Chapter Twenty-Two: And How Could Being Quarantined Possibly be a Good Thing?

So, the last week has been really, really hard for me. Just one shitty thing after another. I've been so anxious, exhausted, and frankly just overwhelmed.

But when I would tell my coworkers about all that was going on, I almost found myself laughing. Some things were absolutely horrible, and there's not really a way to make them seem okay. But other things—things that may not have been as sad, but were even more stressful—I kept finding the positives in. Either that, or just laughing at them.

And thus, this chapter was born.

I listened to two All Time Low songs while writing this: Melancholy Kaleidoscope and Cinderblock Garden. They always really lift my spirits.

Enjoy!

Jay stood on his tiptoes, reaching for the box of cereal on the top shelf of the pantry. "Come on, almost there!" He was just barely able to touch it, but every time he tried to grab it, he ended up pushing it further back. "Come onnn!" He bent his knees and launched himself upward, grasping the box and pulling it towards him. As he landed back on the ground, the box fell down, bouncing off of his nose and landing on the floor. "Ow!"

Rubbing his nose, he looked down at the cereal box and shrugged. "At least I got it down." He picked it up and fixed himself a bowl.

He made his way out onto the deck, sulking at the sight. The sky was gray, the morning sun obscured by dark clouds that threatened to start raining at any moment. "Aww," the blue ninja whined. "I thought it was supposed to be summer!" He sat down on the floor and began to eat his cereal, chuckling to himself. "It's nice that it's cool today, though."

"You talk to yourself a lot, don't you?"

Jay jumped at the sound of Kai's voice, spilling some of his cereal onto the deck. "Shit!" he exclaimed, turning to see the master of fire sitting a few meters away. "You scared me, Kai! I didn't even know you were there!"

The brunet shrugged. "I am a ninja," he stated pointedly.

Not feeling like squabbling, Jay leaned back and stared at the clouds, taking a few mindless bites of cereal. After a few minutes, his curiosity got the better of him—as usual—and he turned back to Kai. "What are you doing out here?"

The red ninja shook his head, sighing. "I knew you wouldn't be able to keep quiet," he remarked.

Jay set his bowl down and folded his arms. "Yeah, yeah. We all know I have ADHD. I can't just sit still and do nothing. Now tell me what's up."

"Nothing," Kai replied. "Just sitting here. Not that you would understand what that means…"

The blue ninja rolled his eyes. "I know what it means to just sit there. I just can't do it." He paused for a moment, thinking of a subtle way to find out why Kai seemed even more irritable than usual. However, subtlety was never his strong suit. "Are you...are you mad at me, Kai?"

Kai peeled his gaze from the gray sky and stared at the redhead, clearly caught off guard by the question. "What? No, of course not. Why?"

"You just seem a little...out of it," Jay explained. "I just wanted to make sure it's not because of something I did."

The fire ninja looked down at his hands. "I am a little out of it," he admitted. "But not because of you."

Jay leaned in closer, despite the fact that his teammate was still a good distance away. "Can I ask why?"

"You can ask."

Jay threw his head back in annoyance, gazing at the sky and sighing irritably. "Okay, why?"

"Why what?"

The redhead looked back at Kai, this time glaring at the older man. "Why are you being an ass? I mean, why are you upset?"

Kai blinked, still refusing to look at the master of lightning. "No, you're right. I am being an ass."

Surprised by Kai's admission, Jay scooted a bit closer. "Okay, I didn't expect that. But there's gotta be a reason as to why you're being an ass. I mean, there usually is. Well, sometimes." He shook his head rapidly, realizing he wasn't helping the situation. "You know what? Just tell me what's wrong."

The brunet sighed again, staring off into the distance. "It's just...it seems like everything is so...so messed up, you know?" When Jay didn't respond immediately, he continued. "Not that long ago, things were totally normal. We were protecting the city when we needed to, and just living our lives when we didn't. Now we can't even leave this damn ship, much less do any protecting. I feel…" He brought his gaze back to the floor. "I feel useless. And bored. And like something's just not right."

Jay thought for a moment, mulling over Kai's words. "Well," he began, "something's not right. We're in the middle of a pandemic, people are getting sick and losing their jobs, and it feels like the world has just about stopped spinning."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Kai huffed. "And I'm here whining about being bored."

"First of all," Jay said, "the fact that other people have it worse doesn't mean we don't get to be upset. We can realize how good we have it in comparison without having to be happy about the position we're in. Yes, we have it better than a lot of people right now. But things are still probably worse for us than they would have been if none of this had happened in the first place. Don't feel bad for feeling bad. And second, the world hasn't stopped spinning—not yet, at least. People are coming together in ways I've never seen before, uniting against a common enemy. The environment is getting restored, and the truth is, the fact that people don't really need our protection right now is kind of a good thing. Plus, it has been nice having basically zero responsibilities and an unlimited amount of time to play video games and do team bonding stuff."

