Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So how's that blue treating you?”

Nya whips towards the direction of that familiar voice. It's a sight to see, because Jay Walker is leaning against her new bedroom walls, with his usual smirk tugging at his cracked lips.

Her eyes fall onto his electric ones, the two sharing a silent moment with such differing expressions, before Nya peers down at her gi clinging to her body like a trophy.

“It’s great, my favourite kind of blue.” She responds, stretching out her arms to give the ginger a better view of the new design. 

It'd been a few weeks since the Ninja received their new gi's and Nya's was the most different out of all. The colour for the others had stayed consistent, but hers had begun with maroon towards a light blue, falling towards that similar maroon and now settling on a sky blue.

Sky blue with hints of grey; a simple yet sophisticated look that she was very happy to wear every day.

“Your favourite?” He quickly snaps back, with a tone devoid of malice and full of curiosity. 

“My favourite.” She repeats, watching how his freckles become more prominent as he strides closer towards her. 

“I thought this was your favourite kind of blue.” His hand chases after hers, scarred rough hands carefully intertwined with cold ones. 

Nya's hand rests gently now on his gi, tracing over a symbol of an Octopus—Jay's symbol. 

“It's too...” She begins, eyes falling from where her finger traces the stitches of black interwoven with a vibrant blue, and slowly slipping onto his irises—which were a similar colour. “Bold.”

A frown covers his slightly pink-tinted cheeks and Nya can feel his heart thumping beneath blue ties tightening the fabric together. “You don't like a bold blue?”

“No.” Nya shakes her head, gently. “I love a bold blue.” The moment those words slip from her cherry lips, she allows herself to copy his smile, watching eagerly as he mirrors her. 

She loves the cobalt blue of his gi, the bold colour of his eyes and how it complements his ginger hair, gelled down to hide the curly locks begging to breathe. How could anyone not love such a bold colour?

“But it's not your favourite?” He creases his eyebrows, expectantly hoping that she would disagree with her previous statement.

“Well, sure. I love the colour.” She hums mindlessly, letting his eyes trail over her distant expression whilst her stare is intensely glued towards the tight ropes wrapped around his chest. “But I wouldn't wear it, so can I call it my favourite?”

Jay begins to pout—an action he's beginning to do more of. 

“You wouldn't wear this kind of blue?” The question slips out as a whisper: light, delicate, quiet. A soft tone that contrasts with how his heart begins to beat even faster, and how his sticky fingertips graze against her pale skin, failing to hold back tingles of sparks electrifying her.

Normally, Nya would jump at the touch and scowl, frown, or shake her head and placate him with a grin, but she's become so familiar with this action of his that the way the lightning travels along her clothes, tickling against the follicles of hair on her neck, has become second nature. 

And this only intensifies the fact that Jay Walker has become predictable when Nya catches him off guard. So predictable that she reckons his eyebrows will tremble, pleading for her to give him consent to lean in closer. He'll push his head into the crook of her neck, and refuse to let her go until she gives in. That's why he's predictable. Predictable yet so volatile at the same time.

It was so confusing for the Water Ninja. 

Her chocolate eyes meet his cobalt ones, sharing a simple word of silence. 

Her lips are pulled into a tight smile, strained. Not from the uncomfortable feeling of heat rising around the two, not from the distant chuckles of their friends racing down the Temple halls, not from the possibility of someone rushing in or a ghost perhaps spying on this intimate moment.

From the words he’s spewing out from that look, without opening his mouth. 

“Would you wear this type of blue?” Nya breaks the silence, snapping away from their eye contact and gesturing to the light blue she’s covered in. 

It’s a colour he hasn’t exactly worn. Not that he drifts away from his lovely cobalt often. 

“For you, I would wear anything.” Words that are accompanied by that cheeky beam. 

And the wit is back. Hello Mouth of Lightning.

It’s the perfect time to snap back with a response of her own, to catch Jay off guard. Nya knows exactly what will catch him with his pants down—as Kai would say. 

“Even a pink dress with a blonde wig and cute stockings?” A wicked grin crosses her face, and she eats up how his face drops from acceptance to distraught within minutes.

“I thought we weren't going to bring that up again!” He groaned, finally leaning his head into her shoulder, shielding himself from her echo of heavy laughter ironically.

“You can't blame me! You just looked so...”

“Ravishing?” Jay blurts out, with a hope in his tone. All he wants is for Nya to admit that she may have found him the slightest bit attractive—even in the odd circumstance. 

“Uh, no.” She bluntly responds, kicking out a deflated giggle at his grumble of incoherent words. 

“Do you at least think I look cool in this blue?” He's staring up from beneath her, which should have been odd enough for Nya as they are now similar heights.

Those adventurous eyes that have seen so much more than a boy—soon to be a man—should have had his age. At the age of seventeen, he's seen the end of the world on numerous occasions, the death of a loved one, the torture that was sickening, overwhelming to many and Jay Walked endured—these eyes watched and moved on.

“You look really cool.”

He's like a puppy. 

“Blue really suits you.” She adds, pulling his cheek closer towards her and pecking it, leaving a faint lipstick mark on the dots of his freckles.

“Blue really suits you too.”

“You think so?” The question slips from the gap between her top teeth and bottom, uncontrollably. Nya pleads that he won’t pick up on the hesitation lacing her voice, or the way her shoulders slowly oscillate up and down at a faster rate.

But Jay Walker has started to become more observant, picking up on everything and reading her more thoroughly like an open book.

Nya can’t say she hates it though. Not when it’s him and his blue. 

His finger twirls around a short strand of her raven hair, now growing out of her signature bob style and slowly, but surely he leaves a soft kiss on her cheek—now letting Nya flare with red. “I know so.”

Chapter Text

It was a Thursday—casual Thursday. The city had been quiet for the time being, which was bound to end at some point. Yet the Ninja were storing up this free time to recharge—as Jay would say. It was so quiet that the group had been able to stick to a schedule. 

And Thursdays were booked out, for Jay and Nya. 

“Do you want to head out now?” Jay puffed out a sigh, sinking into the back of their purple couch before peering at Nya and passing the controller towards Zane. 

“Sure.” Nya pushed herself up from the floor, leaving her tinkering device on the table. 

“Where are you two going?” Kai spoke up, glancing towards the two shuffling towards the exit, trying not to draw too much attention. 

“Mega Monster Amusement Park.” 

“It closed down.” Zane pointed out.  

“Wait what?” Jay was sure the theme park was still open—even though the last time he had visited was two years ago. It was the only theme park he knew of. How could the only theme park in Ninjago close? 

“What other theme parks are there?” 

“Ninja Land.” Cole added mindlessly, staring blankly at his score increasing in the corner of the screen. 

“Ninja Land?” 

“It’s a theme park dedicated to the Ninja, us, but it’s called Ninjago World.” Zane corrected. 

“Ninjago World?”

“We should all go.” Kai suggested. 

Jay whipped his head in the direction of the fiery red, observing how the older Ninja failed to acknowledge Jay’s harmless glare.  

Zane nodded. “That’s a good idea.” 

That sounded like a terrible idea. 

Jay wouldn’t be able to get a moment with Nya by himself. It was their special date day and if everyone was going, how far could you call it a date at that point? 

“Won’t we be swarmed? It’s a theme park about us.” Cole coughed up, whilst slamming his fingers on the buttons of the controller. “So many fans would be there.”

“Live a little Cole, it’s part of the fun.” Kai tuts, kicking his feet off the end of the couch.

Lloyd lifted his head from his comic, glancing towards his friends before adding his input. “Cole is right, we’re practically walking right into chaos.” 

The room fell into silence.

Kai continued to scroll on his phone, shifting slightly to obtain a more comfortable position. Lloyd’s attention fell back towards the new issue of the comic, Starfarer. Cole and Zane continued with finishing off a few levels of Prime Empire whilst Nya and Jay, stood beside the door, hesitant to move, too nervous to breathe too loudly. 

It was their designated date day. The only day during the week when the two could spend some quality time together without anyone watching—no paparazzi, no crazy fans, no Sensei’s and no siblings.

But of course, they couldn’t say that.

It wasn’t as simple as “we’re going on a date, don’t disturb us, thanks!” The two Ninjas could only wish that life dedicated to saving their world and fighting dangers could be simple. 

“I’ve got a great idea!” Jay bounced up, with a whizz of his elemental power thrashing inside him. The lightning within always seemed to stir more powerfully as his excitement rose. 

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t we split into pairs? So, me and Nya will go today. Kai and Zane can go tomorrow and Cole and Lloyd can go the next day. That way we limit the possibility of being seen.” He beamed enthusiastically at this ‘idea’. It would be perfect for him and Nya to have their alone time, to finally get to find comfort in each other’s company. 

“But then we won’t be able to experience it all together.” Cole pouted, leaning on Zane for moral support.

Out of all the people who would complain, Jay had hoped it wouldn’t be his best friend holding him back from some time with his Yang. 

Silently—and quite in-explicitly—Jay widened his eyes at the raven head, slowly tilting his head both ways as a way to indicate they weren’t going to play this playful bickering game right now. 

“We can experience it vicariously. Good? Good! Alright, that’s settled! Me and Nya will be heading off then and we’ll let you guys know all about our fantastic trip!” Jay spat out rapidly, clutching onto Nya’s hand and dragging her along with him out of the room—away from squinting eyes.

“Come on, we’ve gotta dash before they come racing after us!” He whispered towards her, continuing to drag Nya to where his car was parked. 

—

The ride towards the theme park was anything but arduous. Not when Jay Walker was racing past cars, eager to begin a date he was looking forward to all week, due to his new speeding ability where he could speed up the vehicle all thanks to his Elemental Power.

Being a mechanic with a power fastening one’s speed was a blessing in disguise. At least, that’s what Jay believes. 

And being a genius, a mechanic and an Elemental Master of Lightning was beyond phenomenal, because Jay Walker was always prepared.

A car break down? Tools were stored in the back. In need of water and food? Bottled water and packets of crisps with noodles were tucked underneath a blanket in the corner. In need of new clothes? In the compartment, there was a variety of clothes, because Jay has learnt that one can never be too prepared when it comes to clothes. 

Which led to him being the one to offer a disguise and how the two Ninja now ditched their gi’s to wear jeans, with short tops and low caps to hide their faces more discreetly.

As the two adventured in, buying tickets and trailing their fingers along the map of the theme park, Nya’s hand squeezed his arm as no one had spotted them. Mission successful, for now. 

“What ride do you want to go on first? Ninja Drop, Haunted Monastery, Bounty Slide?”

“Bounty Slide?” Nya repeated, with hints of confusion. 

A hum slipped from the auburn-haired boy, as he yanked the map closer towards his eyes, staring more intensely at the names of the rides and short drawings of them. 

“I think it’s a water slide.” Jay confirmed, listening to a noise of acceptance followed by Nya. 

“What about that one?”

Jay peeked upwards, following Nya’s finger as it pointed towards a red rollercoaster, swirling into different colours of blue, green, white and black. 

“Uh…” Jay squinted at the ride, before staring down at the map gripped by his fingers. “The… Spinjitzu Blast?”

“Yeah. It reminds me of that rollercoaster you saved me on, on our first date. Remember?”

“Of course I remember. I was a snake and I just found out you were the Samurai I was bad-mouthing earlier.” He regretfully admits, sulking slightly as he stuffs the map into his back pocket. 

“Nothing can top a date like that.”

“Nothing indeed.”

“Let’s hurry, before the line gets too long!” Nya slipped her hand around his, tugging him alongside her as the two trod down the pebbled ground.

In the distance, there are a few murmurs from passing citizens. A waft of freshly baked goods fills their noses as they pass a restaurant located opposite the ride. 

Jay’s eyes fall upon everything coming into his vicinity: the citizens, buildings, other rides, bins, even posters with their faces on them. The Blue Ninja still isn’t entirely sure how no one has recognised them.

On the other hand, Nya’s focused on snatching a good seat on the ride and she manages to get the third row in. Tucking one foot in, and then the other, she lowers herself onto the seat, patting next to her and waiting for Jay to follow. 

The freckled boy glances towards the ride, making a mental note of how many twirls and loops there seemed to be—not too many, before shifting uncomfortably in the seat beside his Yang. 

A click disrupts his train of thought, as Nya’s already clicked his seatbelt in for him.

“Are you nervous?” 

“A little. I haven’t been on a rollercoaster since that disaster.” Jay admitted, biting his cheek and wiping away the excess sweat building on his palms on his jeans. 

Nya shuffled closer, trying not to manoeuvre too harshly in case the seatbelt clutching around her waist came loose. “It wasn’t that bad.” 

