The changes to Jay's body have certainly made it difficult to get up in the morning, to say the least.
Technically nothing here should make it hard for him to physically get out of bed. That is, unless enjoying the warmth of the sun counts.
When the bright sun shines through the window, what was once a sign to get up became a sign to please keep sleeping, it feels nice.
Every morning for the last several weeks he's had to fight the urge to stay in bed.
As nice as it is, he does kinda hate it for that reason. He can't just enjoy it, he has to get up. And he has to get up but he doesn't want to, so it almost feels like his body is betraying him sometimes. Why would the FSM let him enjoy something so much only to leave him unable to enjoy it due to societal expectations?
Begrudgingly, he pushes himself up. He doesn't even fully sit up, he's just on his hands and knees, contemplating collapsing back onto the mattress for another hour of rest. Surely the others would understand, right?
Groaning, he gets up anyways.
It's 10:00 AM already, he probably shouldn't sleep in any longer.
Damn. Everyone's still sleeping?
On mornings like this, usually no one gets up until someone gets the guts to acknowledge that they're awake and venture into the kitchen. Jay's usually not the first one to leave his room, especially nowadays.
He has to see his parents today, so that'll be fun.
He keeps a mirror on the back of his door.
His skin in the reflection seems kinda odd and grey. Shrugging it off, he starts playing with his hair.
His fingers hit something on the back of his neck. A line of split scales.
He contemplates what to do. He could ask for help...or he could just pull at it.
For some reason instinct said the latter.
Taking both hands, he pulls the split wider. It feels oddly satisfying.
It doesn't seem wet or anything, it's not bleeding, so that's a good sign.
Eventually, he realizes what he's pulling at.
So that's how serpentine shed.
Ew.
That's a lot of scales.
That's actually kinda horrific oh geez.
He shudders, sparks flying off his skin as a light static flows over him like chills.
This is kinda disgusting.
He starts gagging.
Jay sits at the table, eating a bowl of oatmeal, staring off into space. Sometimes he misses cereal, but milk is cold and the cold screws with him, and he can't just eat cereal without milk, he's a lot of things but he's not that uncivilized.
Kai, still half asleep, sits down at the table with a plate of two still-frozen waffles.
The red ninja holds a waffle in between his hands. He scorches it for all of two seconds before taking a very crunchy bite.
The first time Kai ever did this it deeply disturbed everyone. (Just use the toaster! It cooks things correctly!) Now it's just routine. Good on him for figuring out he could do that?
Cole stands off to the side. Sometimes he has a muffin, sometimes he has a protein shake, it depends on his mood. Lately, he's favored shakes more since he can leave it on the counter with a lid on if he needs to be pulled away from his breakfast. Keeps bugs out.
Today it is indeed a shake.
The three ninjas sit in silence as they begin to fully wake up. Well, at least Cole and Kai do. Jay's still processing that fifteen minutes ago he pulled the skin off of his hand like a glove. But hey at least it stopped itching and there was fresh, bright green skin under there.
Fresh skin so he can do it again next month. Eugh.
Maybe he does want that cure. He already wanted it to some extent but every time he learns something new about this form he wants it just a little bit more. No amount of "haha imagine the alternate timeline" could've prepared him for some of these things. He can't even enjoy ice cream anymore!
"So when are we leaving out?" Kai asks, preparing to warm up his second waffle.
"Thirty minutes? I dunno," Jay shrugs. "They're my parents, I don't mind going on my own. Not like I'm a huge fan of people coming into the junkyard."
The second waffle is warmed up.
"Stop doing that," Cole lightly chastizes. "Hate how it smells."
Kai takes a bite out of the burnt waffle. "My waffle."
Cole rolls his eyes.
Silence again.
Some mornings are quiet like this. It's not bad though, just an acceptance of one another, being unafraid to co-exist silently without it being awkward.
Jay gets up to rinse out his bowl.
"Thank you, Nya," he mumbles after turning off the water. It's a small thing to do, but it makes him feel better to say that every once and a while.
Kai brushes the crumbs off of his plate before putting it back in the cabinet.
Jay stares as if he's just witnessed some unspeakable sin. "Don't do that, you know it'll annoy Zane."
Kai sighs and pulls the plate back out, placing it in the sink. "It only had crumbs on it," he says in mild annoyance.
"Have you been doing that this whole time?" Cole asks, leaning against the doorway.
Kai refuses to answer.
The fire master is out of the room in a blink.
Lloyd and Wu left in the afternoon, not too long after Jay left.
The news was kinda sudden, as the two had much debate between going on the trip and finding another way to get the tea leaves.
Only the two of them left. Lloyd didn't want to endanger anyone other than himself and Wu.
There was protest.
Followed by a heavy air as they consider whether or not it's worth potentially losing someone else.
