Guess my finger slipped and the title ended up saying 'Laster' instead of 'Laser' - it should be fixed soon.
Jay couldn't remember much, except for the fact that Cole had been insisting that Jay not have any plans for February the 14th.
Jay stared at the date on his calendar for hours.
February 14th. That was Valentine's Day. What in the wide wide world of Ninjago could Cole possibly have planned that was so important, that Valentine's Day needed to be plan-free and marked ahead of time?
Other than the fact that it was Valentine's Day and their fifth year together.
Zane's voice plagued his thoughts suddenly. "I do not understand. Aren't the two of you dating?"
The blue ninja blinked several times, then squinted at Zane and at his surroundings. Where was he? Oh, that's right. He was with Zane, outside, in the courtyard of the Monastery.
Jay had walked in on Zane reading a magazine and started blabbering to him every single little thing that was on his mind. Specifically the thousands of questions that had infested his thoughts when Cole spoke of February 14th.
"Couples often spend Valentine's Day doing some kind of romantic activity." Zane said as Jay wrinkled his nose in response. "And Cole is your boyfriend, so I do not see the problem here."
"Well, no duh. Of course you wouldn't get it. You and Pixal have like, some kind of psychic connection I bet. " Jay crossed his arms and pouted like a child, leaning against one of the poles. "Look, I, I didn't mean it that way, it's just, every year, whenever Valentine's Day rolls around, Cole has some amazing, big, adorable gesture to share with me… and I feel like I just can't return the favor. I mean, yeah, he's sweet. I can't say no to that."
Jay placed a hand to his forehead, chuckling softly.
"What I'm trying to say, Zane, is… is that I'm scared, okay?" The lightning master buried his face in his hands, muffling his groan. "Every year, his surprises always get better, and this year? Oh, I just had to get him something else this year, didn't I?"
Zane raised a brow. "What did you get him?"
"A pair of wireless headphones," he lied. Truth be told, he had a much more bigger gift to give Cole this time. One he hoped would seal the deal. "I thought about getting him chocolates, but I got him those on our very first Valentine's Day. Technically the same day as when we got together. I was trying to be romantic, he was trying to be romantic. We're both just so-"
"Jay! There you are! You ready, buddy?" Cole piped, sliding up beside him.
Jay nearly toppled over the edge of the stairs at the sound of Cole's voice. He held on tight to the pole, praying for his life.
How long had Cole been standing there?
And how much had he heard?
There his boyfriend stood, the biggest smile on his face and his eyes twinkling with excitement. It took Jay a while to notice the jacket Cole was wearing - the one Jay had bought for him as a joke while they were at the store.
"R-Ready?" Jay shook his head. "Yeah I am! What am I ready for?"
Cole's eyes narrowed. "Dude, it's Valentine's Day. You can't possibly tell me you forgot." Cole kissed him quickly and added, "Again."
Jay's face reddened. "No, no, no, no. Of course not! I was just talking to Zane and things started to get all fuzzy…" he cleared his throat. "So, where are we going?"
"Well that'd just ruin the surprise," Cole chuckled, taking Jay by the hand.
"What? You gonna blindfold me till we reach, wherever it is you planned to go?" Jay smirked.
"Actually, no. We're just going to have a little walk," Cole responded by tugging Jay closer.
A walk? Jay said to himself, following Cole's lead as they started for the city. "See ya later, Zane!" Cole called out to him as they were leaving.
Jay waved goodbye sheepishly to his nindroid brother, before letting his thoughts drift back to Cole.
It wasn't long before the two of them were finally in downtown Ninjago City.
Cole was doing an excellent job of keeping his mouth shut as Jay shot him with a question every once in awhile. The master of earth always considered himself to be good at keeping surprises. Jay was simply the one to test it.
Now, the ninja of earth felt it was his turn to ask the questions. "Can I ask you something?"
This took Jay by surprise. "Shoot."
"Okay, what did you think I had planned for today?"
"Oh, to celebrate our fifth anniversary in dating and Valentine's Day?"
"The numbers don't mean anything, Jay. But go on."
"Hm… I don't know, maybe something really top notch liiiiike a boat ride in one of those romantic canoes, and then maybe an hour or so at the amusement park, where I was thinking we could take some pictures in the photo booth, before we cuddle it up back home and… make-out?" Jay raised his shoulders, keeping an innocent face.
