of judgement. Honestly, who even cared? This was high school, and they were just two faces in the crowd who wanted to be together. Cole thought for a moment as he listened to Jay's breathing, contemplating what he wanted to do concerning their interpersonal status.
"Hey, Jay?" he mumbled.
"Hmm?" his partner replied. Cole leaned back to conversation distance, but did not remove his hands from their locations on his upper arms.
"Look, I know that we're sitting on the bathroom floor of the boys' bathroom but... I've been thinking," he started casually, despite the butterflies in his stomach. "What do you think about us being more... uh... y'know, open about... this?" He gestured with his hand towards both of them, and Jay's eyes lit up. He looked down sheepishly at the floor, then back up to meet Cole's eyes with a smiling yet serious gaze.
"Well, I've been trying to take it slow, but if you wanna start admitting that we're together I'm fine with it," he answered honestly. "I've been thinking about that, too. We should give it a try." Cole had to fight the dry feeling in his mouth, mustering up as much courage and strength that he had needed when he first confessed to the blue ninja.
"So, what are your boundaries on PDA?" the earth user continued, thankful that Jay was alright with taking things a step forward. The master of lightning went shy again, blushing and darting his eyes around the room before eventually finding his voice.
"N-No kissing," he told Cole. "I'd really like to hold hands and maybe hug and stuff like that, but I don't wanna be that one couple that makes out in B Hall and stands in literally everyone's way between classes." The black ninja laughed at that, pushing a few wavy locks out of Jay's bright blue eyes.
"Okay, no kissing unless it's private," the taller boy affirmed. There was another pause. Jay grinned wide, still trying to hide his embarrassment. Cole took this time to admire the little freckles on his face, and how they moved with his smile. His fluffy hair once again threatened to cover his eyes, but he would quickly brush it away again in order to just keep staring at his adorable, innocent eyes. Finally, Jay seemed to catch him staring, and let go of him to pull the front of his orange scarf over the lower half of his face as he giggled.
"Stop looking at me like that!" the lightning user laughed, squirming when Cole pulled him in for another quick squeeze before gathering the bandages and antiseptic.
"What, I can't appreciate my boyfriend?" he chuckled, and Jay went silent, even more red rushing to his cheeks. Although they were just barely in a hidden location, he took the moment to give the freckled boy a peck on the cheek. "Better get used to the term 'my boyfriend', bluebird."
"Gah, you're too much!" Jay burst out, scrambling to a standing position and turning from Cole as he tried to calm himself. The black ninja waited until he finally spun back around with only a slight tinge of pink to his cheeks. With an equal amount of nerves, the master of earth held out his hand. The smaller boy gingerly held it, allowing himself to be led back out into the hall where more people were starting to show up.
With rapidly beating hearts, they made their way back to their lockers. Nya and Zane were already standing there, and when they saw that they were walking together with intertwined fingers they expressed their excitement.
"I thought you guys didn't wanna tell anyone about this?" the master of water gasped with a big smile.
"Are you two finally making your romantic relationship known?" Zane beamed.
"Well, we were talking and we thought that maybe we should stop bottling all this up and we started listing boundaries and-"
"Yeah," Cole interrupted Jay with a playful nudge. The blue boy was clearly nervous, spouting as much blither as he could into one sentence to mask his fluttering stomach. Nya looked like she was ready to implode with happiness, and although Zane was his usual, generally unreadable self, he could tell that he was just as joyful. "Jay, is it okay if they tell people?" The lightning ninja looked up at Cole in thought for a moment, then back to the two people in front of them.
"It's fine with me," he said, and the water user instantly took out her phone and started texting Kai and Lloyd. "Um... b-but maybe don't make a big deal out of it!"
"Oh, alright," Nya sighed in mock-sadness, but then went right back to being positive while typing away. The bell rang, and they all made their way to class. Cole had to let Jay go so that he could get to his physics class, and he already missed the warmth of his hand. However, he knew that he would be spending more time with him in social studies and lunch with the rest of the gang. For now, he had to go to the one class his father forced him to take: choir. A class that made him groan inwardly whenever he walked into it.