Right. Okay. Limit the risk only to two people. Alright.
Cole, Kai, Zane, and Pixal are left at home.
None of them even want to be there. But after what happened with Nya, how much room is there to argue?
Kai certainly didn't wanna argue.
He didn't even wanna talk about it. Once Lloyd brought it up, the conversation was over, dead and done, tounges bitten and convo dropped.
He's boiling water for a packet of noodles for lunch. Using the stove, for once.
The noodles are usually reserved for nights where either no one wants to cook or dinner is ruined and they need a quick replacement. It's been a lot of the former recently.
Wu didn't even finish his noodles from the serpentine village yesterday. He was probably tired of them. It's unspoken, but they all kinda are. No one wants noodles, but even more so, no one wants to cook. It's a safe meal they can get in bulk. But hey, it's not that hard to fuck up boiling noodles, right?
They aren't boiling fast enough. He wants to get his mind off of things (or at least pretend to do so) and eat his lunch ASAP.
Slowly, he reaches out and manipulates the fire himself.
Shit.
The fire flares up a bit more than he wanted it to.
Trying to calm the fire, he watches the flames shrink.
Deep breath.
Good. Good. This is good.
Stay calm.
Grab the pot handle.
Motherfucker that burns!
Is the handle melted?!
Shitshitshit
The flames spike up even greater than they previously did.
Oh FSM.
Make the flames go down, just make the flames go down.
Just make the flames go down.
Eventually, the flames go out.
What must've been all of 30 seconds felt like an eternity.
Kai leans against the counter.
Deep breaths.
A tiny flame flickers on under the pot.
After a small spark of panic, he remembers that the actual stove is on.
He turns it off.
No more fire.
The noodles are a charred lump, stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Guess you can fuck up noodles.
Normally Jay's bothered by his parents doting on him. But now? It's welcome.
It's comforting, to receive hugs from his mom.
They had received news of what had happened within mere days. It was awkward trying to explain what happened. Not because it was particularly difficult, but because he had to be like "hi mom and dad, remember when you two were bitten by snakes and almost became snakes? Well, I, your son, screwed up big time and became a snake via recklessness. Oh, and this wasn't a new, tragic development but rather the delayed consequence of something I did about five years ago."
But they took it well so yay? Beyond asking if he was okay and panicking over his wellbeing, they seemed far more accepting than Wu was.
They're just glad to have their son here.
He stares at the statue his dad made of Nya.
"Thanks," Jay says softly.
He stares at this thing that doesn't quite look like his love but certainly reminds him of her.
It's a great gift, it just struck a nerve.
Surprised by the quietness of their son, the couple offers to catch up some more.
Kai cleaned the kitchen the best he could, which wasn't much. He got off a layer of soot and that was about it, the kitchen is partially charred black. Luckily that also wasn't too bad, better than what could've happened, but it's clear that something was burnt badly.
So anyways he's on his way to visit Skylor, if he's asked about the kitchen, he can talk about it later.
It's fine, it's fine.
He opens the door to the Noodle House.
Not exactly where he wanted to eat, but it'd be nice to see Skylor, get his mind off of things. (And maybe get some free food.)
Taking a booth seat, he leans against the counter, waiting for her to notice him.
It takes a while.
When she notices him, she leans against the counter.
"What do you want today?" She asks with a smirk.
"A burger," he answers playfully.
She rolls her eyes and lightly hits his shoulder.
"Egg roll and fried rice?" he answers seriously, still unsure if that's what he really wants.
She nods, handing the order off to someone else.
"So how have you been?" she asks. "I feel like I haven't seen you here in a while."
"Hey, you saw me a few weeks ago-"
"But not here. You used to come here all the time just to see me."
He rubs the back of his neck. "Yeahhh, I'm kinda tired of noodles, and I'm not gonna lie, yours are still kinda tempting so I've been conflicted-"
He stops talking as she moves from behind the counter.
After a moment, she's sitting at his booth, right across from him.
"Continue," she says.
He smiles.
They chat for a good while.
She stays and listens, glad to see him.
When his food comes, they keep talking.
Waving his fork around, he rants about the way things have been around the monastery, the Jay Incident™, and the way Wu's been about...everything, to be honest. The way the ninja have been waiting for a new big mission. The way everyone tries to talk to him about Nya. The way his powers seem mildly unstable at times. The Great Noodle Incident of Two Hours Ago™.
"Sounds like it's been rough," Skylor sighs.
"It has been," he mumbles before crunching on the eggroll. "What about you?"
She smiles. "It's been okay, but..."
She rants about the job for some time. Terrible customers. Cooking accidents. But also things she loves. Some stories are just sorta funny.
Kai smiles as he listens. Even once his plate is cleared, he stays and listens.
Zane stares at the charred kitchen.
Cole takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why. Why?!"