“You were chained to a rollercoaster that wouldn’t stop, had a hole in the track with a fire ring in the middle. How was it not that bad?” A light chuckle slipped from his lips, as he shook his head—shocked from how unfazed she was.

“After everything we’ve been through, it doesn’t seem that bad looking back.”

“True.” He shrugs. 

The two have already been through so much and they hadn’t reached halfway to the age of retirement. When will it be enough?

Fighting Sky Pirates.

Destroying an evil Overlord. Twice.

Falling into an endless scheme of manipulation and resurrection of pure wickedness.

The list didn’t seem to end. 

“Do you think we’ll ever catch a break?” The question was almost too quiet to be picked up on, completely passing through the wind as if it was nothing but a speck of dust—not an important question at all. But it was.

“You’re asking that before we go upside down on this rollercoaster? Your timing is incredible.” She scoffs, with playfulness. 

“What can I say? My mind moves as fast as grease lightning.” Jay grins, staring straight forward. Yet he can feel her gaze burning through his hidden facade. 

“What does that even mean?” In the corner of his eye, he can notice the shaking of her head and make out a light giggle. Her voice is full of joy—or adrenaline rising from the fact that they were strapped onto a thrilling ride about to take off at any moment. 

“Stick around and see.” 

His question goes unanswered and the freckled Ninja knows he won’t be able to squeeze out an answer from his Yang now. Maybe later, when the two would be winding down, cuddled up in each other’s arms as the day begins to hit them—and build up their fatigue.

However, he’s swiftly forgetting that he had even asked that question as the ride bumps before moving forward. 

There’s a sudden screeching as the wheels of the ride scratch against the rails. Behind and in front of the two Ninjas, there is a similar screeching of other citizens beginning to scream.

Clutching onto the metal bar, Jay tried to drown out the noise, squeezing his eyes shut and feeling soft skin tighten around his gripped hands—Nya. 

He shouldn’t feel this sick on a rollercoaster. He’s ridden dragons before, driven jets. He’s a natural in the air. Jay Walker is natural in the air, but right now all he wants is for his feet to touch the ground.

The wind rushes past his cheeks, blowing back curly locks of his auburn hair out sticking out from underneath his cap. His eyes are still firmly shut, but the shouts of joy ringing from beside him—coming from Nya—paint a picture in his mind. Nya, with her hair blowing freely from the red cap, failing to hide her beaming spirit as the wind works with her instead, never once slicing past her but pushing her arms up, flailing them joyously. 

It’s a sight he wishes he could see, wishes he could open up his eyes to capture the moment. 

But it ends far too quickly. 

For the moment he manages to squeeze one cobalt eye open, the ride’s finished. Nya’s still grinning widely, excitement coursing through her veins and Jay’s feeling his shoulders begin to shake at the relief that she enjoyed herself—even if he didn’t. 

Until she turns to him and stuns him completely. “Again?”

“Again?” He repeats incredulously, blinking at her madly. 

She bites back a laugh at his expression, before placing a gentle hand on his cheek. “How about we go check out the Bounty Slide?

“Sounds great.” Jay huffed out, clutching onto his Yang’s hand and leaning his weight onto her for support. “I wouldn’t mind a bit of water this time round.”

Chapter Text

“Please could you pass the wrench?”

There’s a distant shuffle, a few clanging of metal and clicking of boots colliding with the concrete floor. Suddenly a hand is poking out from behind Jay, passing the tool he had asked for. “Here.” 

Nya drops the wrench into his hand, quickly stepping away from Jay as he whispers a swift “thank you.”

Since Nya returned from her disaster of a trip, she’s been unusually silent. This wouldn’t be that much of a distraction for Jay if she were working on something. However, she had been watching him repair the wing of the jet she had crashed, and it had been oddly quiet for a while now. 

A few hours ago, Nya had been persuaded to take Jay's new jet out for a spin—and to take care of some minor errands. The Water Ninja had never once flown a jet, but the Lightning Ninja reassured her it would be a breeze and continued to prattle about the similarities of flying a jet and flying the Bounty. 

An hour later, Jay received a call.

He dropped his controller onto the couch and answered, falling silent to the distressed words that spluttered across his speaker before he followed the signal to Nya.

Seeing the damage first-hand wasn’t that much of a hit. Parts of one of the wings were missing, meaning he most likely wouldn’t be able to fly it for a few weeks—not until the repairs were done at least.

The most distressing thing for Jay Walker was staring at how his girlfriend trudged up and down the empty street, a hand tugging at the roots of her raven frizzled hair and teeth chattering away. 

He never had the displeasure of seeing such a scene until now. And even as she rattled out apologies and incoherent blabbers of what should have been words, his eyebrows trembled as her body refused to stop. 

She had been silent ever since they attached the broken jet to the back of a vehicle, only uttering a few words at a time.

Nya’s much more upset than he is. Sure, his invention had been broken but it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Now he could change the structure of the wings without wasting more material.

Perhaps if he could show her how unbothered he is by the disaster, maybe she’ll open up. 

Jay only knows one way to combat her uneasy silence, with his special ability.

His Mouth of Lightning. 

“So… How did you do this again?” He cheekily asks, knowing the full story, but feigning ignorance to try and lighten the tense atmosphere growing from behind him. 

It wasn’t the best question to ask, he’s aware of that. Even so, it’s worth a try. 

Nya huffs at that question. “You know I don’t fly jets, that’s more your department.” She folds her arms against her chest definitely, refusing to look at the growing smirk on his freckled face.

“I know but you look good behind the wheel.” He shoots a small compliment, turning back to face her with a widening grin.

However, her smile is upside down and her eyebrows are furrowed and she begins to stare at him glumly, unimpressed with his attempt to flirt.

Not in a jokey mood. That’s alright.

“You don’t think so?” He’s pushing his limit, because Nya’s now biting her lips, holding back words she doesn’t want to say but they still boil within her either way.

She’s not moving towards him, not opening her mouth to utter anything. The silence between them grows thicker than persistent weeds.

The only tune there seems to be is the scraping of metal against a different type–creating a shadow of uncomfortability glooming over the basement. 

That is till there’s a sniffle echoing from wall to wall of the basement. 

“I’m sorry.” Nya interrupts what would have been a prolonged period of stillness, slipping the words out slightly abruptly, but more breathlessly as if she were rushing to spit them out. 

“What for?” He raises an eyebrow, letting it quickly drop as he remembers his back is facing her. 

He can’t lose her just yet.

Jay has to carry the conversation on. Not for any sense of awkwardness, but for a stronger balance in their relationship. 

“For this.”

A sudden gust of wind trickles past from behind him.

“It’s a quick fix. Don’t worry about it.” He tries to reassure her and refuses to turn around in case she becomes more upset. 

Over the years they’ve spent together, Jay’s become more familiar with knowing how he should approach Nya when she was feeling a certain way. This way was always successful when he allowed her to express herself, without overbearing with her too much—good or bad.

“But I know you love this jet.” Nya pleads to herself and part of her pleads that he’ll truly forgive her and that she’ll believe it.

“Yeah, but you know what I love more?”

“Please don’t say anything cheesy right now.” She slumps down desperately against the railing.

He falls silent to this, narrowing his eyes as he tries to get a better look at the damage done to the wing. 

He doesn’t want to annoy her. 

There is one other thing he can do. 

Once again, Jay speaks up, breaking the eerie silence and hovering the wrench above the damage he was fixing. “Do you want me to teach you?”

When she fails to respond, he reiterates and keeps his cobalt eyes fixed on the ends of the wings. “Do you want driving lessons?” 

“I know how to drive.” There’s reluctance in her tone, only being emphasised by how she catches her breath for a second.

Quickly, Jay notices how Nya’s foot begins to dig into the concrete ground.

Wrong wording. He’s losing her. 

“So flying lessons?” He rapidly responds, with his hand grip on the wrench tightening as he eagerly awaits a response. 

Nya almost splutters, seeming completely bewildered by his offer. “Flying lessons?”

“Yeah, driving but in the air.” He turns towards Nya, giving her a bright grin.

Her eyebrows are tilted up, with a dimple appearing beside her lips pulled into a straight line. “Not exactly the same, but pilots have to learn to fly a plane.” He pulls the wrench away from the wing, flapping his arms in the air dramatically–yet carefully so he wouldn’t hit Nya.

As he waits for a response, he analyses how her face remains unreadable, blank. She’s not smiling, or frowning—he knows this as he can’t spot her usual dimple whenever she smirks or when she pulls an indifferent expression. 

He’s ready to turn back to the mess waiting patiently in front of him, realising and nearly accepting that Nya’s not ready to engage in a conversation or anything more. 

Until she blinks, steals a breath and pushes her chest upwards. 

“Okay.” She whispers softly.

“Yeah?” Jay prods, hoping she’ll be clearer with her answer. 

And she does exactly that. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a lesson or two.”

Those words settled within his chest, better than music to his ears—it was a whimsical melody played by an orchestra. Unconsciously, he slipped out a sigh of relief, and peeked at her once again, catching a faint smile beginning to tug at the corner of her lips. 

“For safety precautions?” He adds.

“Yeah, for safety precautions.”

He gestures a free gloved hand towards her, and Nya takes hold of his palm tightly, intertwining their fingers.

The two Ninja swiftly settle next to one another, with Jay now pointing out certain aspects of the jet that other automobiles don’t have, along with describing their purpose.

“You see we have the wings to generate a force. This force works against gravity, and then the thrust works right along these edges.” He traces a finger along the sides where the wings tilt to a certain degree. “That helps push the jet forward.” 

“And I broke the left one.” Her face turns sour, whilst leaning her head on his shoulder—pushing all of her body weight onto him, to hold them both up.

It’s an action that he’s done for the two many times, and an action she tends to reciprocate when he needs a moment.

“Yes, but all we need is some steel.” Diligently, Jay leans towards the left, scraping all the steel he dumped into his palm. “Which I have acquired.” The charm in his grin is quickly lit once more, before he wraps one free hand around her arm, placing a new welding tool into her arm with the other placing the steel meticulously together.

“Now, weld. Like you usually do. We’ll replace some parts and repair the rest. Like we usually do.”

Chapter Text

An array of coloured flowers surrounds the Ninja. Bees, that managed to squeeze into the open door, fly past their ears and the cascade of sniffles and sneezes from pollen floating in the air had increased.

A few hours ago, the Ninja had departed from Chen’s Noodle’s house and stumbled across what seemed to be a robbery in a florist shop. Jumping straight into action, they put an end to the robber within minutes.

Nothing too serious. Not for them at least. 

“Do you want to wait for the police to arrive before I call Pixal?” 

“That’d be great Zane. Thanks.” Lloyd nodded in the direction of the Titanium Ninja, before turning back to one of the workers and listening to their words of appreciation. 

“Hey look! This flower blends in with my suit.” Kai puffed his chest out, flaunting his gi next to a rose that blended with his fiery red.

“Do you see any that match mine?” Cole scrunched his face up, searching for a flower to match his darkening suit. 

“Why would a florist have black flowers? That would be really gloomy.” Kai narrowed his caramel eyes, examining the flower he plucked from the bouquet more closely. 

“An orange flower then.” 

Jay shook his head, tutting before inputting his own opinion. “There’s no orange on your suit.” 

“Yes there is.” Cole argues, tilting his head to the side—daring Jay to continue. 

“No there isn’t.”

A deflated chuckle—almost a condescending one—slips from Kai, as he shakes the spikes of his hair humorously. “Even Jay can see the colours of your suit more clearly.”

“Fine, this one doesn’t but some of my gi’s do have orange accents.”

“Yeah and it’s the size of a thread.” Kai scoffed, resting his left arm onto Cole’s shoulder. 

“Still orange though.” Cole smirked, realising that he had now gained an upper hand in the argument. 

“Okay, your gi’s have orange with them. Cool. Now help me find a rose that matches Nya’s colours.” Jay poked Kai’s arm, managing to cough out a whine from the hot-head. “Please.” 

“You’re going to buy a flower for Nya?” Cole questioned, picking up a yellow sunflower and comparing it towards his head. 

“For my Yang, yep.” He confirmed, grinning excitedly as the word “Yang” slipped out from his lips.

“Do you have to keep saying that?” Kai groaned, rubbing a hand across his sweaty face. 

“Saying what?”

“That she’s your Yang.”

Jay shrugged, rolling his eyes at feeling the growing annoyance burning inside Kai. “But she is.” 

“And you’ve said it about a million times today.” 

“I’ve just got to remind you that she’s my Yang.”

“I know she’s your Yang. I was there when you asked her. You told me first! I helped you practice for it!” The Fire Ninja yells, catching the attention of a few passerby’s and the other Ninja. 

“Well Kai, you don’t have the best memory. Things slip your mind so easily, it’s all that hair gel cogging up your brain power.” Jay points towards his brain, mimicking the expression of shock. 

