It took a while for Kai to peel himself away from his fans. He retreated away from the main area where folks chatted and bantered, and slipped towards the drinks bar. The bar still had some people scattered across the seats, but they were engaged in polite chats with each other as strangers, and not engaging in the wild, screaming chaos that was exchanged between those who came in groups.
Kai found one stool that had a vacancy on either side at the end of the counter and sat down, distancing himself from the crowd. He knew a few fans would see him alone and come to take the advantage for a one-on-one chat, but it was better than having the constant noise welling up in his ears.
It would be well within his comfort zone to be at the center of all the attention and noise on a normal day, but when there was already so much noise in his head, all the extra attention just turned into a drone.
To his relief, the first person to approach him was Dareth, who slid down the other side of the counter from where he'd been serving a young lady a particularly fancy-looking milk tea.
"Anything you want, on the house," Dareth said.
Kai chuckled and waved a hand. "Thanks, but I couldn't. You've already agreed to have your boba shop be the venue for this party, and on such short notice."
Dareth laughed. "Are you kidding? This is the most business I've had since I opened the place! I insist! Anything for my fellow ninjas!"
Kai put a hand over his stomach contemplatively. He hardly felt like eating or drinking anything, but he had to keep up the act. The less anyone had to suspect that something was wrong, the better.
"I'll take something mild. A tea with less sugar."
"How's regular green milk tea, then?"
"Perfect. A small. I, uh, think I'll skip on any special toppings."
Dareth hummed in acknowledgement, bending down to retrieve a cup from below the counter. "And what does Jay like?" He glanced over the counter. "He is coming, right?"
"Oh, yeah, he's around!" Nope. Kai was definitely not stomaching much right now. He hid his sudden nausea with a hum. "He likes honeydew tea. Large, more sugar, less ice, coconut popping pearls, and both grass and rainbow jelly."
"Right." Dareth resurfaced with both the small and large cups and set to work. "I can never remember that, but yeah, that is what he orders, isn't it?"
Kai nodded, eyeing the large cup as Dareth filled it with the order "for Jay". Kai would have to find some way of slipping it off the counter before Dareth noticed Jay had never come to collect it.
Dareth finished Kai's tea and slid it across the table with a straw. "Here you are."
Kai nodded and stabbed the thin lid a little too forcefully, making a splash of green tea burst through the straw and onto the counter.
"Oh, no worries," Dareth said, already producing a cloth as Kai rose from his seat. "It's just a drop."
Kai sat as Dareth grabbed another straw and slid the large order in front of the seat next to Kai.
"And here's yours."
Dareth looked over the seat, smiling at another patron.
To Kai's annoyance, the newcomer took the seat next to him.
Kai put on a fake smile and turned to greet the newcomer with fake enthusiasm.
The grin instantly fell from his face.
Jay had his arms folded over the counter, eyes searching Kai with the rest of his face completely blank. A blue glow floated about him, not bright, just barely there. Kai would have brushed it off as a trick of the light if not for the intermittent bolts of electricity that sparked a few inches off of him.
Kai didn't know how many times he'd mentally gone through what he would say to Jay given the chance. There were so many apologies, so many questions, all of which fled his mind at the sight of his friend. He gaped openly.
"Uh…" Jay said lamely after a long and awkward pause. "Hi."
"J-Jay?"
"Yeah."
Kai shook his head, hands rising to grip either side of his own scalp. "You're- you're here!"
Jay gave him another searching look at this, then glanced around the room, eyeing the crowd. After he seemed satisfied searching for whatever it was he was searching for, he returned his attention to Kai. "Was I not supposed to be? After all, I believe it was both of us who were supposed to be making appearances."
"I missed you," Kai blurted.
They both skidded into silence at this like deer in headlights.
Jay blinked. "You did." It was a question disguised as a statement. He sounded almost disbelieving.
Shaking his head lightly, Kai all but whispered, "Yeah. Yeah, of course I did, Jay. Things have been nuts. It's been so crazy without you. Where have you been?"
Jay took the tea in front of him but not the straw. "Oh, you know. Out and about." He scrutinized the seal― he scrutinized the drink's seal very closely, letting the conversation lapse into unpleasant silence again in favor of taking in every detail.