"I believe we no longer have a pot," Zane says sadly, looking in the trashcan.
"Takeout tonight?"
"We should be considerate of the delivery person. It is a long walk up here."
"Well, we need to eat something."
Zane looks through the pantry. "We have bread."
Cole opens the fridge. "No meat or cheese."
"I see peanut butter."
"There's a little jelly."
"Potato chips?"
"Yeah sure. Ooorrr we can go grocery shopping," Cole suggests.
"I don't know, I kind of wanted to see Kai's face when we confront him."
"I can go out and you stay here."
Zane raises an eyebrow. "I think it's best that I do the groceries."
"Why? It's just getting food."
"I can calculate the budget for any...extra purchases."
"It was one time, it was a really good deal on cakes that would've been tossed otherwise!"
"Maybe we can go together, then."
Cole nods in agreement as if this wasn't the first suggestion.
Kai gets ready to leave the noodle house.
It was a good talk.
He leans in to kiss Skylor, only for his lips to meet a finger.
"Where's my money?" she asks.
"Come on, for free? For me?"
She looks him up and down.
He does look kinda rough.
His hair isn't as heavily gelled as usual. His hoodie has scorch marks. His shoelaces are coming undone.
"For you? Fine," she says with a slight smile. "You're paying next time you come in though."
"Yeah, I'll try to make it more of a habit. Didn't mean to ditch you like that." He puts his hands in his pockets.
She half hugs him, patting him on the back. "It's okay. I get it."
They smile at each other.
After a moment, she shoos him away. Still smiling though.
Jay walks into the monastery to no one home.
Well, almost. Pixal's around.
But she's keeping to herself, curled up on the couch, watching TV.
"Did something happen?" he asks.
She looks up at him. He's wearing a thick, blue, knitted sweater, holding the hoodie he left the house in draped over his arm.
"What happened to you? You look...warm."
He looks down at the sweater excitedly, tail wagging in unmistakable joy. "It's a gift from my parents. It even has pockets to keep heating pads in."
She nods. "Do you wish to come sit with me?"
"Sure?" he walks over to the couch, leaning against the back of it. "What are you watching?"
"A 'rom-com' from about twenty years ago. It is about a man who falls in love with a robot, but he finds out he too is a robot. They're in the middle of a falling out right now, guest-starring Cliff Gordon as a mediator."
Jay chokes slightly, eyes expanding to the size of saucers. He really does not feel like watching something about his biological dad right now. Shit, he can't say that. Think of another thing to say, anything.
"I'm good. I didn't know you'd be into rom-coms."
"Yes. I am broadening my horizons. I thought this one seemed like a good first pick considering how close to home the initial premise hits. And I will admit, the low quality is rather funny."
He nods and smiles, still trying to get over the guest star. "Is this what you do every time you're left home alone?"
"No. I am usually watching documentaries and making a personal game out of listing inaccuracies. I got bored of that."
"Ah." He adjusts the sleeves of his sweater. "By the way, uh, where is everyone?"
"Kai left to visit Skylor, Wu and Lloyd left on a voyage to the Dark Island for tea leaves, and Cole and Zane left for groceries."
"Lloyd and Wu did what now," Jay says flatly.
"Yes, did they not tell you? They had to leave to get tea leaves to cure you."
"From the Dark Island?!" He runs his hands through his hair. "If I knew they were planning to go there just for me, I would gladly remain a snake. The Dark Island?"
"You seem distressed. Are you sure you wouldn't like to watch TV with me? Cliff Gordon's role here is quite funny."
He cringes slightly. "I think I wanna take a bath, get the junkyard dirt off of me. Maybe another time."
And just like that, he's out of the room.
Pixal shrugs and resumes her show.
Jay throws his clothes on the bathroom floor, leaving only his underwear on.
He'll take a bath in a minute, but first, he needs to hear from Her.
He watches as the tub fills. This isn't even normal for him, but he needs to talk.
"Nya, I need to talk, Wu and Lloyd are risking their lives for me and honestly I could've done without it and I don't wanna sound ungrateful but they didn't have to, I don't mind staying like this as long as no one gets harmed and-" he takes a deep breath- "holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck. If they get hurt it's all because I fucked up that one time like five years ago."
His hand dances across the water as he leans his head on the edge of the tub.
He swears he can feel hands play with his fingers, uncurling his hand before holding it between hers, her thumbs dancing over his scales.
"Yeah, okay," he sighs. "I dunno, I don't even like being like this, it's kinda weird and inconvenient. Not that I don't mind staying like this, but I don't think I prefer it."
He lets out a happy little hiss after feeling something. "Y-you think I'm cute like this?" he asks. If it is an out-of-the-blue question or a response to something Nya "said," he himself can't tell.
