December 27th…
"Thank you for coming with me," Pixal said to Cole. "I need someone who understands this sort of thing, and you are the one who knows Zane best."
"No problem," Cole replied. "have you thought about what you want to get him?"
"I was hoping you could help with that also," Pixal admitted. "I do not know what one is supposed to buy for a wedding anniversary, especially when it is one's own."
"I'm sure there's a list somewhere."
Cole took out his smartphone and looked up traditional anniversary gifts, as the two of them wandered somewhat aimlessly around Ninjago 109. With her first wedding anniversary just three days away, Pixal still had no idea what to get for Zane. Even after her sit down with Cole – where he explained the societal expectations of anniversaries, while trying to make her understand that those expectations did not have to apply to her relationship – she was determined to do something special for her husband.
"Apparently the traditional gift for a first wedding anniversary is paper or cotton, and the 'modern' alternative is a clock." Cole explained with a shrug.
"A clock would make sense," Pixal nodded. "time became so much more significant when I met Zane."
"I don't quite understand paper though, I mean, what kind of paper gift could represent the sheer magnitude of being married for a whole year." Cole joked.
"It does not seem meaningful enough, does it?" Pixal said out loud, as the joke sailed over her head.
Cole shook his head and chuckled, before a fantastic idea suddenly hit him.
"Come on, we need to find the stationery section." Cole insisted.
He took her hand and led her over to the escalators, as between the moving stairs there was an information board, complete with each department and their respective floors. Fortunately, stationery and office supplies was located just one floor above them.
"You appear to have formulated a solution," Pixal noted as they travelled up the escalators. "would you like to share?"
"A clock would be nice, but it's kind of impersonal," Cole explained, again taking her hand and leading her to the craft subsection. "I have a better, much more special gift in mind."
"Oh yes?" Pixal watched him look through the brightly coloured sheets of paper and card.
"Can I help you sir?" A man asked.
"Uh, yeah, do you sell the senbazuru paper sets?" Cole requested.
"Hmm, there don't appear to be any out," the man said, browsing the empty shelf where it normally would be. "a delivery just came in; I will check and see if there are any sets in it."
The man excused himself and Pixal looked at Cole in slight confusion.
"I do not understand."
"There's an ancient legend that says if you can make 1,000 paper cranes, the gods will grant a wish," Cole elaborated. "and if I'm not wrong, you and Zane have known each other for over a thousand days."
"It is a most ambitious project; do you think I can make that many cranes in three days?"
"You're a droid, you can do anything a hundred times faster than a human!" He confidently declared. "I may not be as fast as you are, but I can help if you need me to."
As the idea rumbled in Pixal's mind, the man had returned with a large box.
"Here we are, sir," the man said proudly. "we have 6 packs of the origami paper you're looking for."
"Hey Pix, check this one out!" Cole's voice gently jostled her back to reality, and he showed her the pack in his hands.
She glanced at the delicate mix of vibrant purple and arctic blue, decorated with swirls of gold and silver, and began to make internal calculations of how long it would take her to make a single crane, then multiplying it by a thousand. Cole looked at the colours in the other packs, admiring the animal print paper and wondering if he should make one for Jasper's birthday.
"I'll do it." Pixal announced.
"Say what?"
"I will make the senbazuru for Zane, but I will need your assistance in keeping the project a secret," She mentioned, taking Cole up on his offer to help. "I will need a place to work and a place to hide what I have made."
"You can count on me." Cole said with a wink.
"You know, when I said I would help, this isn't what I had in mind." Cole tilted his head.
"Your snoring is the perfect cover for me to work without suspicion," Pixal insisted. "and your closet is big enough for the cranes to be safely hidden."
They stood in Cole's bedroom, at something of an impasse.
Pixal wanted to stay up all night making cranes, having calculated how many she needed to make in the time that Zane regularly slept, to have the project complete the day before the anniversary. The problem was, she wanted to work in Cole's room while he was sleeping. That alone didn't bother him – it would take more than the rustling of paper to stop him from getting to sleep and staying that way – but he was concerned about what sort of trouble it might cause, if word got loose that Pixal was sneaking out of her bedroom to spend all night in his.
"I'd feel better about this if we could tell the others," He stammered sheepishly. "something about this feels kinda weird."
"I would imagine having a girlfriend should have removed your concerns of a girl being in your room overnight," She stated bluntly, as Cole's face burned red from the insinuation she was making. "besides which, Jay has an unfortunate reputation for struggling to keep secrets; he has 'a big mouth' is how you once described it."
"Yeah, and he doesn't always need to speak for it to be obvious," He sighed. "we probably shouldn't tell Kai or Nya either, because they might accidentally tell Jay."
"Which leaves Lloyd, Jasper and Sensei Wu." She responded.
"But Jasper doesn't live here."
"But Jasper should know that I'm going to be in here while you're asleep," She rebutted. "you would want to know if a married male friend was spending the night in her room, correct?"
Cole was impressed that Pixal thought that far ahead.
"You're a reasonable person, surely we can come to some form of compromise," Pixal held out her hand. "you will allow me to build the cranes in your room, and I will inform Lloyd and Jasper so as not to arouse any insidious rumours."
Cole looked at her hand, pondering this deal, then made the mistake of looking at her expression. Pixal's green eyes were glittering at him in a semi-pleading manner, and she bit her lip in what felt like a psychological manipulation technique; okay, how could he say no to the droid equivalent of a puppy dog face?
"Deal," He eventually said, shaking her hand. "but I'll call Jasper myself if you don't mind."