"It's your favorite," Kai said. "Made for you."
A displeased hum left Jay's lips. "I can see that." He continued to observe it.
Kai raised a brow. "I didn't poison it," he said, a chuckle in his voice.
Jay turned to him and started to analyze his expression, instead.
Kai's eyes bulged. "Jay, you don't really think I would―"
Jay sighed, turning towards the counter and finally stabbing the straw into his drink. "I don't know. I just…" He took a sip. "I don't know." He looked at the drink again, wide-eyed, and proceeded to down the whole thing, jelly and all, through large, greedy gulps.
Kai watched in silence until he was done only a few seconds later. "How much food and water have you had when you were out and about?"
Jay sent him a sidelong glare. "What does it concern you?"
"Of course it concerns me!"
Jay suddenly found his empty cup very interesting.
Kai waved Dareth down and ordered some dumplings and water, which Dareth promptly left to fetch.
Rising, Jay inclined his head towards the trash cans on the other side of the room and shook his empty cup.
"Wait!"
Jay jerked his wrist back just before Kai could take hold of it, and sent the fire ninja an icy glare.
Empty silence hung between them as Kai chewed on words that wouldn't form. He settled on, "Why don't you just sit and relax? We can take all the trash up at once."
"Why do you want to keep me here?"
"I want you around. That hasn't changed."
His remark met Jay's turned shoulder. "Looks like the others have other ideas for me."
Kai audibly stuttered over his words. "I- we- look, we're all worried about you, okay? There's a lot going on right now and the entire team is conflicted about everything. They might be giving you the cold shoulder right now, but deep down, everyone wants you home safe."
Lightning flew off of Jay's body and sparked in his eyes when he turned around. "They attacked me!"
Kai leaned back on the stool, holding his hands out in surrender. "We're all confused. Everyone is scared. The team is scattered. And without Zane…"
The energy surrounding the lightning ninja dulled back down into a shimmer. He kicked a straw on the ground, expression softening. "Right. I guess I deserve it. I wouldn't want to go through a big crisis without Zane, either." He sat down again, placing his empty cup in front of him and propping interlaced fingers on the counter. "I'd see if I could put all his pieces back together again, but the team has his body, and FSM knows waltzing into the temple and flourishing his power source in front of the ninjas would not end well."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Kai waved his hands to cut Jay off. "You took Zane's power source?"
Maintaining careful eye contact the entire time, Jay produced the glowing half-disk and let Kai gawk at it before he slipped it back into the folds of his gi.
A wide grin split Kai's face in two. "So he's not gone! You just took his power source!"
"No! It's Zane! I'd never have the heart to—" Jay furrowed his brow. "Well, I mean, I guess I have Zane's heart now, technically, but that's not what I meant."
Kai smirked. "I wouldn't tell Pixal you stole his heart unless you want to add even more chaos to this fiasco."
"I'm pretty sure Pixal already knows that Zane is…" Jay trailed off and stared at him for a full second. Then realization dawned on his face and he snorted, then broke into genuine, lighthearted laughter. "Ah, gotcha. Stole his heart."
Kai gave himself a mental high-five, savoring the moment. Unlike the ruckus around them, Jay's laughter was a welcome noise.
Zane could be so easily saved.
Dareth arrived with the dumplings and water and left to serve other customers.
The dumpling Jay picked up received much less scrutiny than his tea had before he put it in his mouth. "But seriously, why throw a party starring the guy you thought just killed one of your closest friends?"
Kai grabbed one of the cups of water. "I needed to find you and talk to you, but didn't know where to look, so I thought maybe I'd bring you to me. Something really changed about you between when we went on the first Serpenteel mission and when you took Zane's source, and no one knows what that is but you. We're all super worried. Ed and Edna are waiting for news on you back at the temple; Nya tells me they ask for updates on you pretty much every time she passes by."
"Mom and Dad came out here for me?" Jay asked through a mouthful of dumplings. "How long have they been there?"
"We called them not too long after you jumped off the Bounty. They dropped everything at once."
Jay swallowed the food. "Why would the team call my parents in if they wanted me to power the machine? Nya knows how protective they'd get of me if they knew I was in danger; wouldn't my parents get in the way of them using me as their power?"