“That’s it, I’m going to burn all the flowers that have her colours.” A flame lights in the palm of Kai’s hand, whilst his lips are pulled into a tight line—showing complete disinterest in hearing out the Lightning Ninja. 

“NO!” Jay jumped towards the brunette, chucking his hands out to try and prevent another disaster. 

“You do realise if you did that you’d have to pay for them?” Zane chimes in, watching how Kai’s flame slowly flickered to nothing. 

Cole interrupts the sizzling tension in the shop filled to the brim with a variety of flowers. “I found one!”

The auburn haired boy turns on his foot, hope bubbling within him because he can’t bear to look at any more flowers. All of the colours are melding into a catastrophic one. 

“That’s maroon.” Jay replied bluntly, feeling hopeless again, with his smile dropping to a frown within seconds. 

“Yeah, maroon is part of her gi.”  

“Are there no light blues?” Jay whines, huffing at his failed attempt to woo his Yang. 

“Roses don’t naturally come in the colour of light blue.” Zane swiftly answers, raising a finger in the air more robotically than usual. 

“It’s a perfect rose that has her colour. What’s the problem?” Kai tilts his head, now unsure of Jay’s insistent determination towards finding a rose that was perfect for her. 

“I’m not looking for anymore.” Cole adds, spitting out the words before Jay pleads for him to continue looking. 

“Go pay for it so we can leave already. The pollen is tickling my nose.” Kai joins in, wrinkling his nose and holding back an upcoming sneeze. 

“Fine. Give it here.” Jay holds his hand out. 

The rose’s fits perfectly in his palm and instinctively his fingers clutch onto the stem. It is perfect. The petals are outwards—but not too far that it poses oddly. It’s blossomed wonderfully.

“Hurry!” 

The auburn haired boy grunts, moving his elbow around. “Okay, okay. Don’t rush me!”

The blue boy trods towards the counter, catching eye contact with the florist rearranging the money in their register. 

“Hi! How much for just this one lovely flower?” He points the rose up, opening his palm for the florist to examine it more intensely. 

“It’s on the house! For your help today.” The florist smiles gently, wrapping a finger and closing Jay’s open palm around the rose.

“Thanks!” He grins widely, now turning around to try and spot his Yang.

His electric eyes buzz around the room, with a few loose curls hiding the ceiling from his view. Kai’s stood beside Cole, the two smirking to one another as Zane’s holding back a rising laughter at their antics.

But he hasn’t spotted her yet.

Through the window, Jay notices the police car pulled up with a few officers opening up their doors.

But still no Nya.

His eyes skim over the room once more until they land on a raven ponytail, and a look that makes the freckled boy flush. 

Nya’s stood beside Lloyd, nodding and listening attentively to the police department confirming details whilst the others detain the robber. 

His feet race over towards her, slowing down the moment he stands behind her back, fiddling with the rose. 

Jay bows in front of her, feeling a pain in his cheek from his widening smile. A light chuckle echoes from above.

Music to his ears. 

“A rose for my rose.” 

"I thought I was your waterlily." Nya spins the stem between her fingertips, slipping a sly glance at the flushed boy.

"You're a rose. You're a waterlily. You're the whole garden of flowers." He admits, with love pooling within his flickering blue eyes.

She shakes her head softly, leading to the ends of her fringe wavering above her eyelashes.

She’s beautiful. 

Nya brings the rose to her nose, taking a deep breath and fluttering her eyes shut for the moment. “You should have told me you were getting me a flower. I would’ve gotten you one too.” 

“But then you wouldn’t be amazed to the very core.” 

“Who said I was amazed?” Nya squints but the question comes out with a tone he hasn’t truly mastered in understanding—yet. 

“You’re not?” He furrows his brows, pouting his lips in a jokey way. 

She slips her hand around his wrist, drawing him in closer, so close he can feel her breath against his cheek.

It falls silent. He can’t hear the distant murmuring of the others, or the shouts of the robber, pleading that it was all a big misunderstanding. 

Nya’s lips press lightly against his cheek, and once they leave, she draws herself back, observing how his freckles soon become unrecognisable from how red his face had gotten. “Thank you.”

So worth it. 

The Blue Ninja turns back around to see Kai and Cole trailing behind them, with thumbs in the air and goofy grins. 

Chapter Text

Working in the Administration was like having lives being sucked out of souls. At least, that’s what it was like for Jay.

He had always imagined that he would’ve done something extraordinary in his past, like build human wings, travel to the Moon, or maybe fight Sky Pirates—which is totally impractical because Pirates love the sea, just like him.

Or he likes to believe he would love the sea, because the closest he’s ever seen it is through a digital screen. 

And the furthest he’s ever gotten to experiencing the sea is through the hard water gushing from the tap in the break room.

The ebbing and flowing of each precise drip before it splatters onto the metallic sides of the sink. It’s so refreshing, which is why he’s certain he’ll love the sea.

“That or the sound of nothing but the waves. No more ruckus.” He whispers to himself, tightening his grip around his coffee. A coffee that was now turning cold from his lack of attention.

The break room’s empty. No agents in sight and Jay had planned for it to be this way. Over the past few months, he meticulously noted when there was a rise in workers rushing towards the room, in need of a break, and when there was no one in sight. 

He couldn’t bear to sit around for another half an hour listening to a story an agent spewed out that had no plot.

The room was empty.

Until a man busted in, breath heavy and running the silence and his trousers rolled up, displaying his sweaty body hair for all of the Administration to witness. 

“We’ve captured it!” Someone else shouts—most likely the other agent returning from a mission—before rushing into the room. 

The word that spikes Jay's curiosity is the rise of ambiguity. It’s very rare that you hear an agent call something, or someone, “it” in a place like this. 

“Captured what?” Jay speaks up, narrowing his eyes at the beaming man.

“Oh Agent Walker! I didn’t see you there. Me and Agent Nefarious just captured a sea creature.” The agent with sweaty body hair on display answers, pointing towards the other loud one. 

“Who?” Jay narrows his eyes, peering towards the man. 

“Agent Nef-”

“No. Who? What sea creature?” He shakes his head, cutting the agent off. 

“This creature, made entirely out of water. God, it was a one heck of a beauty.” The man grins, far too cockily for a beginner. 

“Where is it now?”

“Locked in some box filled with water.”

“Where?” He presses with urgency. Which is considered odd for him, because Agent Walker is known for investigating the items others bring in.

Agent Walker isn’t known for even caring about what missions others were assigned to or completed. But this one is different.

“Uh, it should be just through those double doors. Unless someone’s moved it already.” He adds, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as Jay brushes past him, with little care if he bumps into the other man.

Hastily, he pushes the doors open, eyes frantically searching the room until it falls onto a green container filled to the brim with water. A container, the same width as his desk and as high as his desk chair. A container with a green lid, holding water.

Only water. 

“Who the hell is giving missions to these people?” Jay sneers, turning his back on the box and rolling his eyes.

Agents are being given jobs to act like lunatics and waste other people’s time and people are actually buying this crap? 

“What did you say?”

“I said, who the hell is giving missions to these Agents? They’re crazy! Bringing back a tub of water and saying there’s a creature in it. I mean they must be deprived of sleep or just human senses!” He shouts back, harshly and impulsively waving his arms in the air like he was playing a key role in the movie, Jaws. 

“Creature?”

“Yeah, they said there was some water…” He pauses, turning around to try and find the person responding to him. His eyes scan the empty room, with shelves stocked with boxes—most likely full of paperwork—but no one else in sight other than that container. 

Only this time the container with water, had brightening blue circles—shaped eerily similar to eyes—piercing through, fixated on the man in the suit. “Are you the...?”

“The?”

“Sea thing?”

“I... don't know, but I am the sea.”

“You’re the sea?”

“Yes. And what are you?"

“Agent Walker.”

“You're an Agent Walker?”

“Jay Walker. My name is Jay Walker.”

“Hello, Jay Walker.”

She tilts her head upwards, with the watery ends of what seems to be a ponytail dropping from behind her head.

She looks so much like… A real woman. A beautiful woman, with watery eyelashes that flutter shut as he gawks at her, lips that are pursed slightly, bangs that dangle above her eyebrows and a figure that was specifically crafted.

A blue woman and that seems to waver in the air. As if she’s using all of her physical strength to maintain this form. 

“What's your name?”

She tilts her head, letting her bangs flicker above her squinted eyes. “I don't know. I can't remember.”

“If you're the sea, how did you get stuck in this box?”

She quickly cuts the rest of his thoughts off. “I'm not stuck.”

“You're not?” He furrows his eyebrows, boldly questioning her. 

“No. I was curious.” She casually responds, as if being trapped in a container and brought to a storage room was more interesting than what was lurking in the sea.

And perhaps it was, for her.  

“You made the wrong call. How are you going to escape?” Agent Walker folds his arms, examining how the lady—sea?—pokes the container lid.

“I’m not stuck.”

“You’ve already said that.” 

“And I meant it. I’m choosing to be here.”

“Why?” He beckoned a reasonable response, raising an eyebrow incredulously. All Jay’s ever wanted was to be anywhere but here. 

“Why what?”

“Why would you choose to be here? You could be anywhere and you chose here?” He gestures to their surrounding, sighing as the boxes of paperwork only seem to be mocking his current situation—he has nowhere to go, but here. 

“It looked interesting.”

“This looked interesting? This place is the antonym of interesting in the Dictionary.”

“They looked interesting.”

“Who? The Agents?”

“If that’s what they were, then yes.”

He scoffs, shaking his head at her innocence. “That’s the weirdest thing anyone could admit, and I’m talking to the sea right now.”

She stares at him, blankly, nothing slipping from her watery lips. Only her bright blue eyes fixated on the agent, standing in front of her, with a hand on his hip.

“So… You don’t have a name?” He prods, elongating the ‘o’ too much to be depicted as anything but awkward.

“Should I?”

“Yeah. Everyone has a name.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, what’s your species?”

“Species?”

“What are you?”

“The sea.”

“I know you’re the sea, but what are you really?”

“Uhm, the sea.” 

“Are you like the goddess of the sea? Do you command it?” 

“I don’t think I’m a goddess.” She answers, unsure of herself. 

“You look like one.” He rapidly slips out, biting his lips a tad too late to contain himself. 

“I do?”

Roll with it. 

“Yep.” He nods, with confidence that bubbled within him mere seconds ago. 

“Have you seen many goddesses before?”

“Nope. Just you.” 

“Then how do you know I look like one?” 

“It was a compliment.”

“Oh.” She tilts her head away, and Jay swears that she’s blushing, but she’s see-through—and blue. “Thank you. You.. look like a goddess too.”

“Uh… Thanks..?” He squeaks out, earning a wince in response from himself. 

Not a natural at flirting. Or choosing who to flirt with.

A muffled voice breaks the silence between the two. “Just through these doors!”

Jay turns back towards her, watching how she innocently analyses his look of distress. Not every agent would be as curious as him, and not every agent would be as respectful. 

“You need to leave. Now.” He states, eyes flickering from her confused expression towards the door as the muffled sounds become more coherent. 

“What’s wrong?”

“They’ll lock you up or do something else if they find you here.” He rushes towards the container, lifting the lid and allowing herself to push into the air. 

Drops of water splash onto his freckled cheeks, some getting soaked onto his crinkled shirt and onto his neat tie. 

“Who?”

Jay points towards the doors, chucking the container towards the side before begging for her to follow his warnings. “Those agents. Leave.”

“What about you?” She paints a look of worry across her liquid face, which Jay flinches at—he must’ve been hallucinating it, or maybe it was the lighting. 

“I’ll be fine. I work here. Hurry.”

“I-”

The voices grow louder, and footsteps are now echoing from the sides of the wall as they increase in intensity.

“Go.” He snaps back at her, much more harshly than intended.

Her face plunges back into the water. The water splashes, until it stills with the rings of the waves stirring into nothing. He’s tempted to ask, to call her back because now he’s missing those glowing eyes. 

But he can’t. He can’t because the doors are now opening, and Jay’s biggest concern is his escape route.

Briskly, he peers around the room and finally lands on another door, surrounded by boxes, hiding in the corner.

The doors are halfway open, before he’s pushing those exit doors open racing out and into an empty hallway with piercing bright lights questioning his every move.

His mind is still tainted with the sea. The goddess, but he’s at work. 

Right. Work to do. 

The paperwork for an update on the realm re-assignment department is due. 

Trudging back to his desk, Jay glides a finger across white dividers, finally noticing the lack of colour in the workplace. All white. In some corners, there was a dull grey or a darkening black. 

He couldn’t see any blue. He’s never noticed the lack of blue before. 