Kai chuckled softly, shaking his head. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

The master of fire finally met Jay's blue eyes. "How do you always find the silver lining?"

Jay gaped at him, taken aback. "I...I don't know," he admitted. "It's just something I've always done."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Kai said. He laughed. "You walked out here, saw the nasty weather, and said how nice it was that it's not too hot. And even back in the Tournament, you kept blabbing about the 'power of positive thinking' or whatever."

The redhead shrugged. "Well, when I think about all the bad stuff, I feel bad. It's much nicer to try and find the good in every situation and dwell on that instead."

Kai looked away again. "I wish I was more like you. In that way, not in general."

Jay snorted at the snide comment, and Kai laughed audibly at his reaction.

"I wish I could look for the good like you do. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to worry more about the shitty stuff than feel reassured by the positives."

"Oh, I've noticed," Jay retorted. The brunet had earned a bit of attitude in response, but Jay was too happy that Kai was confiding in him to be upset at his token rudeness—further proving the red ninja's point. "Have you ever tried to find the bright side, though?"

"I can't," Kai replied. "I told you, I'm always too busy freaking out over the bad stuff."

Jay tilted his head. "You think I don't freak out over the bad stuff?" He chuckled. "Have you met me?"

The master of fire bit back a smile. "Okay, fair enough."

"I notice when shit like that happens, believe me. I just choose to look for ways in which the situation doesn't seem so bad after all. I can usually give myself a reason to believe it's not as awful as I think it is, and sometimes I can even see how it could actually be a good thing."

Kai gave him a suspicious look. "And how could being quarantined possibly be a good thing?"

"Well, we get to catch up on our sleep," Jay began. "And our TV shows, and movies, and video games. We never would've had the chance to do those things if we still had to spend all our time protecting Ninjago. And we don't have to work at the tea shop, which is a huge bonus."

"I guess you're right about that," Kai conceded.

"And you know that if we were really needed, Sensei would let us help the city," the redhead continued. "It's not that we can't help, it's that we don't need to, which means Ninjago's only real enemy right now is the virus."

"True."

"And, being quarantined, we get to spend a bunch of time with each other!" His smile grew wider. "I mean, look at us! Nya and I have had a lot of time to bond—emotionally, of course; if we were doing anything physical I sure as hell wouldn't tell you. Zane and Cole are fucking dating, and you and Lloyd have gotten way closer."

The red ninja nodded. "That's true, Lloyd and I have been spending a lot of time together. I wouldn't trade that for the chance to go back into the city, that's for sure." He narrowed his eyes as he realized what Jay had said before that. "Wait a minute, you and my sister aren't—"

"And we've bonded as a whole team, too!" Jay cut him off, not wanting to go into detail about the ways in which he was 'bonding' with Kai's sister. "We've learned things about each other that we didn't know before, like the fact that Cole's never dated anyone and Lloyd's an alcoholic who likes to write terrible fanfiction!"

"Wait, what fanfiction?"

Oops, Jay said in his head. I really do talk too much. "Nevermind. And you came out to all of us and told us what pan means and I came out to Nya and—"

"You came out? You're not straight?"

Jay sighed. "No. And First Spinjitzu Master, I'm surprised that that's a surprise!"

Kai blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, what? Like you don't have a gaydar?"

Kai threw his head back. "Oh, gosh, I fucking wish!"

"If anyone should know that someone liking girls doesn't mean they don't like guys too, I'd imagine it would be you."

"Okay, fine," Kai conceded. "I shouldn't have assumed. I'm sorry."

Jay shrugged. "No worries. To be fair, I didn't know you liked boys either. But it didn't surprise me."

"It surprised Cole."

"Cole's not bi! Cole was an anxious little closeted gay who only thought about Zane!"

"Fair point." Kai chuckled. "Man, Cole and Zane are dating…" He looked back to Jay. "You think that ever would've happened if not for quarantine?"

At that very moment, a ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds, outlining them in a glowing light. Kai grinned from ear to ear—of course the cocky ninja thought he caused the brief shift in weather.

The redhead smirked. "See, now you're getting it."

Kai was silent as he thought for a moment. "And I finally got the chance to grow my TikTok audience."

"You have a TikTok?"

"Yeah, but you'll never find it." Kai smiled. "Thank you, Jay. I give you a lot of shit, but you really are pretty incredible."

The redhead blushed. "Aww, thanks. But you do know I have a girlfriend, right?"

Kai rolled his eyes. "Go screw yourself, Jay."

"Not a bad idea, but I prefer your sister."

The master of fire blinked. Jay jumped up and ran inside, Kai hot on his heels.

"Come back here, you little shit!"