"I'm sure your folks would understand. They've seen you save the world plenty of times before."
"Yeah, but this is different; if I power the machine, I'll—" he narrowed his eyes at Kai. "Wait. So if Nya is updating you, does that mean you're not in on the meetings?"
Kai hissed through his teeth. "They put me on public relations duty. I'm supposed to keep the citizens calm so that they'll listen in case we need to tell them to evacuate before the storm."
Jay's eyes bulged and he stared into space with a contemplative look.
"Hey, it's okay, though! The girls have a replacement machine almost built. It's not like there's no plan."
"You're the element of fire," Jay murmured.
Kai blinked. "Yeah. We, uh, established that a while ago."
"You're an energy element," Jay thought aloud. "But Lloyd and Nya both love you so much… they'd never use you."
After some deliberating, Kai put his hand on Jay's back.
Jay accepted the contact, or at very least, didn't shy away from it. The blue glow around Jay was warm and felt like static in Kai's hand.
"Jay? Buddy? Whatever you're thinking right now… could you let me in on it? I think you understand something I don't."
"Lloyd is an energy element, too. Everyone on the team loves him, but he's also so self-sacrificial. With me gone, do you think he'll put the burden on himself?" He cupped a hand over his mouth.
"I don't get it. What burden?"
"The machine Nya and Pixal are constructing— it's dangerous." Jay sat up straighter, causing the hand Kai had on Jay's back to slide onto his shoulder. He buckled with a yelp.
"Jay!"
The lightning ninja clutched his shoulder, breathing through his teeth.
"You're hurt. Your shoulder-" Kai's eyes widened. "You haven't been getting any medical attention. Let me help!"
"I don't think it'll be very good for your keeping the people calm deal if I have to show off a gross, infected stab wound in public."
"Infected?"
"Just-" Jay stood. "I should go."
"No, we can go somewhere else! It doesn't have to be the temple; maybe the doctor's or even just somewhere with a restroom. Just let me disinfect it."
"And have you leave your party?"
"Screw the party."
Jay was giving him that look again, the suspicion that flickered between cold and hurt and something else entirely. "I think I should be alone."
Kai deflated with a sigh. "Fine. Just take this with you." He handed Jay his medkit, then hailed Dareth down for more dumplings and water to-go.
Jay sent him a look. "What are you doing?"
"You need to eat. You're sick and hungry. Don't think I didn't notice."
Kai accepted the styrofoam containers from Dareth, and held it out for Jay in turn.
Jay eyed the containers, caught in an obvious mental battle.
"Please," Kai said. "Times may be rough, but that doesn't mean you should starve."
Jay met his eye and let out a resigned huff, accepting the food and water.
"And one more thing." Kai produced a phone from his pocket: a blue one with lightning bolt stickers on the case. "This is yours."
After a brief hesitation, Jay took it.
"Listen, I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but if you ever need to talk, I'm there. Always."
Jay met his eye. "You promise you aren't just planting this on me so the team can track me?"
"Promise."
Jay pocketed the phone and turned to leave, then stopped. "And Kai?"
"Yeah?"
He cleared his throat. "Thank you." He awkwardly shuffled out of the party, giving haphazard waves and smiles to fans as he passed.
Kai relaxed against the counter, settling into the noise of the party.
He pulled out his own phone and typed a text to the group chat to update them on Jay, but stopped before hitting send.
Pixal had been so angry at Jay. Everyone had been so angry at Jay. Maybe now wasn't the best time to re-introduce them and have everything go wrong, especially when Jay looked so… small. So unsure of himself.
Kai deleted the text and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He resolved to reassure Jay by himself for a while, and once things had settled down again, then he would tell the team that he and Jay had met.
There were so many things everyone else had to keep track of. If the team had entrusted Kai with such little tasks and kept everything else on their own shoulders, Kai would carry more weight on his own.
A buzz from his phone signaled an incoming text from Jay.
ZAPTRAP
If the team doesn't find a power source before the storm, keep an eye on Lloyd. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
A warm smile graced Kai's lips.
ME
U got it!
How had they ever believed Jay wanted to harm them?