Yet every time he closed his eyes, he could vividly see blue. Blue lips. Blue eyes. Blue hair. Blue everything. 

He spent the rest of his day thinking about her. The goddess of the sea. A beauty he hadn’t thought he would ever see, yet maybe this showed that his life wasn’t as boring as he thought.

Yet there she was. In a container, in a dimly lit storage room whilst he was at work. Working in the most mundane office ever known—which wasn’t many because he hadn’t been anywhere else but his apartment and the Administration. 

She plagued his mind. Her confused, innocent, blank looks. Lips that made him flush. See-through eyes that lit up the room—literally.

The sea was beautiful.

He could only dream of visiting her again, in his dreams, and that he did when he fell asleep.

When he awoke, she was still on his mind.

When he took a shower, she was there pooling beside him. He could almost reach out to hear and feel how soft her hands were. They would be damp, he assumed. If he could touch her that was.

When he was brewing a coffee, she was there near the sink. He fell so far into his hallucination of her, another agent had to turn off the tap before he flooded the break room.

When he spilt his new cup of water, she was there, bubbling from the spilt water and swirling into her form. Except this time she opened her mouth and spoke. 

She hadn’t done that before in his imagination. 

“Hello, Agent Walker. Are you busy?”

Now Agent Walker is fairly certain that he loves the sea.  

Chapter Text

An hour had passed since Nya had taken out their gi’s. The water was still rushing against the walls of the lighthouse, sweeping the remaining sand surrounding the only light, and the occasional gawking of a seagull ruined the gushing of the sea. 

The other noise evading the silence was their breathing pace and the occasional ruffling as the two manoeuvred around—trying to get comfortable.

Jay had settled against the brick wall of the lighthouse, staring openly towards the ocean. Left with only the silence of the sea and his thoughts, he had nothing else to dwell on but their situation.

Stranded—in a way—and being hunted. One to be married and the other to be taken, or killed in a sense. 

There’s a tense sigh, causing Jay to turn to the reason. Nya’s hunched over, head resting on the wooden table, contemplating every move they’ve made to get this far. He’s brought them here. He’s done this to them, to his friends, his family, his world. 

It’s as if she can feel his eyes examining her exhausted state, because she pounces right back up. 

“Are you hungry?” She raises her eyebrows, asking gently whilst snatching their bag and ruffling her hand through the contents. 

He opens his mouth, ready to respond until his stomach grumbling cuts him off. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Nya giggles slightly, eyes diverting from him to gain a closer inspection of what she was grabbing hold of. 

“What do we have again?” He peeks from his stomach towards her, rubbing a hand as if it will calm the monster. 

“Uh, noodles. Energy drinks and some snacks.” She pushes a loose hair strand behind her ear, still digging through the bag. 

“What kind of snacks?”

“Pudding, apples, Ninja Chips.” Nya mindlessly responds, still refusing to look at the growing look of hunger on the ginger-haired boy’s face.  

“You got Ninja Chips? I love Ninja Chips!” He chirps, eager to bounce from his comfortable position and race towards her. But he can’t, because things have been odd between the two.

Hugging is a thing of the past for them. 

“I know.” She gently responds, flickering towards his gaze for a second and displaying a soft smile across light pink cheeks. 

“You know?” He raises an eyebrow, peering at her cheekily. 

Nya lifts her head fully now, meeting his surprised expression. Cobalt eyes searching her chocolate ones for more than a few words of confirmation. 

She nods, confirming the truth that maybe she does know him better than he originally thought. “I know your favourite chips.” She answers, more firmly but with a lack of any negative emotion lacing the tone.

“Right, yeah. You know. Haha.” He blabbers on, feeling a rise in sweat.

She slides the chips across the table, before pulling out a pudding cup with a spoon.

Leaning over and snatching the packet from the table, Jay steals glances at her blank expression. She’s not smiling anymore, but neither is she frowning. She’s not biting her lips or pursing them. She’s not even scrunching up her eyebrows, trying to hide how she truly feels.

Nya’s always been easy to read with her facial expressions, but not this time. 

“You thought I didn’t know your favourite kind of chips?” Nya questions, peeling off the lid of the pudding cup.

“No, I… No. Uh, yeah.” Jay remains defeated, lowering his head and feeling his cheeks flush. 

“I bought your favourite dessert as well.”

“The pudding?”

“Mhm. Three tubs.” She lifts her cup, gesturing towards the dessert now in her hand as if it’s a prized possession. 

“Wow, I guess you do really know me.” He light-heartedly chuckles, ripping open the packet and slipping out a few chips. 

The moment he peers towards Nya, trying to understand how she felt from the lack of words in response, he regrets ever speaking. 

The smile fades from her face, leaving a look of deep regret—tight-lipped, wavering brows as if they were whimpering and even her dimple gave her away.

There’s the girl he could read so easily.

He wants to apologise for opening his blabber trap of a mouth. But was it too early for that? Would she be expecting him to apologise? Was it the right thing to do or was he being selfish?

During these few weeks, it’s been his main quality—being selfish. It’s been about him and how he’ll get the girl.

It’s been about Jay Walker getting what he wants and the few other weeks of continuous Scrap n Tap, the arduous scrubbing of seagull poop off the deck and the lack of pure sustenance in his body was a dead giveaway that not everything—not everyone—will make way for him. 

So was apologising being selfish? Did he need to give her time? Should he apologise just to be safe? Or was he being too cautious?

What was right and what was wrong anymore?

Jay thought he knew Nya, he believed he could understand her body language and her cryptic statements and even the blank looks. But he can’t. Not anymore.

And he knows that for sure when she says words he wasn’t expecting at all.

Words he was conflicted about saying to himself. 

“I’m sorry.”

He snaps out of his frenzied state, scoffing down a few chips and ungracefully gulping them. “Why are you sorry? I should be the one apologising.” Jay shakes his head, in denial of her words because this was out of the blue.

Out of everything that had taken place in the few weeks, everything that happened in the past day, he hadn’t expected this to have happened. 

“I was horrible to you, on the island.”  

“No, I deserved it. I lied to you over and over again.” He waves a hand up, physically trying to cut off her train of thought—but failing. 

“Yeah, you kinda did.” She admits, eyes flickering from the cup and to how she twirled her spoon in the gap she made. 

Ouch. But true. 

“But I was still a bit too harsh, and I don’t want you to see me that way.” 

“What way?” He squints his eyes, watching how she steals a breath, pushing her shoulders up before falling back down—crouched over the table. 

“Like I don’t care about how you are, or about you. Because I do.” Nya refuses to look at him once again. He understands why, because Jay notices how her eyes seem to glimmer only slightly and how she blinks quite rapidly. 

She reiterates, staring him dead in the face with a stern, sympathetic look now. “I do care.”

Their eyes meet—widened ones with honest ones, it would only lead to collateral damage.

That is if widened eyes don’t mirror the others.

It’s time he’d be honest with her. 

“I care about you too Nya. I really do and the way I acted, the wishing, the annoying.. parts, it may have seemed like I didn’t care, but I do.” He admits, huffing as if the weight of his white lies, all the hiding, had tumbled off his chest. 

“It’s okay.” She’s smiling at him, tenderly, as she’s finally pleased he’s admitted a truth, being given away by the look in his eyes. “I’m sorry for not showing you I care, more.”

“I’m sorry for not showing it either.” He adds, chucking in a few extra chips into his mouth. “And thanks for the snacks.” He sheepishly smiles, lifting the chips, earning a rustle of the chips inside.

“You’re welcome.” 

He crinkles up the packet, poking around for extra chips clinging to the sides. “We should probably think of a way to get out of this mess.” Jay points out, raising his brows at how absurd their current situation is.

“Probably.” 

Chapter Text

Jay’s been treating Nya like a drop of water rushing through the sky. He’s always watching her as if she’s about to splash against the hard oak and splatter.

It’d only gotten worse over time, which is odd because she is—or was—Samurai X.

And he knows it. 

He’s seen her fighting against snakes, against skeletons, battling bandits and criminals. But he’s still been rushing around her.

Jay’s been attending to her needs more than usual, and even though she appreciates all his support, it’s been bugging her.

She can’t pick up the wrench without him beating her to it.

She can’t decide what to make, because he’s already made her food.

She can’t train her students at her new teaching job since Jay’s already lecturing them about how they need to listen to her. 

It needs to stop. 

“We need to talk.” Nya barges into the classroom, slamming the door open and watching how the ginger winces at the sound. 

“Is something wrong?” He jumps at the concern, ready to grab hold of whatever weapon is within his vicinity.

“No and yes. It’s about us.”

Perhaps she should have planned this more thoroughly, because now many beady eyes are watching her and Jay communicate.

“You want to do that here?” He grins, sneakily glancing towards the interested students and back to her.

“No.” She spits out, grabbing his wrist and dragging him into the corridor.

Nya notes the sudden gasping and rushing of chairs being scraped against the wooden flooring, before she slams the classroom door shut.

Sensei might warn them about the dangers of leaving children in a room alone, but she has to get this out of the way. Even if it will end up with a ‘teacher day’, filled with the other teachers—the Ninja—being lectured on responsibility. 

“So, what’s wrong?” That cheeky grin has faded away, because now his pale freckled cheeks aren’t so rejuvenated, but rather solemn.

“We need to take a break.”

“A break?” His eyes widen at the words, frantically searching for some justification or explanation for this in her eyes. Nya was ready to give him one, in her mind.

It was only that her mouth wasn’t ready to spit them out. 

“Yep.” 

“Why?” He questions, rapidly, reaching out to her but hesitantly lingering in the gap between them.

“You’re just…” 

She scratches her head, trying to muster up the words that appeared in her mind before she disturbed his class.

Blank.

Nothing comes to mind. 

“Just?”

Nya begins again. “The thing is…” 

“Yeah?” He raises an eyebrow, inching closer towards her—which is not what she wants or needs right now, because the smell of his cologne is overwhelming her senses. He always douses himself in cologne, especially when he skips shower days. 

Nya takes a step back, shaking her head, feeling her sharp raven ends slice her cheeks. “Ugh. You’re treating me like I’m a baby!” 

“What? No, I’m not!” He furrows his eyebrows, refusing to give her the space she’s pleading for him to see. 

“Yes! You are! Ever since the Overlord was defeated, you’ve been really weird.” 

“Weird?” He questions, eyeing her incredulously.

“Yeah. Like why are you giving me your food, when I’m very capable of walking to the freezer and choosing what I want to eat? Or why are you constantly racing to help me, when I don’t ask for any help? And why are you always trying to finish my sentences? I can say the words, it doesn’t hurt to say words!” Nya vigorously jerks her hands in the air, watching how Jay fails to mirror her movement—fails to even move a centimetre. 

“You’re mad that I’m helping you?”

Now that the question is out, it sounds absurd. He’s making it sound absurd as he laces it with a tone filled with bewilderment.

Yet Nya knows it’s not that hard to understand.

How hard could it be? 

“No! That’s not what I mean. You know that’s not what I mean.” She waves her hand up, cutting him off. 

“I don’t know what you mean at all.”

“Yes, you do. Because you’ve never done all this before. We used to be helping one another and now you’re just helping me when I don’t need your help!”

“So, you want to help me too?”

He’s twisting her words, in a way. The way he’s painting a look of confusion as if he doesn’t understand her.

And maybe he doesn’t quite understand what she’s trying to say, but the least he could do was stop looking at her like that.

His eyebrows are turned upwards, with his smile still pleasantly on display. It’s as if he’s cracking up some sort of joke to bring light to the tense atmosphere.  

Nya’s quick to shut it off. “Stop.” 

“Stop what?”

“Stop confusing me. You’re confusing me.” Nya clams a hand over his mouth, earning a frazzled look from the lightning boy.

“You’ve been overbearing.”

“Overbearing?” He repeats muffled. 

She gives him a pointed look, daring him to mumble one more word into her hand. Jay gives in, crinkling his eyes at her and shutting them slowly, before sighing into her hand.

His left hand rests on his side, absently, whilst his other hand chases after her’s curling around his cheeks. Gently pulling her hand off his cheek, and placing it onto his chest, he sucks in a breath, giving her a look she wants to push him away for.

It’s a look of sympathy. Softness that she does not want to look at. 

“I don’t get it. I’ve been helping you, what’s the issue?” 

She pulls her hand away from his chest, using both hands to hold against herself. “You’re not helping me! You’ve been doing things that I want to do, things that I am capable of doing by myself.”

“Okay, then what am I supposed to do? Not help my girlfriend?”

“But you’re not helping me! You’re making things more difficult!”

“Okay, well then what do you want me to do?”

Nya steals a breath, shutting her eyes and shuddering for a moment to clear her head. Taking a step forward, she takes a step forward in their relationship. 