However, he was happy to find that their usual teacher was out for the day, and in her place was a fifty-something substitute who looked like he had given up on all expectations. Their instructions were to simply not bother him. Naturally, Cole put on his headphones and sat back in his seat while he scrolled through his phone. He was not too surprised to see that the group chat had been blowing up with congratulatory statements. The master of earth was not one to talk much over texting, and if he wanted to ask a question or make plans with the others he preferred to just call them. Thankfully, Jay was replying to everyone with thanks for both of them, and he did not have to maneuver the minefield that was his friends' way of poking fun at him.
Because he never texted anything in the chat, whenever he did make an appearance the others would somehow try to milk the experience as much as possible, as if it were a once in a life time opportunity. The number of messages he would receive on those days were borderline ludicrous. He knew that if he texted back now, there would be a new breed of humor at his expense: questions ranging from "When's your guys' next date going to be?" or "Where are you taking Jay next time?" to the oh so hilarious "Did you guys make out?" would flood his screen and he would feel obligated to answer.
He was going through his Brickstagram feed when someone walked in front of him. Cole looked up and bit back a grimace. Kirsten Lin, a girl who used her good looks to bait guys into dating her, only to have her trash them in her social media for something they did not do. If any girl was moving in on her toy at the time, she would ruin their life for the next month. He arched a brow, waiting for her to do something or, hopefully, leave him alone. She pointed to her ears, and with an eye roll he took off his headphones.
"Yeah?" he asked, trying not to sound annoyed. Kirsten smiled wide and tossed her curled, fawn-colored hair.
"Matt Bonnet told me that you've got another one of your killer DJ gigs coming up in a week or so," she grinned.
"And?" Cole sighed, wanting to leave the class and Kirsten far, far behind him. She rocked back on her heels and adjusted her lavender sweater.
"You should totally take me!" the siren mused. The black ninja had to stop himself from scowling at the mere notion, and before he could tell her no she just sat down next to him and slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Um, not to be a downer," he started his reply, shaking off her limb and crossing his legs. "I just don't know you very well."
"That's why we should go together!" Kirsten beamed, once again trying to get closer physically. "We should get to know each other." Cole was officially done with her fake attitude. He had been having a good day, and it was not about to be ruined.
"I'm gonna have to say no," he said, turning to face her one more time. "Sorry." He put his headphones back on and tuned her out, barely seeing her huff and storm off in his peripheral vision. He let out a deep breath and slumped in his chair, suddenly hating choir once more.
A few more minutes passed and he received a text. He had never been more thankful to see Jay's name pop up on the screen. Although he still had a preference for phone calls, he would gladly make himself busy in order to forget the disgusting encounter that he just went through.
work day in physics! was all the message said. Sometimes Jay seemed to know exactly when he had downtime and would then take the opportunity to start a conversation. Cole typed out, sub in choir. got nothing to do and sent it off.
Jay replied with, a response?! \ (ᵔᴥᵔ) / is cole brookstone TEXTING me?!
ikr?! Cole joked back. im just trying to keep the big bad bitch from flirting with me
who? the blue ninja asked. The master of earth even shuddered simply typing out her name.
kirsten he finally sent. she was trying to get all cozy with me and wanted me to take her to my show at the music fest next week
(◎-◎;)! omg are u ok?
yeah im fine. i told her no. i already have a cute boyfriend that i want to take with me Cole waited for the next message, visualizing Jay's pink face that he probably had right now.
(*^ω^*)っ❤ im guessing you just asked me out the lightning user finally replied.
yeah do you wanna go?
OF COURSE! Jay texted him. The black ninja chuckled and continued messaging him, passing the hour by with a smile on his face.
The school day was over before Jay knew it. Now that he was going back home, he had time to plan. His parents worked in the floral shop under their flat, and he was making a list of questions in his mind as he drove. According to his watch, he still had about two hours before he needed to get to the dojo. He adjusted his sleeve to hide the bandages when he parked, and jumped out after grabbing his bag. His mother saw him from the front window, and stopped replacing the flowers in the display to wave at him. He smiled back and opened the door.
"Hi dear," Edna beamed, crossing the room and planting a kiss on his cheek. "How was school?" Jay moved towards the door that led to the living area of the building and sighed, grinning as he recalled the absolutely stellar day he had experienced.