"Fantastic," She beamed, handing him the senbazuru pack to hide until later. "I'll go and discreetly isolate Lloyd to inform him of the situation; I will return later."
Pixal happily drifted out the door and Cole sat down on his bed. He shoved the pack under the bed for the time being, then took out his phone and proceeded to call Jasper.
"Hey sugar!" Jasper mewed from the other side. "This is a nice surprise; I wasn't expecting you to call until later."
"Hey babe…" Cole began, unsure how to word what he needed to tell her.
"You okay, sugar?" She asked, sounding concerned. "You sound a little down…"
"No, I'm alright, but I have to tell you something," He sighed. "Pixal is gonna be staying in my room for a couple nights, is that okay?"
"Oh no, I hope she and Zane haven't had a fight! They're such a sweet couple!"
"No, no, nothing like that," He chuckled. "it's just that, Pixal wants to make Zane a gift for their first wedding anniversary, and she wants somewhere secret to work on it."
"Ohhh, so she's gonna be in your room doing it?" She stated innocently.
"Poor choice of words, babe." He stammered as he blushed at the innuendo.
"Sorry!" She giggled, and soon realised exactly why he was calling. "Aw, babe, are you telling me that you called to get my permission to have a female friend in your room?"
"Yeah, pretty lame, huh?"
"Sugar, I wish I could kiss you through the phone right now," She purred. "you're so considerate of my feelings!"
"Communication is important, right?" He smiled.
"Trust is important too, and I trust you implicitly," She giggled again. "so yeah, permission granted."
"Thanks babe, it sounded stupid in my head but I'm glad you're okay with this."
"You're my good boy, my smooshy little cinnamon roll, and I love you so much." Jasper swooned.
"I love you too, babe," Cole grinned to himself. "I'll call you tomorrow and let you know how it goes."
He hung up the call and felt a swell of emotion build up in his chest. Jasper was just the cutest, sweetest, most level-headed girl he'd ever known, and the fact that she was his girlfriend made him melt and go all squishy inside.
The next morning, the group had gathered for breakfast. Well, most of them were there; Pixal – exhausted from being awake all night doing origami – was still in bed. Zane was concerned when he woke up and saw that her energy levels were all but depleted. He wondered if she had acquired the ability to dream and was subsequently kept awake by nightmares. Or maybe it was something else...
As he looked at his plate of pancakes and sighed, it didn't take long for someone to notice he wasn't eating.
"Zane, you okay?"
He glanced up to see Jay looking at him with concern.
"I am just worried about Pixal," He stated. "she did not appear to have slept well, if at all."
"I'm sure it's nothing serious," Cole deflected. "we all have sleepless nights sometimes."
"You never have trouble sleeping," Jay scoffed. "we can tell by your snoring."
Cole ignored him and continued eating his toast, silently relieved that his night time noise making had remained consistent.
"I'm going out today, does anyone need anything?" Nya announced once she finished eating.
"Not that I can think of..." Kai responded. "What are you going out for?"
"I'm picking up the tailcoats from Borg Industries, remember?" She said. "For the New Year's Grand Ball?"
"Oh, Nya, could you..." Zane started to ask.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten," Nya smiled. "I'll get that as well."
"Want me to come with?" Jay offered.
"Sure, I could use some help."
Kai rolled his eyes at the pair of them as they got up and walked away. Zane chuckled at the fire ninja, knowing how he cringed at the blossoming love between Jay and Nya.
"How will you manage if they decide to get married?" Zane teased.
"Ugh, don't go there," Kai snarled. "I'm dreading it."
"It's a pity we can't send them to New Ninjago, instead of you and Pixal." Lloyd jokingly said to Zane.
"So, is that happening or what?" Cole added.
"I discussed it briefly with her last night, or at least, I showed her the letter," Zane sighed. "in retrospect, that is the most likely catalyst of her apparent sleeplessness."
"Probably..." Kai nodded.
"If it's all the same to you, I am tempted to skip training today to keep an eye on her." Zane mentioned.
"That's fine by me," Lloyd agreed. "you won't be able to concentrate on training if you're distracted by worry."
"Not to mention that Jay and Nya have just ditched," Kai pointed out. "so, we might as well take it easy today."
"Thank you for your understanding." Zane bowed and left the room.
He walked back up the stairs and along the hallway to his room. As he entered, he noticed Pixal was sitting up in bed and yawning incessantly.
"Good morning, my darling," He mumbled, sitting beside her on the bed. "how are you feeling?"
"Hello angel," She smiled. "I am a little tired, I do not think I slept much."
"You didn't, your energy readings were very low when I got up," He put his hand on her cheek. "it is likely my fault for not showing you your father's letter earlier in the day."
"It is... a frightening prospect to potentially sever you from your team," She confessed. "I recall what happened the last time you were separated from them."
"Those circumstances were considerably different – I had not moved away, I had sacrificed my body – and I found my way back to you quite easily." He grinned, attempting to cheer her up.
"I know," She briefly looked away, trying not to think about it. "but it is frightening nonetheless."
"I do not have training today, I can stay here with you while you continue to rest," He offered. "you still seem to be very tired."
Pixal failed to stifle a yawn, proving Zane's point.
"I wouldn't mind some cuddles," She shyly baited. "it might help me to sleep."
Without another word, Zane went over to his side of the bed and got underneath the covers. Pixal laid down again and snuggled up to him, letting out a soft, satisfied groan as she felt his body against hers. More happy little sounds came as he repeatedly brushed his hand through her silky silver hair. Within minutes, Pixal had fallen asleep, while Zane was content to stay awake and admire her.
"I love you..." He whispered.