“I want you to give me space.” She asks, giving him a soft plea. 

He narrows his cobalt eyes, flickering from her eyes towards his lips. Licking his cracked lips, Jay leans forward, displaying a growing smirk on those lips.

It’s a horrible view, and she despises it when Jay tries to copy those ‘bad boy moves’.

“You’re not giving me a lot of space right now.” 

“Stop joking around, I’m serious.” She pushes herself back, glaring at him.

“I’ve got a class now Nya.” He counteracts, unfazed by the weight of her statement. 

“I know, but you didn’t seem to care before I asked for a break.” 

“I didn’t know it would turn into this.”

“Into what?” She folds her arms against her chest, tilting her head to the side and daring him to continue. 

He ignores her, turning back to the classroom and narrowing his eyes to gain a further inspection of the shadows looming behind blurred windows. “They’re probably listening to every word. Let’s talk about this later. Okay? I know I can change your mind.” He leans in, kissing her cheek before rushing back through the classroom door.

Nya stares blankly at his blue jumper, eyeing the bobbing collecting on his back. Instinctively, she wipes the kiss from her cheek, making sure he isn’t watching. 

“I knew it! You little nosy pipsqueaks!” He yells, before it muffles out as the door closes. 

Nya should have planned this out, the least she could have done is write out a full sentence or a hint towards what they could have started with—or what they could have ended with.

Or maybe she should search the dictionary for the right word and use it as a codeword, like boundaries.

Boundaries.

Yeah, they needed boundaries.

Chapter Text

Nya had arrived at the remains of her old Monastery, letting her water dragon fade and waft a swift wind of blue with droplets staining the concrete floor.

The wooden structure of the Monastery has blossomed with weeds, green vines crawling up the sides and dandelions—with an occasional pink flower—accompanying the ruins. There’s little life roaming around; a few flies are flickering around, with insects crawling up the beams and a blue butterfly that flutters right in front of her, staggering. 

A blue butterfly whose wing looks damaged from a distance, and with a hesitant flap here and there.

The insect looks hurt in Nya’s eyes, and she’s not surprised that the living creature flew here. 

No one comes up here anymore.

It’s a no show, very peaceful and full of solitude. The Monastery is rarely used by the Ninja either. 

Yet, when Nya went looking for her blue loving boyfriend, she knew of only a few places he could have wandered to. This place is one. 

“Hey.” Nya interrupts the silence, shuffling next to the silent ginger boy. 

He turns towards her, noticing her presence, before returning to the open view. “Hi.”

She pauses for a moment, searching her mind for the right sentence. For anything that won’t cause a fright to the already out-of-tune boy. 

Nya decides there’s no better way to hide it than to open the wound and feel the blood. 

She questions, leaning closer towards that lingering smell of his cologne. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He sighs, exhaustively.

“You sure? You’ve been quiet all day.” She prods, attentively. 

Jay huffs, puffing his chest out and crawling back into himself. “I don’t know. I feel like everything is crashing down all of a sudden.” 

Nya hums, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, rubbing up and down his gi—as a form of comfort.

His hands rush to his face, hiding his freckles and scars that should have been permanent away from the world.

“I just wish we didn’t have to remember. The really bad parts, I mean.” He furrows his brows, glaring out towards the light clouds as if they were the ones committing a felony against him. 

“I know.”

“And I wish it didn’t have to come to that. That ending and I’m glad that we made it out, but all the memories are like extra baggage. Baggage we don’t need more of.”

“I know.”

Jay’s clenched hands tighten, with sparks of lightning arching from the crevices. “But what I really wish for, is for us to move on.” 

She can’t spit out anything to this, because it’s her wish too. 

Nya wishes she wouldn’t wake up at odd hours, gasping for air as if she’s been shocked back alive.

She wishes she wouldn’t stumble across Jay forgetting how to use his powers, or that he could use them in the first place.

She wishes she didn’t have to scowl every time a wedding dress came in her vicinity or that Jay would limp and hop some days, as if the chain of vengestone is still clinging to his bony. 

“That’s three wishes.”

It’s his turn to fail to muster up more. “I know.”

“We don’t need wishes.” She reassures him, settling her free hand onto one of his clenched hands. “Someone wise once said, don’t wish it to happen, make it happen.” 

“How did you know about that?”

Nya leans closer, pressing her lips against her cheek. “Don’t worry about that.” 

Jay leans his head on her shoulder, leaning his weight onto his girlfriend. She’ll hold the two up for today, and every other day he needs it, because Nya knows he could reciprocate that.

Blue flutters into their vision; a bright blue butterfly, the same colour and pattern Nya saw only a few minutes ago, wanders into their eyesight. 

Only this time, it’s not wobbling in its step. 

“Pretty, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jay smiles at this, sinking closer into Nya’s warmth. His cobalt eyes are locked onto the butterfly until it disappears out of his view.

Nya’s words—or his words—seem to echo for the moment. Grasping onto the meaning, Jay notes that this may be the only time when he can make up for the overwhelming guilt clouding over him. The guilt, the worry for him, for Nya. For the others. 

“Hey, will you come here tomorrow? Same time?” Jay bumps Nya's side lightly, catching her attention.

To make amends, to make peace, he bargains with himself. 

“Sure.” Her soft smile blooms across her cheeks, as she shuffles closer to him, resting her head in the ruffles of his ginger locks.

Chapter Text

Three years. Three years of searching. Three years of filing away paperwork, whilst he secretly scouted through the network for any news.

Add on the acting like he belonged in the Administration when he knew all these years, he belonged in a Monastery. In a Monastery, alongside his family—his Sensei, his brothers, his Yang. 

The incessant blabbering by other agents wasn’t filling up the late night talks from Kai, when the two would scroll on Chirp, munching on snacks and pointing out new funny memes, or news. Or when they would speak about their pasts, running down memory lane.

Documenting every detail about where they were reassigning the bubbles wasn’t as fun as when Zane would reorganise the workshop. Jay would wander in, watching the situation beginning to unfold and dig his hands deep alongside his titanium friend.

Tapping the buttons on his controller, whilst he hid from his overload of work, was becoming tiresome, not like how he would kick Cole for slacking off. The two would squish against each other, bickering—light-heartedly—about not being at their best, before downing a soda can. Not even the crunch could replicate Cole’s prime crunched can. 

The flicking through pages could not recapture the licking of Jay’s fingers as Lloyd would scrunch his face up at the act, before the ginger would flick to the next page of their Starfarer’s comic. Lloyd would display a pointed glare, and cave, letting Jay do one last flick for that comic. 

The awkward flirting from other agents was by far the most unbearable part, because it never measured up to the jokey flirts he and Nya would share. His mouth would blabber and it would lead to hands wandering—her’s initiating it. 

Jay had spent the years researching for any appearance of his friends, whilst faking a smile and acting like he had no recollection of his past.

When he had awoken, he was determined to leave within moments. Yet agents were dragging him to a mission, casting a teleporting bubble and fumbling through the magic portal to maintain order. Or so they say. 

So he did what any reasonable person would. He ran with it.

Jay Walker, or Agent Walker—what they called him—ran out in a suit, which he wasn’t aware he was wearing, with a pair of handcuffs and a gun he had no idea how to use. 

That’s when he saw it. The world’s being merged. Parts of Ninjago were scattered across the land, with mixes of unfamiliar realms merging in. It was daunting, seeing his home settle in a place he had never come across.

The sight made him lose his breath. 

He was so star-stricken, Jay was dragged back towards the office and lectured eventually about losing focus. 

Ever since then, he had jumped every time an agent needed another for a mission and searched the grounds when others weren't looking. Jay had kept records of every bubble that appeared, every realm and destination he sent people to.

The easiest option would have been to sneak into Ninjago through the portal, the only issue was that Jay had no clue if the Ninja still resided there. They were split up. He ended up in an office room, with a sharp suit clinging to his frame. He couldn't be sure if anyone stayed in the Monastery, much less if there was even one left in pieces. 

So for the remaining time, he scouted through unfamiliar lands, recording any details and news he could snatch from citizens on any information about the Ninja. It always ended unsuccessfully. 

The time spent searching slowly decreased as his mind became more tired with the reminder that he may never find them.

Him and Kai may never get to sit down at the table, chatting at late hours. Cole may never get to roll his eyes at Jay’s antics. Zane won’t get to be told what’s new and what certain terminology—memes—mean. He and Lloyd will most likely never get to see who makes the better sandwich with an odd ingredient.

He’ll never get to hear Nya’s laugh, see how her eyes flick from him or how she’ll brush her hand attentively against his arm. 

Those thoughts led to him refusing to go on missions, feeling hopeless before he began searching. 

Which led to him idly standing in the break room, clutching onto a cold coffee cup, staring blankly at the bleak walls. 

His breaks were now mundane and pessimistic. 

Until an odd break occurs on a Thursday. 

“We need more hands.” An agent bursts in, breathing heavily and spitting out words faster than his brain could wrack them together. 

“For what?” Jay responds, unimpressed at the lack of preparation. 

“For this mission. There’s some source of unregistered magic, but somebody is holding us back.” The agent pushes a hand through their messy hair, using their last free minutes to readjust their tie. 

“Just one person?” Jay questions, unamused.

“Yes. She’s very fierce.” The agent's eyes widen at this, before snapping their head in every direction—as if they were about to be mauled by the attacker. 

“You’re telling me you can’t take on one person?”

“Well-”

“Well, what? It’s one person. What’s the worst she can do? Kick you?” Jay snorts.

“She has some sort of magical power.”

“What?” Jay shakes his head, furrowing his brows. The agents were only getting crazier as the years passed.

“Yeah! She does these weird hand gestures and then liquid comes flying at us!” 

“Liquid? Like, water?” He chokes at this, scrambling towards the agent for confirmation. 

“Yes…?” The agent confirms, squeamishly.

“Yeah. Okay. I can help.” He nods rapidly, letting go of his grip on the agent. “Let’s go now.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Hurry! Cast a portal man!” 

The blue bubble forms around them, with Jay ushering the agent through and swiftly following.

Jay’s foot collides with a purple floor, cracks of blue rushing widely through. From a distance, he can hear an echo of agents screaming and racing towards his direction.

It wasn’t fairing well. 

“They’re crazy!” One agent yells, rushing past Jay, hands waving in the air frantically. 

“That’s what happens when you try to take things that aren’t yours!”

Three years and this is it. An eerily familiar voice, as if it’s only been three minutes since they last spoke.

All of their memories come rushing back, flooding his brain with her smile, her frown, her dimples, her strained voice, her upbeat tone, her skip, her run, her gleam, her shadow.

Reluctant eyes search for the one who’s filling his eyes. However, he witnesses rocks etched with frowns, growling at men and women rushing through the land, tumbling as their trousers catch in the dying twigs. 

The Elemental Master of Water has her fighting stance ready, with her arms moving gently with the air, commanding the water in bubbles to launch harsher than any weapon could. 

“Agents, stay on top of your game. We do not want to be ambushed, again!”

He couldn’t care less about how the agents are looking at him incredulously. Look for eternity, stare, take pictures! All that matters in his view, his Yang with her forehead creased and fury rushing through her veins. 

“You guys just can’t take a hint.” She sneers, pulling her hands down and commanding the water to create a greater distance.

Her raven hair is pulled back in her ponytail, swishing as the water flows through the air. It’s captivating.

She staggers forward, brushing a hand against those cherry lips—ones he’s so desperately missed. Jay follows her, stumbling forward because if this was a dream, he would capitalise on every second he spent in her arms.

Without thinking, he calls out to her, pausing in his steps.

Chocolate eyes meet cobalt ones once again, after three years. 

—

“Nya?”

A chill runs up her spine. It can’t be. 

Can’t be. 

It can’t be.

It shouldn’t be.

How could it be?

It is.

It is, because that familiar voice has a face to it, a body that she swears looks a bit too solid to be imagining. With freckles dusting over cheeks, cobalt eyes tearing up and a smile that’s memory was beginning to fade fills her view.

His name is on the tip of her tongue, begging to slip out, to be uttered once more.

Her bottom lip begins to wobble, with her eyebrows trembling copying the rest of her body. Nya can’t hold herself up anymore.

Not when he’s watching her with soft eyes.

Water splashed against the ground, as her hands slapped against her thighs—losing all energy.

Jay takes this as a silent moment to move first, striding towards her with his arms wide open.

"You're here? You're actually here?" She questions, pinching herself to wake up from this dream. 

“Why don’t you pinch me instead?” He grins, playfully, inching closer towards her.

The two collide in an instant. Nya wraps her arms around his neck, whilst he protectively pulls her closer towards him, gripping onto her waist. 

“Where have you been all these years?”

“Searching for you.” 