Cole gaped. He surely did not plan any of that. Maybe one or two of those things, but definitely not that. "Did you want to do all that?"
"I'm just spitballing ideas, you asked."
"Well, I hate to disappoint but," Cole gestured to the door, "after you, Freckles."
Jay rolled his eyes before walking past Cole and into the building.
Cole shut the door with a proud smile, moving past Jay and to the man beside the front counter.
Jay looked around the room, confused. Why was it so dark? And why were they here?
"Hey, Darreth," he heard Cole say to the other man. Jay cocked his head. What the heck was going on?
"Are they here?"
"Been waiting for you forever. Don't keep them waiting, Cole," Darreth pointed to the room across them.
Jay spun around to face Cole. His boyfriend threw him a glance over the shoulder and held out his hand before the two of them entered the mysterious room.
Waiting inside were two other people. One of which was Nya, and the other Kai, both of them with grinning features.
"What took you guys so long? Don't tell me you were taking your sweet sweet time getting all goo-goo eyed around each other," Kai teased, nudging Cole slightly.
Nya slapped her brother upside down in the head, "At least you two finally made it. Darreth was getting tired of waiting outside. Are we ready to begin?"
"Depends if this guy can keep his focus," Cole ruffled Jay's hair, watching as he awed, jaw-droppingly, at the things in the room. Cole couldn't begin to fathom just how much he loved watching his boyfriend get all riled up about the smallest of things, or even, the biggest of things. It was a precious sight indeed.
Jay held back a gasp when he saw the vests strapped to their chests and the nearly plastic objects in their hands. As he turned to Cole, he found his boyfriend already sporting one of his own vests and another in his hands for Jay to take.
"Oh my FSM, is this…?" Jay started, slipping into the vest, still a little too mesmerized by it all. A voice boomed over their heads as lights began to flash.
3…
Cole quickly placed a kiss on his boyfriend's forehead, covered by a mess of wildly untamed chocolate hair and he nodded.
… 2
"It is."
1…
The second the doors opened, Jay sped past Nya and Kai, dragging Cole with him by the hand to a fort on the far left side. He crouched down, holding back a fit of giggles and the rush of excitement.
"How did you - I - stars above, Cole-"
"Use your words, Jay," Cole joked.
"You're awesome. You're like… the best boyfriend in the entire universe. How?"
Cole grinned, getting down to eye level. "Easy. Got some help from Darreth, apparently he knows the people who own the place, and booked an appointment for some fun. Here at the Ninja-Laser Tag Zone. Need I say more?"
Jay bit his lip, dropping his gun and tackling Cole into a massive bear hug - if his arms could wrap all the way around that was. "This is going to be so fun," he said in a low voice, pressing a kiss to Cole's lips.
"Well it's not going to be as fun if we just lie here on the floor exposed to Team Red over there," Cole laughed, looking up at Jay.
"Gah, you ruin everything!" Jay crawled backwards, reaching his laser tag gun. "C'mon, let's go see if we can find them!"
When Jay stepped out, he heard a loud cry and turned his head to see Nya running at him swiftly with the gun pointed for the square on his chest. With a yelp, Jay spun around, ushering Cole onto his feet and for them to start moving.
As if things couldn't get any worse, Kai jumped out from behind a wall, recklessly aiming his gun.
Both Jay and Cole burst into a fit of giggles as they ran around the obstacles, trying to find another hiding spot and away from Kai and Nya.
The four of them ran in circles for what felt like forever. Kai and Nya would chase Jay and Cole, but then somehow, they'd switch, and Jay and Cole would end up chasing them. It was a never ending loop, one that filled Jay with a rush.
Eventually, Jay had picked up on Nya's scare tactics and managed to hit her square on when she stumbled upon a hiding place where Jay was waiting patiently.
After three hits, Nya was out of the game. Which only left Kai.
"Nice job, Sparky," Cole panted, almost out of breath.
"We only have three minutes left in the game," Nya warned from the ground. Cole helped her up, turning to Jay.
"Think we can catch Kai in three minutes?"
"While I think it's impossible, yeah. We got this." Jay clasped hands with Cole, a smile edging its way up his face.
