(A/N: Me: I should really write the last chapter of Malfunctions but I'm kinda unmotivated
Me: *watches the new episode*
Me: MY LOVE FOR PIXAL HAS BEEN REKINDLED A THOUSAND TIMES OVER I AM HYPED UP AND READY TO WRITE)
"Plastic-Fire BBQ?" PIXAL wrinkled her nose. "I am not very well-versed in culinary, but that hardly seems like an appetizing name for a restaurant."
Nya laughed and slung an arm around the silver-haired girl's shoulder. "Trust me, it's great. Our whole group ate here occasionally, back in the days before…" she thought for a moment, then whistled. "Wow. I guess we haven't really been here since before the battle with the Overlord. The first one."
"That is a long time," PIXAL said, looking up at the restaurant. "Are the others here yet?"
Nya looked around the parking lot. "Well, if they are, they didn't take their mechs, so I'm going to guess no." She laughed. "Let's head inside and get a table. This place is open super late, which is mainly why we ate here."
"Did Sensei Wu not require you all to get up exceedingly early for training?" PIXAL asked as they walked inside.
"Well, I didn't have to, because I wasn't a ninja yet… but yea, the boys were always grumpy when they woke up the next morning for their 'sunrise stretches,'" Nya laughed. "Table for seven, please," she said to a brown-haired worker behind a counter. She nodded and led them to a booth near the back.
"Is it not eight?" PIXAL asked Nya as they walked.
"Nah, Kai said Wu's not coming. He has something to do on the Bounty. But he told us to enjoy ourselves," she replied, plopping down on the bright red booth and sliding into the middle. "Come on, you gotta sit in the middle with me. That way we can annoy all the boys at once!"
PIXAL looked like she was trying hard to suppress a smile. "All right," she responded, joining Nya in the middle of the newly-refurbished booth.
"Would you girls like something to drink to start off with?"
Nya turned towards the waitress, who was fidgeting awkwardly with her apron. She was probably new.
"Water for me, please," she said politely. "PIXAL?"
PIXAL shook her head. "I'm all right, thank you."
The waitress nodded again and scurried off.
"So…" Nya said, turning back to her friend. "You have fun today?"
PIXAL looked down shyly and grinned. "I did. Thank you." She hesitated, then added, "Nobody has ever done anything like this for me… not including Zane, of course."
Nya laughed. "Yea, you guys don't even count. You've saved each other's lives way too many times to compete, not even mentioning the fact you were literally sharing a body at one point!"
PIXAL giggled (which Nya had never heard her do before) and looked like she was about to reply, but a voice cut her off… or rather, a chorus of voices, from the back of the restaurant.
"HEY! SIS!" Kai's voice was the most distinctive as the boys walked in through the back door and shouted their hellos to the seated party. Nya facepalmed and PIXAL smirked as they strutted over to the table, apparently forgetting that rules existed and that it was technically polite to enter through the front door and tell the waiters you were ready to be seated.
"Hey, Pix, what's up?" Kai asked, holding out his hand. PIXAL high-fived it as he'd taught her to do, then fist-bumped Cole. She still didn't see the point of all the meaningless gestures, but she normally complied anyway to make the boys happy. Tonight, it made her happy, too, in a weird way.
"PIXAL!" Zane made his way to the front of the group and slid into the booth, pulling his girlfriend in for a hug. PIXAL beamed and squeezed him back, realizing she hadn't seen him all day.
"It's good to see you," she mumbled into his shoulder, which was followed by various "aww"-ing and gagging noises from the other boys, who found their own places in the semi-circle.
"So what have you two been up to?" Cole asked Nya as Jay gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Not much," she replied cheerfully, winking at PIXAL. "We had a little girls' outing."
"Man," Lloyd said, looking around, "it's been forever since I've been here."
"No kidding. I remember coming here with you when you were still little," Kai added, ruffling a hand through his brother's blond hair.
"Oh, man!" Jay cried. "I forgot about that! It really has been forever!"
"Remember how he used to try and intimidate the waiters?" Kai asked with a smirk. "He'd be all, 'I'LL HAVE A LARGE STEAK, PLEASE, AS TOUGH AS YOU CAN MAKE IT!'" He burst out laughing as Lloyd shoved him in the side.
"Kaiiiiii!"