“Have you found the others?” Nya presses her head into the crook of his neck, sniffling more abruptly. 

“Not yet.” He responds, brushing the loose strands and leaving a sweet peck on her raven hair.

“I’ve missed you so much.” She whispers, allowing one tear to slip and drop onto his wool blazer.

“I’ve missed you too, so much, but we’ve still got a bit of a problem on our hands.” Jay grumbles, resting his head on top of hers. 

“Those weird men in suits?”

“Those weird men in suits.”

Nya groans, rubbing her head away from peering eyes of the agents and the Craglings. 

“Wanna see something cool?”

The Water Ninja pulls her head back, examining that glint in her Yang’s eyes. A spark that only lights when he’s ready to pull either an impressive new move, or something incredibly reckless.

But Nya’s missed him, so she can indulge in his antics.

She shakes her head, biting back a giggle that only Jay Walker can cause. “Sure.”

Chapter Text

Every day is the same.

Rogue wakes up, in Ras’s quarters, next to Cinder—a man of little compassion. Ras is yelling at everyone in sight, a snake boy stands tall, ready for orders. A teenage girl, with crimson hair, swooped into a ponytail grumbling incoherently as Cinder smirks, whispering about how superior he is. He’s experienced this before, now many times. 

The odd thing is that he’s Rogue.

Not Jay Walker anymore.

He knows about Ras’s lies. Yet he’s forced to relive this same day. 

In the morning, he is expected to wake up, train, yam something down, sit around and then head to fight the Water Ninja. He failed the first time he did it. 

Rogue’s been failing every other time.

Only this time, it’s different.

The Elemental Master of Water isn’t rushing towards him, holding her hands out and pleading that she knows him. Or that she loves him.

Rather the opposite.

She scowls, frowns, and groans whenever he opens his mouth—before he utters anything. It’s the only thing that has changed in the continuous loop of this day. 

At first, he didn’t make it to their fight. The moment he woke up in the sleeping quarters, he packed his belongings and dashed for the route home. Rogue made it halfway through the woods before he blacked out and woke up in the same position the next morning. 

The second time he tackled Ras to the ground, scarring hands wrapped around fur—failing to choke the raging animal. The Lightning Master spewed out curses, calling out the lies that were uttered to him. Until he felt a harsh hit on the back of his head. He woke up in the same position he had yesterday, arms spread across his flat futon with drool dripping down his mouth.

Day after day, after day. It was the same situation, different actions and similar consequences. 

For a week straight, he had been reliving the same day, trying to take down Ras. He succeeded on the last day. His breath was heavy, as the body of an unconscious ex-master weighed his back down.

When he woke up, same position, same drool, he figured it wasn’t Ras.

The anger towards the liar wasn’t the reason he was repeating this day.

Perhaps killing him was the action that had to be sought out, but Rogue put it off, telling himself he would take that route as a last resort. Not for any particular reason.

From those many days, he left Ras alone. Restricting his anger and biting his tongue when rebelling bubbled within him. 

Rogue tried carrying out the day exactly as he remembered. Moving a certain way, because that’s what he had done the first time he experienced this day. Spoke certain words because that’s what came to mind when he first lived through this day—which ended up out of order as Nya didn’t act the same way she did.

Which led to an overwhelming yell once he realised he hadn’t broken the cycle. He was still destined to fight the Water Ninja that same day. 

Every day, he was anticipating that fight. Not because he was curious to see what tactics she would use to block him—and make him lose—but to build up the hope that the same day would stop repeating if he took a different turn. 

For the first time, he carried out the same movements, the same words as he had in his memories. 

He failed in stopping the loop.

Rogue then decided to work on winning against Nya, which miserably failed on many accounts. The man would limp back to the room with bruises—some acquired from his falls and some accidentally from his opponent. 

Numerous fails, tiresome strategising and many sore bones later, he had achieved it.

He won the round.

Rogue soon realised he would need to take another route if he hoped to escape the dreaded loop.

Once again, he’s standing on the battle ground again, listening to the two being introduced and words of encouragement being echoed from both sides, before being drowned out by Roby and the crowd.

His mouth is moving by itself, tired of how his brain is rummaging around for something new to get out of this loop. 

“Don’t you remember me?” He questions, sparking up his palms. “You kept talking about how I was the love of your life?”

“What?” Nya furrows her brows, squinting incredulously at the man inching closer into dangerous territory. 

“I mean, I didn’t believe you then and still don’t.” Rogue stretches, clenching his fists. “But it doesn’t mean I’m not interested.”

“What are you talking about? Did you hit your head too hard?” She sneers, staggering backwards to create more distance between the two.

“What are you talking about? You spent so long trying to convince me that we were together, that we were perfect and that you loved me more than anyone! What happened to that?” 

Chocolate eyes are widened out of fear—fear at his frantic state. Rogue’s rushing his hands through his curled auburn locks, already missing his greasy ponytail. He just wants this treacherous day to be over already.

“I don’t know who you are.”

“Stay focused Nya!” The green one—Lloyd, he remembers—reminds her.

The raven haired Ninja ignored the blonde, tilting her head curiously at the man standing in front of her. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never had someone try to convince me that I said I loved them before.”

“Yeah, well I’ve never had anyone try to convince me that they were my lover until you showed up.” He scoffs, rolling his eyes at the irony.

Nya grumbles, flicking the fly aways of her hair back before painting on a serious expression. That look always means she’s tired—exhausted of him and his antics. From the number of battles they’ve fought, he can spot it the minute it begins to form on her pale pink cheeks. 

“And I’ve got a game to win. So let’s fight already.” 

“I couldn’t care less about the game!” He admits, sighing heavily at the repeat of the conversation.

He’s been down this lane before, it brings him nowhere new. So maybe, if he changes his direction he’ll get to the finish line. 

“Then lose or fight me, so we can speed this up!”

“Let’s give it a shot!” He blurts out, slightly regretting his decision as he watches her face morph into confusion. 

“What a shot?”

“Us! You’re always yapping about it!” He waves his hands around, trying to hide the heat rising to his cheeks. Rogue’s never asked anyone out, which he hopes isn’t obvious from the hidden stutter and hesitation growing. 

“What?” She creases her forehead, dropping her defensive pose. 

“You’ve convinced me!”

“I haven’t said anything! And I don’t want this! You haven’t convinced me!” Nya snaps back, rushing past the Elemental Master of Lightning to win the battle. 

Rogue chases after her, leaping to catch her foot. “Come on lady! I’m abiding by your rules.” 

If she grabs the dagger before him, he won’t see her for the rest of the night.

Or he will, and it will end in misfortune. For him. 

“Nya.” She spits through gritted teeth, raising her fists in her usual fighting stance as she stood on one of the sides of the tower. 

“Right, sorry. Nya.” He corrects himself, tensing up as Ras commands him to ‘finish this’. He ignores the furious shouts, focusing intensely on the Water Ninja, examining his expression. 

“You’re so…” She begins, eyes flickering to the crowd cheering above them.

“Interesting enough to say yes?”

“Odd.” Nya snaps back, cheekily, with a smirk painting pink lips.

“So odd enough to say yes to?”

She peeks behind her, watching how Lloyd, Cole, Zane, Arin and Sora watch her attentively—silently pleading for her to remain focused. Whipping her head back in his direction, she peers around her, observing every option she can take to win. 

After these passing days, Rogue’s beginning to understand how someone could like her. Nya’s gaze is locked on what she wants, to win and she always wins—when Rogue doesn’t cheat.

Within a second, she’s sending a fierce bubble of water straight for him, making him slip off the step. Whilst he’s clutching onto the wood, hoping to not bruise his back from the fall, the Water Ninja twists into the air, landing gracefully onto the top and claiming her win.

Now he’ll definitely have to live through this day again. Rogue’s certain of it.

That familiar buzzing engulfs him as his power is stripped from him and passed onto Nya. 

The raven haired woman turns to him, smiling with a hint of a smirk. “Good try. Maybe next time it’ll work.”

Rogue hopes so too.

If only she had agreed, perhaps he would have had a chance to experience some new for a change.

All he has to do is make her fall in love with him, in a day. He needs to start small, like asking her if she likes blue.

That’d be a good start for tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

Rain splatters against the wood, darkening the umber planks. The patter of the water follows the sweet rhythm of the wind, racing against the polyester sail. An occasional strike of thunder shakes the noise, begging to be feared.

On the other hand, the Elemental Master of Lightning connects to the sound.

Finally, Jay hears a tune he can understand.

“Hey.”

Cobalt eyes spin around, catching onto a raven-haired woman, idly leaning against the doors. He raises a hand out, scars travelling up his arms like the veins of his lightning abilities are rushing through.

Nya’s swift like the rain’s fall, moving towards her boyfriend as he catches her staggered movement.

“Everything okay?” She questions, peering up at the distant Lightning Master.

He hums in response, yet refuses to look at Nya’s concerned expression. His own is blank, distant, a facial expression that has taken him years to master—as he’s easily readable from his looks.

“Do you want something to eat?” Nya leans her head against his shoulder, listening to his elevated heartbeat and the soft hits of water splatter.

Jay shakes his head, letting auburn curls bounce against a sweaty forehead. He opens his mouth, feeling the crackle of his lips worsen, but no words slip out—not even a whimper.

Ever since lunch, he’s been silent. An odd word will slip out in confirmation or a rejection to a question someone will ask him, but other than that, Jay’s been avoiding them like the low tide of the ocean.

Nya, his understanding partner, saw his silence and left him be.

It was only when he wandered into her bedroom, poking his head in to see if she was busy. That was her cue to seek out the messy boy.

Her hand travels against his bicep, before reaching his cheek, cupping it. “I was going to get some pudding. Do you want some?” 

Desperately wanting to earn his voice back, he examines Nya, eagerly awaiting her response—that she understands his silence once more. And she does. 

Her blush pink lips press against his cheeks, before her hands glide away from his hold. For that very moment, Jay wants to wrap his arms back around her—protectively, possessively, it’s all mixing into one. 

The double doors creak open and creak back shut.

Jay’s left alone with the thunder and rain. He folds his legs, shuffling against the damp flooring to feel the shuddering breeze and a droplet of water separating from the crowd.

From a distance, he can hear muffled voices—his friends bickering over a new game. Usually, Jay would join in, he would be the first to start their playful fighting, yet he couldn’t.

Jay’s feet feel heavier than any brick he’s heaved up. With a dry mouth and an occupied mind, frenzied eyes focus intensely on the bolts colouring the night sky and how the droplets begin to fall, dripping like a faulty faucet. 

There’s a shuffle of footsteps, before the friction of the door being opened and the wooden flooring creaks. 

The Elemental Master of Lightning doesn’t need to turn around to see who it is. His sense is filled with that familiar smell of engine oil, metal, coconut and rain—with a hint of spice and salt. 

“A bit cold for pudding, but still nice.” Nya folds her legs, shifting to sit comfortably next to Jay before passing him the extra cold cup and a spoon. 

“Thank you.” He spits out, lifting the lid off and allowing the waft of frost to hit his already freezing cheeks.

His fingertips begin to lose focus, as the frost nips at the remaining flickers of body heat. The moment the cold pudding enters Jay’s mouth, he shivers reluctantly.

She was right, as always.

Silky raven hair tickles his nose, as Nya settles comfortably against him whilst his arm whips around her. The wave of her coconut shampoo battles against the pungent aroma of ink and oil clinging to her clothes.

It’s all so serene. The wind glided across his face, causing a tremble here and there with the lightning strikes beginning to lose their spark and the rhythmic beat of rain spitting.

Jay’s eyelids begin to droop, whilst his body leans more heavily onto Nya’s. All of his energy is being drained, yet it still feels like he should have bundles of it. The pudding cup loosens in his grip, along with a quiet clatter of his spoon colliding with wooden planks. 

The weight of their missions—all that manual work and fighting—began to wear him down. It’s always taken a while for Jay’s highs to finally settle into the dust.

A stifled yawn escapes his lips and that’s when he realises he can’t delay this oncoming sleep any longer. 

“Nya..” He mumbles, blinking slowly—as if that will keep him awake for longer—and placing his pudding cup down so it won’t cause too much of a hassle if it drips. 

Nya nods attentively, before his eyes shut. Warm arms wrap around his waist and begin to lift him, holding him close towards a chest—her chest. 

“It’s okay, everything’s okay.” Nya murmurs, pressing a chaste kiss into fluffy locks.

A droplet of water hits his nose, causing him to scrunch it before the smell and feeling dissipate and sleep hits the tired boy. 

Chapter Text

“You ready?” Jay smirked, inspecting Nya’s hesitant but thrilled face. As she slipped the motorcycle helmet on top, she nodded firmly and waited for Jay to topple onto his lightning blue bike. 