"Team Crackle!" The two of them cheered in unison before splitting up once again.
Jay tiptoed around the corner, his eyes sweeping the floor for Kai. But the master of fire was nowhere to be seen. He had managed to stay out of both Jay and Cole's sights for nearly the entirety of the game, how ever were they going to find him?
The lightning wielder moved closer to one of the foamed forts, holding the gun close to his chest so to protect his square.
Two minutes, he thought to himself, biting the inside of his cheek nervously.
Two freaking minutes. This was impossible.
Jay looked to the floor, thinking.
It almost felt like Kai had just left...
In a hurry, Jay jumped out from behind the fort, arms in the air as he started for Cole. "Cole! I-"
The sound of the beeper clicked in his head and he stopped, looking down at his vest. A big red X sat in the middle and Jay gaped, huffing.
"Gotcha!" Kai pumped a fist in the air, running circles around Jay. "Man, you should have seen the look on your face! Did you think I left? It really felt like that didn't it?"
Kai praised himself too much to notice that Cole had snuck up from behind, firing thrice at the center of Kai's vest.
"Oh, ha, ha. Fine, you're the winner, Cole!"
"I heard my boyfriend call for me, I come." Cole spared a glance at Jay, smiling, then turned back to Kai, "Can't take him down without dealing with me afterwards."
"That was the most fun I've had in years," Jay told Cole as he wrapped his arm around Cole, leaning into him.
When the two of them had arrived back at the Monastery, they found a picnic blanket laid out in the middle of the courtyard waiting for them.
Two pillows sat on either side, one black, one blue.
Jay had looked to Cole curiously, asking if he knew about this.
Needless to say, it was Cole's idea, in which Zane had played a part in helping to set up.
"I like this," Jay hummed, "Just me and you, under the stars, here. Together."
Cole tilted his head, bringing his knees up for a close. Plates of crumbs lay all over in front of them, glasses tipped and their single plate of chocolate cake nearly all finished.
"I can't wait to see what you have planned for our sixth year together," Jay murmured, burying his head into Cole's chest, feeling sleepy.
Cole's eyes popped open at the word sixth and he looked down on Jay, lips tightening into a frown.
Jay looked up, raising a brow. "What's wrong?"
"Our sixth year together?"
The way Cole had said that made his stomach turn.
"Uh, yeah… what's… going on?"
"I… when are we going to stop counting the numbers?" Cole blurted, catching Jay by surprise. "Five seems special but, we don't have to count how long we've been together. When I'm with you… I feel like time just doesn't exist. We don't need to count."
Jay stared. Maybe now was the right time to reveal his gift.
"You're right. We don't need to count."
Cole's mouth gaped. "What?"
The blue ninja separated himself from Cole, reaching behind his back. Cole remained lost and confused.
Slowly, Jay pulled his hand out, holding something small and circular to his chest.
"We don't need to count. We're always going to be together. Because you love me. And I love you. We love each other, right? So why not just count till infinity? Call it a go?"
Jay held out his hand, pulling apart the little medallion. "Cole… be my Yang?"
Cole couldn't believe his eyes.
Was this really happening?
His boyfriend, sitting criss-crossed in front of him like the utter dork he was, with two halves of a medallion, asking Cole to be his Yang.
"Through all we've been. All we've done. You've always been there for me. I didn't always ask for it, but you stayed with me anyways."
Cole opened his mouth to speak, but found his words caught in the back of his throat.
"You're... you're the best friend anyone could ever have. You're stiff, but kind, you're gentle, you're-you're everything I could ever ask for. Heck, you don't even deserve me but yet, here we are." Jay found himself laughing, "Special best friends, right?"
When Cole finally found the effort to speak, it all came out as a sob. He tripped over his own words and yet Jay couldn't care less.
He knew Jay was sulking in the moment. He knew Jay was holding on desperately to everything he had just to make this moment last. To make it worth it.
"Cole?"
"Yes. Yes!"
In another effort to bear hug Cole once again, Jay burst into laughter.
With his half of the medallion, Jay pinned it to Cole's chest, rubbing it to shine.
"I love you so much."
Cole pulled Jay into a firm kiss, pinning his half of the medallion onto Jay's chest.
"I love you too."