This one is kinda messy. I just wanted an excuse to write angry Zane, lol
Please enjoy your stay!
Any comments or critiques on this work are welcomed.
Tags: Light Angst, Angst, Arguing, Mistakes, Stupidity, Love Triangles, Love Confessions (kind of), Unrequited Love, Canon Divergence (just a tiny bit), Ambiguous/Open Ending
Just about everyone is mentioned in the fic, but we're just focusing on Cole and Zane. 'Cause I said so.
Dinner had been tense.
Cole and Jay had glared at each other during most of it, and there hadn't been much conversation to distract everyone else at the table from that fact. Kai sat beside his sister to keep her separated from either of the two, hand twitching around his chopsticks as if daring them to make the wrong move. Nya looked incredibly uncomfortable and poked at her food with a look of guilt. Lloyd and Wu were very obviously trying not to get involved, Wu believing it best to sit and wait for things to heal, and Lloyd doing as his uncle told him. Zane's expression was unreadable, but the focus on his food was enough to tell anyone - even the two arguing ninja - that he wasn't happy about the situation.
Neither of them even got a chance to say anything to Nya afterward. Kai shoved Cole to the kitchen after Zane, telling him to help out, and just snarled at Jay to stay away. Then he had dragged Nya off somewhere away from them. Probably to the meditation room; it was the only peaceful place they could really go without leaving the monastery, and it should be enough to help calm them before heading to the ninjas' quarters for the night.
Cole rolled his eyes as he leaned against the doorway, not helping Zane in the slightest. "- I mean, what does he think I'm gonna do to her? I'm not that bad," he was rambling, hand waving around a bit as he did. "I just think that if Nya wanted to be with me, she should see that I'm worth it! Isn't that what you're supposed to do for the girl you like?"
He didn't get an answer from the ice master, who was busy taking care of the dishes like he always did after dinner. But he was doing it more aggressively than he normally would, and Cole would know; he used to help him out… y'know, before he got tangled up in this mess. Zane's shoulders looked tense, the sound of the sponge was much louder than it should be, and the sound of the water in the sink was splashing.
"It was clear who she would've chosen, but then Jay snuck back up again and somehow melted her heart," he scoffed. "That bastard- how does he keep doing it?"
More vigorous scrubbing, almost scratching. Water splashed at the edge of the sink, almost spilling over.
"Plus, she hit on me, which never happened to him-"
He was surprised when the sudsy sponge hit him smack in the face with a splat, frantically scrambling to catch the thing. He was even more surprised at the sharp look in Zane's normally soft gaze.
"Would you stop?!" Zane started, shoulders up to his ears. It made Cole feel small for a moment, how the nindroid seemed to tower over him with the most furious look. "You do not even like her like that- you- ugh!" He held his head in his hands as if trying to close up the broken seams. "I have been trying to ignore this entire mess since the beginning, but you are making it impossible!"
The master of earth blinked up at him.
"I do not understand why you are doing this; the only reasoning I can come up with is that you want to get under Jay's skin-"
"And so what if I do?" Cole blurted out, trying to recover as his shock faded. "So what if I want to get under his skin? Nya can do better than him-"
"First of all, you are toying with Nya's heart over your own stubbornness," he hissed, jabbing a finger into the bigger man's chest. "That is just- just ridiculous, and makes you unworthy of being a ninja- it is completely unlike the man you are- were. Second of all, you are doing this over an argument with your best friend. Ugh- what is wrong with you two?" He breathed out sharply. "Thirdly, Nya is her own person; she can make her own decisions without you getting involved!
What happened to the patient person that used to lead this team? What happened to the calm and understanding he held? What could Jay have possibly done to have you treat him and Nya like this?" He had never seen him so angry, almost shaking before him. "Your reckless and stubborn nature is tearing this team apart-"
Okay, now Cole was a little offended. "Woah- now wait a fucking second. I wasn't the one who started any of this-"
"That does not matter!" Zane interrupted, piercing eyes glaring down at him, snapping Cole's jaw back shut. "You still contributed to the problem and you are actively making it worse." He clenched his fists at his sides, desperately trying to calm down before he blew a fuse or froze the entire monastery. "You are all being so ridiculous-"
Cole had squeezed the soaked sponge, water spilling from it, as embarrassment warmed his cheeks. "Why does it bother you so much? It's not like you're the leader and have to deal with this-"
"But I do! I do have to deal with this. You just haven't noticed because you've been dealing with utter bullshit!" Wow, he got him angry enough to start cursing. "Lloyd is still mentally too young to deal with these issues along with being a leader, Nya is stressed beyond belief because of this situation, and Kai is too angry at you and Jay for stressing her out! You and Jay are too busy arguing to actually help, making missions worse, whether because you argue during a stealth mission or because one of you gets distracted enough to actually get injured or kidnapped. I may be a nindroid, but even I am getting overwhelmed- I-I cannot keep this up on my own!" There were tears coming up to Zane's eyes, but he angrily wiped them away before Cole could say anything.
"Jay and Nya were still figuring out how to go about their relationship. You got in the way, and now look at them- look at you. If you were feeling alone in a romantic sense, you have other options!"
"Oh, yeah? Like who?" Cole grit out.
"Like me!" Zane said in a far more desperate tone than either of them had ever heard from him. Their eyes went wide with shock as they stared at one another, the silence so tense that Cole felt like he could wrap his hand around it. "No, I didn't mean-"
"Zane-"
"No. I don't want to hear it," he said more firmly, closing his eyes for a moment. He must have wanted to collect himself. Then he opened them again, eyes more steely than ever. "This is about Nya and her comfortability, not your love life. This situation needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later. You are the only one who can fix this, and I know that you know how to do it."
"Wha- why am I the only one who can fix this?" Cole argued weakly, brow furrowing more in confusion than anger.
"Well, aside from the fact that you're toying with a woman's heart, one of which you are not even romantically interested in," Zane hummed, stabbing Cole's morale to make a point; "Because neither of you are listening to Nya, and Jay - as much as it pains me - will not back off until you do."
The two stared for a long moment, as if arguing with one another with just their eyes, but Cole knew that the other was right. He sighed shakily. "You make it sound simple…"
"That is because it logically is." His voice was as cold and guarded as his eyes. "You and Jay would have an easier friendship if you did not constantly set up traps for one another. But, unfortunately, that is how your friendship works." He sighed quite heavily for someone without a set of lungs before he held his hand out expectantly. "Now, if you do not mind, I have dishes to finish, and you have relationships to figure out how to mend."
Hesitantly, Cole gave him back his sponge, and Zane turned back to his dishes without another word. The master of ice continued to scrub away at the dishes, though much calmer than before after getting his team-related worries off of his chest. But after hearing Cole walk out of the kitchen, a shaky breath left him and he felt just… awful.