“Hold on tight!” Jay chuckled, slipping his left leg over the bike and gripping the handles.

Nya swiftly followed his movement, shuffling behind Jay and wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Don’t go too fast, okay?” She leaned closer, shaking her helmet to ensure it was secured. 

Jay was the type to zoom on his bike, to ‘zoom’ so fast Nya would slip from his grip and was doomed to land in the middle of a busy road. 

“Don’t worry! You’re going to have a blast!” His grin was hidden by his shocking blue helmet, yet Nya could hear the mischief bubbling through his voice. As she grew more apprehensive, Jay grew far more ecstatic.

Pixal had conjured up a new design that he had created; the blue ninja had been taunted by his dreams of dashing in on a new lightning blue bike that he once owned, but a new and improved version. Stripes of white, different colours of blue and a shining yellow, similar to the design of his Prime Empire avatar. 

Jay’s memory displayed the late nights he stayed up, chewing on his pencil absent-mindedly and running his hand through his ruffled hair as he tried to visualise the everlasting detail of the bike in his dreams. 

Now it was no longer a dream. 

It was real. He was comfortably sitting on his new motorcycle, with Nya clinging onto him, practically squeezing his ribcage and whispering some incoherent noises. 

“He-ya!” Jay chirped, firing the engine and zooming down in a straight line. The wind slashed against him, desperately trying to slow his speed. However, it only caused him to push his body closer into the bike and increase the speed, choking out a laugh from the adrenaline running through him. 

“Jay!” Nya squirmed, clinging onto his waist and shuffling behind him. “You’re going too fast!” She dug her fingers into his sides, playfully bashing her helmet against his back. 

Jay, being too preoccupied with the thrill of the ride, leaned the motorcycle to one end, causing Nya to scream and shake her head into his back. The rush of the wind against his jacket, the failure of air resistance and the blurring of other car lights were flashing his senses. At a time like this, he would normally get overstimulated, but there was something so addicting to rushing down a road and trying to reach the speed of light. 

“JAY!” Nya screamed once more, her voice crackling slightly at the feeling of the motorcycle speeding past cars like it was racing against the speed of light. “JAY STOP!” 

“HUH?” Jay shouted, whipping his head to the side and blinking at the sight of Nya shaking her head in disbelief, letting out a scream of terror.

“JAY LOOK IN FRONT OF YOU!”

As the frenzied boy’s face turned back to what was in front of him, reality struck him. A brick building, at least five stories tall, began to become much more vivid in his eyesight. 

“HIT THE BRAKES!” Nya shook his body, bashing herself once more into Jay’s body to try and alert the adrenaline high boy. 

Within two seconds, Jay slammed his foot against the front brakes, leading to a screechy sound of friction from the tires rubbing against the road and Nya’s panicked scream. 

The blue bike halted only a few metres in front of the building. The two ninja let out cries of huffs and puffs and the whispers of many thanks to that quick safety. 

“That’s it!” Nya puffed out, slipping her arms off Jay’s waist and folding them defiantly against her blue gi.

“Get off!” She pushed herself off the bike and snaked a hand around Jay’s arm, ushering him off the bike. 

“Get off!” She glared deeply at him. He didn’t need to see her face to know she was giving him her signature ‘you’re in big trouble’ stare. Slapping her hand against his arm lightly, she lifted her helmet above her messy bangs to scowl at her yang.

Jay was still breathing intensely, his head falling towards the front of the bike and his body abruptly heaving. It took Nya a harsh hit to his helmet to slap him out of his daze.

“Get. Off!” She shouted once more, stomping her foot and chucking her helmet to the grass at her side. 

Jay’s body slumped backwards, feeling a loss of energy and ability to keep himself from falling onto the ground. Slowly but surely, the boy complied; he practically slipped off the bike, almost falling face-first onto the ground, with the rush of adrenaline affecting his breathing. 

“I knew it was a bad idea to let you drive.” Nya tutted, glaring even more intensely at Jay, coughing from the smoke from the bike dancing around him. He slips off his helmet, gasping for air and desperately trying to steal every bit that was in his range. 

“But you love it when I drive.” He coughed out, trying to cover his struggle for breath with a cheeky smirk. His eyes fall back onto the thud of his helmet, lying gently across the grass, its signature blue with a few accents of yellow contrasting with the murky green. 

Nya only groans and rolls her eyes at that statement, choking back a scoff. 

“I’m driving us back home.” She slides towards the bike, snatching the helmet she ditched into the grass simultaneously and slipping it on. Nya grips the handles of the bike, causing her knuckles to slightly whiten from the amount of strength she is using and the anger she was restraining. 

“Fine by me.” Jay swiped his cheek, slipping his body behind Nya on his bike and securing his grip around her waist. 

“Get ready to have a taste of your own medicine.” Nya whispers under her breath, too quiet for Jay to pick up on.

“WAIT!” Hysterically swinging his legs, Jay’s eyes glanced across the road, feeling his arms slip from Nya’s waist. 

“Nuh-uh! This is deserved!” Her voice was laced with a mischievous intention. Jay realises at this moment that perhaps he shouldn’t have been so careless earlier, especially when his yang was with him. 

His yang, whom he had made the mistake of challenging in many different circumstances. One being video games and he could almost feel the mix of a sour feeling draining back into him and a bubbling feeling of admiration as he reminisced over her squeal of excitement of her beating him.

“NYA!” He pushed his head into her back, shaking it vigorously, whilst the harsh air sliced across his cheeks. At that moment it hit him. He could feel a wave of coldness burning into his cheeks, his hair was flying into his electric blue eyes; he forgot his helmet. 

In a sudden rush of words, he screams at the top of his lungs, “NYA WAIT I FORGOT MY HELMET!”

“Huh?” She whipped her head around, her eyes locking onto his eyes and then she glanced swiftly towards his head, catching sight of his auburn hair and not his bright blue helmet. 

“WE HAVE TO GO BACK!” He shakes his head abruptly, squeezing his eyes shut and clinging onto her waist as if his life depended on it. 

With tightened fists, Nya swerves the bike around, causing the wind propelling their hair against their forehead lines.

Racing against cars, Jay squints his eyes, desperately hoping to gain a closer inspection of the grass they were just at. He pleads that it’ll still be there, and rationality takes over for a minute—arguing that the helmet couldn’t have disappeared in a matter of seconds. 

A bump shakes the bike, allowing Jay to tumble off, eyes searching frantically for a helmet. His shoes press against damp grass, as he traces his steps, Nya following swiftly behind. 

“Where’s it gone?” Jay groaned, sluggishly rubbing his hands down his face and tugging at his skin. 

“It’s not here.” Nya waved her hand around, trying to dismiss Jay’s annoyed expression. “Let’s go home.” 

“I only put it down a few minutes ago. It couldn’t have gone that quickly!”

Nya pushes his jaw up, closing his mouth with her index finger before wrapping her arms around his neck, uttering an apology into his ear. 

“Time to get you a new helmet?” She innocently smiled, trying to choke back the laughter bubbling inside of her as she stared more intensely at Jay’s disheartened state.

“A lightning bolt one?”

“A lightning bolt one.”

Chapter Text

Every afternoon, a man visits a wedding reception—same place, different people. He nods attentively at a few guests and whisks away whilst the music begins to burst a few eardrums. Before he disappears from view, he’ll meekly congratulate the couples, gifting them a few waterlilies. He’ll tell them, “She was my waterlily.”

For the rest of the ceremony, he is nowhere to be found. Guests ponder on who he’s related to, the bride or the groom? The answer is nowhere to be seen, like him.

⸻

“Hey.” Jay whispers, his eyes flickering to stern ones and back towards the concrete flooring. “I know I wasn’t there, but…” The confidence dies within him, washing out of his voice and he croaks from the loss of words. 

“You want her address?” Kai speaks up, his tone void of any emotion—no anger, sadness, happiness, it was bleak. 

“Please.” He pleads, trying not to make out the desperate heart ache building within his chest.

There’s a grunt and a rummage, a quick scribble.

Jay’s hands clambered to catch onto the paper, clutching tighter than he should have been. His head yanks up, the gratefulness ready to slip from his lips until the door is slammed shut in front of him.

He was too late.

Exactly like last time.

Head heavier than any guilt and a mind constrained to the regrets of his past, he wobbles back to his car with cobalt eyes skimming over the letters of the address. He doesn't recognise it.

But why would he?

Nya hasn't been in his life for three years now.

Three years of missed communication, of being in a busy crowd and searching for the other, of feeling hopeless but full of energy when their name is uttered.

Cursing himself and the three years they've spent apart, he hopes he can remake it with the future. A future filled with anything she wants: kids, a house, a job, independence, love, comfort, solitude. Anything. He swears he'll abide by it.

Shaky fingers pull the car door open, with a shuffle following after a slam.

The waft of a 'new car' smell lingers prominently, clinging to his leather seats that were only his after an impulsive episode a month ago. This time he can provide. Plenty of money sits comfortably in his bank account, with insurance all filed and his eyes are constantly on the lookout for a house with her appeal.

But what if her likes have changed?

In thirteen minutes—if the navigation time is correct—he'll find out.

A roar erupts from the engine, disgruntling the atmosphere outside, invading nature where it claims its territory. It's out of place, like an odd dream he's being forced to believe.

Kai's been staying in a brick house, one with flowers blooming in the front and paint beginning to crinkle around the edges of his windows.

It's almost preposterous to believe Kai would settle, the chestnut-flamed man was never still, always moving on the go. To an apartment, to someone else's house, to a whole new world. Searching, exploring but now motionless, lost in the freeze of time.

Which is why Jay had furrowed his brows, staring incredulously as he coaxed Kai's living situation out of Cole.

"He lives in a house? In the suburbs? You're joking right?" Jay spits, shaking his head in denial. 

"No. Last time we spoke was a year ago, so he might've moved." Cole shrugged mindlessly, munching on the remains of a pastry.

However, that hadn't been the only eyebrow-raising concern wandering around the once fiery heart. It was the distance he had built between everyone—not only Jay. Leading to a concoction of a new idea, forming in the midst of Jay Walker's mind, that after the freckled, frenzied boy manages to explain it all to Nya, he'll focus on reuniting her siblings. Kai and Lloyd.

A blonde boy he isn't entirely sure is in the country.

Reluctantly, he pushes his foot down on the pedal, igniting the fire within the car—and hoping it will embed into his skin.

A familiar feeling tickles him, cold feet. The frost of his toes, the ache of his heart, jittery fingertips. A feeling that is the reason he's in this predicament, that he's still overwhelmed by the monstrous emotion and not hiding away in the crook of her neck like a whimpering child. 

This is long overdue.

Semi-detached houses whizz past him, all crowding in, watching how Jay restrains himself from peering at them. Homes filled with families, children, couples—people who love one another—and at the ripe age of thirty-one, it’s what the dull man believed he could have achieved. Now he believes it. 

From his peripheral vision, white, blue, red, pink, green—a variety of colours—peek at him. Flowers are blossoming around bronze bricks, crawling up, pleading to reach the sky blue. 

He can’t show up empty-handed. 

Hastily pressing on the brakes, scarred hands leave the wheel, fumbling through the compartments for spare change. 

Flowers, any kind should work. Pretty ones.

Nya’s never been one to be wooed. Not how they show in the movies—romantic ones. Flowers don’t work that easily, more of an added factor. 

Money clutched in his sweaty palm, head held up straight, Jay’s ready to take the first step into plunging back to what his life could have been three years ago.

He takes one step out of the car pulled up at the side. A gentle breeze rustles his frizzly auburn locks, grazing against lightly pink-tinted cheeks. The air of the suburbs. 

A bell echoes, warning anyone present that a customer has set foot into the garden of flowers.

“Hi.” Jay speaks up, clearing his voice and internally hoping someone heard him. A rustle behind the door, before it flings open and a man with a bright gleam appears. 

“Oh, wow. Hello! I wasn’t expecting anyone today!” The florist chirps, rifling through the decorated bouquets. 

“What can I say? I’m unpredictable!” 

“Looking for a bouquet for a special someone?” Their eyes flick towards Jay, with a soft smile covering pale lips. 

“Yes! Do you have any… waterlilies?” 

“Of course, such a pretty flower. There’s pink, white and blue. Or I can add in some other colours?”

“Is there a different meaning behind the colours?” Jay recalls someone once mentioning that purchasing the wrong colour—or wrong type—is more of a hassle than forgetting to buy them at all.

“White means purity, peace or a reawakening. Pink holds more of a romantic meaning, symbolising love, affection. Blue holds a special connection with nature and divinity, but is typically known for symbolising wisdom, loyalty.” They stated, whilst pointing to the different colours on view. 