"You did have quite a big personality compared to your size," Zane added cooly, smiling at the green ninja.
"Fine, I get it," Lloyd said, rolling his eyes (although he was smiling, too). "I was annoying. But at least I didn't take up half the bill like Cole did!"
"Oooooooooh!" Jay and Kai snickered at the black ninja, who threw his hands into the air.
"Hey, I'm a big guy! It takes a lot of calories to load these guns," he said, flexing. PIXAL raised an eyebrow.
"We do not possess any guns," she pointed out.
"It's an expression. He means his muscles," Nya explained over the banter of the others.
That was one of the oddest things PIXAL had noticed about the boys: they seemed to take great pleasure in making derogatory remarks to each other. It was one of the habits she'd never been able to understand, no matter how she looked at it, but at the moment, looking at all of them smile…
"They're idiots," she whispered to Nya, with a great sense of both pride and confusion within herself. She would never call one of her teammates something degrading, but somehow, the context changed it. It wasn't a degrading term. In fact, she thought as she watched Kai and Jay messing up each other's hair, it was rather endearing.
Nya grinned. "They are," she whispered back, "but they're our idiots."
The play-fighting continued until it was time to order food, when the subject on everyone's minds switched over to eating. Since she still hadn't tried many foods apart from whatever Zane cooked, PIXAL opted to order whatever Nya did, which seemed to make the water ninja happy. Then, while waiting for the various steaks and potatoes and barbecue items to come, the humdrum of conversation turned to recounting various previous adventures (a common endeavor among the boys, who would always argue over who fought how many minions and which enemies were the hardest to beat). Under the commotion, Zane turned to PIXAL and gave her an inquisitive smile.
"You seem… different," he noted, his blue eyes shining like they always did when he was curious. "A good different," he added quickly, "but what…?"
He didn't need to finish his sentence— he never did— but PIXAL looked down, slightly embarrassed anyway.
"It… it is my AIE-ES chip," she admitted in a hushed tone. Zane looked alarmed, but she quickly put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"It is a perfectly normal happenstance," she explained, "but it has become harder to control since moving to my new body, and… well, I experience severe emotional outbursts, and…" She brushed back a lock of her hair nervously. "I didn't want to worry you."
The nindroid paused, then breathed a sigh of relief. "PIXAL…" he started.
"I know, I shouldn't have hidden it from you," she interjected quickly, "but I was not thinking rationally and…"
Zane put a finger to her lips to quiet her. "I understand," he said softly. "It can be difficult to show weakness to those you love, even when they want to help you."
PIXAL swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded as her nindroid pulled her in for another hug, holding her tighter this time. The boys were too engaged in fierce debate to notice, but when she pulled back Nya shot her a small smile.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the food came, and any manners the ninja had possessed were thrown out the window as they scarfed down on trays of meat. Whatever Nya had ordered (some sort of veggie wrap with chicken in it) was surprisingly good, although it still didn't compare to Zane's cooking.
The subject of conversation (in between, and sometimes during, bites of food) was now the many gis the ninja had possessed over the years, and which ones were the coolest. PIXAL, for once, joined in, although she herself had never possessed a gi. Still, she knew what all the old outfits of the gang looked like from Zane's memories. It was a silly topic, the arguments for and against shoulder pads didn't really seem to have any logical basis to them, and there wasn't really any clear purpose to the discussion in the first place. But seeing the goofy grins on the boys' faces, eating a perfectly good meal, and tucked in between Nya and Zane, PIXAL could hardly help herself from feeling that it was the most important topic in the world. For a moment, she almost understood how it felt to be human. And to be completely honest?
It wasn't half bad.
(A/N: Yay for another oneshot that ended up being longer than intended! Thank you all so much for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it :D If you did, be sure to tell me what you liked about it in the review section so I know what kinds of things you guys like to see ^_^ Thank you again!)
(P.S. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO HERE: If you want, you can also check out some of my other stories, too! If you want more Ninja/PIXAL content, I'd suggest Samurai PI(X)AL [though no longer canon, it was my first good non-oneshot fic so I'm proud of it]; for more Pixane content, there's A Heartfelt Gift; and if you want more slice-of-life content you'll probably like Several Dead Legos Play Cards [my longest-running fic full of shenanigans similar to the ones in this fic]. Okay, self-promo over, you can get on with your lives now XD)