"School was great," he replied, opening the door quickly and setting his backpack on a hook. He returned to the shop and rubbed his hands together, eager to get started. "Mom, I have a bit of a project for you to help me with. Maybe dad can help too, when he gets back." His mother pushed up the bridge of her glasses with a surprised expression.
"What kind of project?" she asked, stepping towards him.
"I need to make the perfect bouquet," he told her. "It's, uh... for this guy that I'm going out with." Edna squealed but forced herself to calm down, picking up her son and giving him a tight hug.
"It it that Cole boy?" she wondered as she tried to contain her happiness. When Jay nodded sheepishly, she pulled him in for another quick embrace. "Oh, I knew he liked you! I mean c'mon, hon', the looks he gives ya-"
"Mom," he groaned with a slight laugh, shifting her focus back to the task at hand. "I still need to get this bouquet together."
"Right, right," she giggled. "Well, I would go with something simple but sweet. Hmm, but pink and red are overused... Aha!" Edna grabbed Jay's hand and pulled him into a side room that was filled to the brim with flowers. She pulled out a variety of blooms and handed them to him with a giddy face. Finally, she took the whole bunch in her hands and went back into the main shop. As she arranged them, Jay smiled at his mother's impeccable eye. He and Cole had gone to a flower blooming festival a few weeks back with the rest of the ninja team, and had stopped to take a look at nearly every floral stand that they passed. The master of earth admired each petal and pointed out which colors he liked best to him. Apparently, his father had once been a huge gardener, and as a kid would often help him plant and tend to it. Now, his father was far too busy with performances to stay on top of the work, but Cole still liked to keep a small patch in their backyard. How his mother knew exactly what he had picked, he would never know, but nonetheless he was still appreciative of her assistance.
"So, what are all these?" he asked. "I can see some sunflowers and some irises, but what are the rest?"
"Well, I added some champagne roses and coral peonies, and a few hawthorn bunches," Edna explained, completing her preening of the individual flowers. "What do you think?" Jay looked at the collection, taking in each color that complimented its neighbor.
"I think the project is a success," he beamed. "It's perfect! Can I bring it to him right now? We're supposed to be meeting up with a few friends." Edna wrapped the bouquet and handed it to him with a happy smile.
"Of course, dear. Just don't stay out too long, okay?" she told him. He nodded then bolted out the door and back into his truck, carefully setting the blooms on the seat beside him. Once he was in the driver's seat, he pulled out his phone and called Cole. The black ninja picked up in an instant.
"Hey, bluebird," said the master of earth. "What's up?"
"Is it alright if I come over before we head out to train?" he asked, waiting anxiously for the answer. He took one last look at the bundle of flowers and assured himself that he would appreciate them.
"Of course, man," Cole replied. "My dad's not even home, he's out in Jamonikai doing a show."
"Alright, cool!" Jay effused, attempting to suppress his energy. "I'll see you in a few minutes, then."
"See ya." As soon as they both hung up, Jay drove off towards the outskirts of the city. His heart was thumping in his chest, but he was still feeling confident. As he neared his destination, he was thinking about what to say, seeing as he wanted to give him the flowers as a romantic gesture. Unfortunately, he was at a loss for words when he parked. He tried to settle his nerves as he walked up the front sidewalk, but could barely function when he knocked on the door.
C'mon, I was so pumped before I left! he thought to himself, putting the bouquet behind his back. Cole opened the door with a small grin, and Jay rocked on his heels, scrambling to speak.
"Hi Jay," the black ninja greeted him.
"Uh, h-hi." He attempted to put a sentence together, and tried to maintain eye contact. "I, um... Well, I..." The master of lightning gave up, holding out the blooms in front of him.
"I dunno if you'll like them, but I remembered that you like gardening and at the flower blooming thing you told me what you liked and..." He trailed off as Cole took the gift with a chuckle. The taller ninja smiled at him, then embraced his smaller form. Jay quickly hugged him back, nerves settling as an overjoyed sensation washed over him.
"They're lovely," said Cole. Jay grinned, thankful that he was one of the only people that got to see him in such a warm, open state. Usually he preferred to keep to himself and indulge in music, and it made him appear standoffish. However, the blue ninja was happy to know that this side of the earth user was often reserved just for him. "Let's put these in a vase."