He smiles, drawing circles in the water, creating small waves. "I thought you were beautiful. The way the sun shone through you. The way you looked at that moment is forever burned in my mind."
Just a couple more minutes. The bath can wait.
Kai sneaks into the kitchen with a plastic bag over his shoulder, acting as if he's committed some awful crime.
The lights are off.
It looks like nothing has been touched.
Has no one seriously been in the kitchen this whole time?
He drops the bag on the floor and takes out a new pot.
He'll just leave it in the sink and let it look like he just didn't do the dishes after lunch, it's fine it's fine.
Now time to try repainting the wall behind the stove.
Jay walks into the kitchen, hair still wet, staring at Kai.
Their eyes are locked on each other for a moment.
The silence is deafening. This silence is awkward.
Without saying a word, Jay walks away pretending as if he saw nothing.
Slowly, Kai turns back to painting the wall.
Scrubbing. He has to scrub.
Realistically, Kai understands that he won't scrub off all the damage done to the stove, but he can and will try.
And then bags rustle.
Footsteps.
The bags hit the floor.
Slowly, Kai turns to look at the doorway.
Cole leans against the doorframe. He raises an eyebrow.
Zane stands stern. "What did you do?"
Kai's eyes dart back and forth.
Does he run?
Cole holds out his hand before Kai even gets a chance. "Don't even try."
Kai smiles nervously. "The noodles burnt."
Cole sighs. "You're lucky that doing this made us realize we needed groceries."
"Also we bought a new pot," Zane says excitedly.
Kai's eyes dart over at the pot in the sink.
This conversation is gonna be fun.
"How come no one told me that Wu and Lloyd were leaving?" Jay asks, some slight venom in his voice as he waits at the dinner table.
"They just left out of the blue. Y'know, for you," Cole answers.
"Yeahhh, maybe don't do that for me."
"Why? Thought you wanted to be cured."
"Yeah? But not if it requires going to the fucking Dark Island! No one even asked me how I felt about it."
"It is strange that Wu didn't talk to you about it, yes," Zane notes. "He seemed very determined to go."
Jay narrows his eyes. "He did it for himself, not me, didn't he?"
"What do you mean?" Zane asks. "You wish to be cured, is it not for you?"
"He didn't do it so I can feel better. He's doing this to make himself comfortable around me again."
Cole's eyebrows furrow. "It's still a win-win I guess? It's...questionable on Wu's end but at least you get what you wanted?"
"I guess. It's the principle though."
"Well, we don't know if that's why," Zane says gently. "So let's remain calm."
Jay crosses his arms. "I guess."
Kai comes into the room with dinner.
It's noodles.
There's a collective tired sigh.
Did anyone even have the emotional energy to make anything else?
Maybe Pixal but unlike Zane, she cannot cook. She doesn't even spend most nights at the dinner table unless someone invites her since the dining room feels irrelevant to her.
"Thanks," Jay mumbles, taking his bowl.
Cole doesn't say a thing. It's another night of noodles. At least these aren't burnt.
After talking to Kai about what had happened, Cole and Zane had sympathy for him. They understood how it happened. Zane offered to cook even, but Kai wanted to try making food right this time.
Maybe it was a generous offer, maybe it was to calm his ego for fucking up a bowl of noodles, maybe it was to avoid elaborating on what he was feeling to make him set the kitchen on fire. Maybe all of the above.
Kai sits down. "I hear we're bitter at Wu?"
Jay shrugs. "A little, yeah."
Kai smirks in a very 'I told you so' way.
"It's not funny."
"I didn't say it was funny. Listen, I still love him, he's still important to me, but he's really in the wrong on some things."
Jay stabs his noodles. "It's just...he was so determined to make himself comfortable that he didn't even ask if it's what makes me comfortable." Twirl the noodles with the fork. "I don't mind being like this, but also there are things that bother me about this body and I do wanna return to normal, but there are certain costs that aren't worth it to me." His voice seems to be rising. "Leaving to the Island of Darkness is one of those things. And the way Wu acts towards me is uncomfortable sometimes! Sometimes he still acts like Wu and other times he treats me like a stranger and-"
Cole puts his hand on Jay's shoulder. "Deep breath, buddy."
Jay does just that.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
In.
Out.
Taking one last breath, Jay lets out a small hiss in a combination of calming down and underlying frustration. "I don't know, I'm just feeling...things. Negative things."
"If it makes you feel any better, we've noticed the way Wu has been," Zane chimes. "We'll protect you if he ever turns on you."
"I don't think he'll just turn on Jay," Cole says reassuringly.
"Yeah, some little microaggressions are so much better," Kai sneers sarcastically.
Unspoken anger and frustration lingers in the air.
Zane tilts his head to the side. He obviously has no food, he's just here for conversation. Placing his hands on the table, he asks, "Who would like a movie marathon while they're gone?"