“What colour would you suggest if I’m going to see someone I love but haven’t seen in three years?”

“Good terms?” The florist watches how Jay’s lip turns straight—contemplating what would be the right words to use—through their raised brows. 

“Not exactly…” He responds sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and slipping out a faint chuckle. 

“I would hold back on the pink then. Perhaps a mix of blue and white would do some good?”

“That’d be great. How much?” Jay asks, fiddling through his pockets for some notes. 

“Thirty-four.” The florist swiftly replies, passing the counter to collect fresh water lilies—white, blue and a hint of compassion clinging to the fluttering petals. 

A quick exchange takes place, flowers and money, both accompanied by a complacent grin at the reward in their palms.

“Thank you, come again!” The florist shoots a quick wave, as Jay scurries out of the shop with a ding of the bell. 

With a bouquet clutched in his fingers, and a mind moving quicker than the pace he’s running at, Jay figures he can do this. He can go to her and bear what’s thrown his way. Whether that be a sharp sword of words or the silence of a blade.

At least he’ll have flowers at his silent funeral. Ones that will bring him back to try again.

The engine fires up again, grunting and shaking momentarily, with the twist of his key. Waterlilies sit idly on the leather seat, awaiting it’s new home—if they will be accepted. 

Three minutes away.

He is three minutes away from a beating through words or perhaps a slap on the arm, or maybe even the silent treatment. Jay will take what he can get. Whatever that may be. Three years may have passed, but there’s still a lingering wish that he can rebuild what seemed to be lost.

One turn, with a slight screech of his wheel colliding with the rubble of the concrete, and he’s there. Bedfront Close; the supposed street where she resides. 

Confusion is an understatement.

There are no houses on the street other than a venue. A white dome with modern walls surrounded by a packed car park and dressed people wandering inside. Ribbons decorate the entrance, with a line of flowers travelling up the side—urging people to enter, like an enticing trap. 

He must have turned onto the wrong street.

Gleeful people, dressed in suits and clean-cut dresses clinging to their figures, pass him, beaming and chattering away.

Turning the wheel, Jay decides to park in a free spot in the car park, manoeuvring around the crowd forming. Sneaking a deep breath, he lunges himself out of the car, bouquet clinging to his sweaty palms and hope that his jeans won’t make him stand out too much. 

“Hey!” Jay interrupts a crowd, grinning apologetically. “Sorry to bother you, but do you know where this is?” He flashes the scrunched piece of paper up towards the guest, examining how their eyes peer intensely at the written address. 

“Yeah, you're here!”

“Where's here?” He raises an unkept eyebrow, before twisting his head and glancing at the surroundings. 

“Here!” The guest points towards the venue, earning a deepened bewildered expression. "For the wedding?"

“Oh! Right, thanks.”

Wedding. Maybe she has a tendency to focus on something she never attained. Because of him. 

Perhaps she’s inside.

He ventures in, locking his car once more.

The walls are sweetly decorated, flowers blooming with ribbons delicately pinned across the ballroom. Tables filled with similar flowers cover the centre, all surrounded with refined cutlery. White covers the wedding, similar to the white waterlily bouquet Jay’s gripping onto, as if it’s his lifeline.

Conversations slip into his ear, a few incoherent words followed by a clear train of compliments—about the decorations, layout, couple and venue.

Cobalt eyes examine everyone in his vicinity. A raven haired woman, with chocolate soft eyes peering to the outside and pale pink lips—that used to be claimed as cherry—is nowhere to be found.

Though, he’s not in any rush.

Three years apart. He owes it to her to search for her, carefully. Which he does.

Settled against a free seat, he remains looking, never shutting his eyes for more than a second.

Chatter erupts louder as time passes and quickly dies away as toasts are now being made. The food’s already clinging to his senses, begging Jay to lose focus on her for a moment, to be ravished and not ignored.

Jay Walker will not lose sight of her anymore. So he pays no mind to the distractions poking him. 

When he fails to spot a raven haired woman, dressed elegantly, he passes by the couple clinging to one another. Grinning as crumbs of their wedding cake cling to the side of their turned-up lips, Jay seizes the moment to wish them a happy life.

“Congratulations! Hope you two find the best type of love in your marriage.” He smiles sweetly, passing them the bouquet that’s now holding a dent from his grip. The couple thank him, squealing over the bouquet which matches their theme perfectly.

Maybe she’ll be at the next one.

⸻

For weeks on end, Jay didn’t fail to attend, being one of the first to stand outside the venue with waterlilies and a more formal wear. His eyes were constantly searching, never landing on anyone who wasn’t her.

In the first few months, he attended every day. Standing like a statue, he awaited a wedding or an event to take place—most days there was nothing, leading to Jay leaving the bouquet on the side daintily, hoping they’ll make their way to her.

In later months, he researched the history of the venue. Dating back to the early nineteenth century, and investigating every owner, curious if they were her or had any connection to her.

Unsuccessful in that department.

Lastly, he rounded up every couple, pleading to know who their wedding coordinator was. After weeks of chasing multiple coordinators down, he was sure it would lead to some clue to her whereabouts. 

Was there a black cat hanging around him or what?

Unlucky. Once again.

Jay’s last option is to go back to that house, knock on the door and watch how that chestnut flamed man come face to face with disappointment.

Which is why he digs his foot into the concrete of Kai’s pavement, glaring at the door he had pounded his fists against. The mahogany front door creaks open, with the pointy edge of hair peeping out before Kai comes in full view. 

A subtle look is painted over faint wrinkles, until it’s rapidly replaced with a scowl as Kai stares blankly at the man who banged on his door. The man who had visited nearly a year ago.

“I really hoped you wouldn't come back.” Kai groaned, clenching his fists around the door. 

“Why?” Jay spits out, refusing to look at the man in front of him.

“Why what?”

“Why would you do that?” He unclenches his fists, arguing internally with himself to hold back. 

“I didn't do anything.”

Screw holding back.

“I went to numerous weddings, hoping that I would see her in at least one of them. Or just a glimpse. You knew she wouldn't be there, so why didn't you just tell me to piss off?!” He spits, grinding his teeth to refrain from letting loose—physically.

“She was there.” He responds carelessly, freely.

"What? No, she wasn't. And she doesn't own the place, or plan them either."

"Her heart's there."

A sick joke. It is a sick, vile joke that causes Jay to bite down on his lips, pushing the bubbling of vomit begging to escape. Because Kai's still punishing him for a hasty decision he made three years ago.

He’s aware that leaving before they finalised their wedding plans was the wrong move. But he’s back to make up for that time. All those impulsive decisions are gone, Jay’s here now.

Doesn’t that count for something?

The guilt was all-consuming, unwavering. A force to be reckoned with, a wave that was crashing down on a life that was now dull without Nya’s imprint. The guilt was what drove him back. 

Not because he left her at the altar, and not because he didn’t give himself the chance to, but because he needed the moment to relish. And he hates that.

But he can’t change it. 

“I'm sorry. I can't say anything more than I'm sorry. I've told you this, and I want to tell her too. If you don't want me to bother her, I won't, but that's all you had to say.” A hand runs through his rough hair, now pulling at knots.

Silence pollutes their atmosphere, tempting Jay to wander back—to move on, if he can. Until Kai beckons him inside, instructing the frenzied man to follow him. 

Was she in there? Has she always been there?

The two pass into the closest room. A room with bare walls, just a sky blue curling in with an accent of cream suffocated at the centre. There’s nothing in the room other than a cream chair, tucked away in the corner and a dress sitting gently on a rail, in between fragile see-through curtains. 

“What is this?”

“What do you think it is? It’s a dress.” Kai scoffs, eyes fixated on the white dress clinging to the window.

It’s clear as day. A wedding dress. 

“But she didn’t want to wear a wedding dress.” Jay adds, eyes scrutinising the way the lining travels along the skirt and how the sleeves are non-existent. Light lace decorated the bodice with a hidden stitching of a flower. 

Jay swears that it’s a waterlily. He’s spent months buying those bouquets. The design is hard not to recognise. 

“She didn’t. It was Mom’s. It was the closest we ever got to seeing her walking down the aisle.” 

“Why do you have it?”

“There’s somethings you can’t get rid of. No matter how hard you try.”

He hadn’t meant it like that. It was only odd how Kai held onto the dress and not Nya, herself. 

“And this was one of them?”

Kai bites his lip so hard, crimson blood begins to draw. Wiping the red on the back of his palm, he ignores bothering to answer Jay and instead heads back through his room. 

“One and only.” He mutters under his breath.

The two finally reach their starting position, with Kai staring blankly into the abyss of his own home and Jay—an outsider—viewing from a different perspective.

Swiftly, Jay twists on his foot, ready to head back empty handed and with the weight of having to move on. However, Kai stops him in time, causing the man to halt in his footsteps.

His eyes peer over his shoulder, analysing how the other’s fingers dance in the air before they clutch onto a pen at the side and a card. 

Scribbling down letters on a card, it clicks for Jay.

That’s her address. That’s where she is.

Kai’s letting him in.

“That’s her real address.” The words slip from his cracked lips as he stares glumly at the hand held out, holding onto her address. 

“Great job at connecting the dots, Sherlock Holmes!” He chirps sarcastically, with the smile quickly fading as reality kicks both of them in the shins. 

"Now don’t bother me again." He grits his teeth, slamming the new address into Jay's chest.

Jay hopes he won't have to.

The auburn haired man doesn’t bother thanking him, not when the slam erupts his thought process and a hit of wind blows violently in his face. 

Instead, he trudges back to his car, starting up the engine and typing the new address in a navigation app.

Vague destination.

This address is much closer, with the app stating the walk would be fourteen minutes and a drive of six minutes. Much closer than the venue. 

However, Jay’s unsure if that’s a good thing or not.

Six minutes whizz past, mainly because he doesn’t bother to make a stop at the bouquet. The desperate feeling of seeing anything paint those rosy cheeks again swarms his thoughts.

Turning the wheel, guiding the car to its destination, his cobalt eyes—once filled with desire—flicker as the building comes into view.

This must be another terrible prank.

It’s not real; it can’t be real.

Kai has a horrible sense of humour, he always has. 

Yet the word cemetery is embedded into his mind. When he shuts his eyes, ready to escape the cursed nightmare, the words flash vividly.

He’s not that late.

Three years is not thirty.

So why is life treating it like that’s always been the case?

His mind’s not thinking anymore as he drives in, slowing down as his eyes subconsciously land on grass crawling up headstones.

She must work here. Right? Right. She must.

And it feels as if someone has carved the knife around his heart, watching and listening to the dying beats before it kicks the organ dead. Because there’s a bouquet so vivid in the corner of his eyes, it’s worse than any haunting. 

There are waterlilies.

Jay slams on the brakes, mouth watering but unable to swallow the build of words. Vigorously jumping out of his car, all care falls silent to the way he breathes heavily, foot clambering against the concrete road until it meets desperate, dying grass.

It’s all dying.

His eyes never waver from that familiar bouquet. Not as it comforts the headstone bearing words he wishes he had never witnessed.

It’s not right. Nothing is right. She’s not meant to be here.

Yet Nya’s been sitting here whilst he partied at weddings, stupidly missing his own with her three years ago.

Her stone is dust free, cleaner than the others surrounding hers. Her name imprinted on the stone is worse than any carving he could bear. It reminds him of when they foolishly carved their names in a tree, many years back.

“You put Jay and I’ll put Nya underneath.” She points towards the top of the heart, hiding white canines peeking from her smirk.

Quivering fingers trace over her name, a wobbly lip fails to confuse the whimper slipping loose. Tears paint her ground, and dirty knees crumble six feet above her.

He’s too late.

Three years is thirty in this life.

The truth is apparent.

It becomes increasingly obvious as Jay curls up, muttering apologies to the ground, as if she’s listening from below and that she’ll hear him out. As his car watches solemnly, as the trees rustle, passing on the message of the man crumbling and how the grass tickles his barred arms, it’s always been clear. 

All waterlilies wither eventually. 

Chapter Text

"It's dumb." She argues, pinching the clothes clinging to her. 

"Nothing's dumb." Jay quickly counters, leaning his head against the bathroom door.

"This is dumb." She lets out a shaky sigh, loud enough for Jay to pick up on his end.

“I promise it’s not.” He bargains, staring intensely at the wooden panels of the door, as if he could see her hesitation. “You can tell me anything Nya.” He rests his palm against the door with his forehead against the wood.

“I’m…” She begins, the confidence dying along with her voice. Jay wants to barge in, to hold her tightly and remind her that confiding in him is the best thing to do. Yet he can’t.

The wooden door peeks up, the sound of the two perpendicular objects creaking against one another. “I’m scared .” She whispers.

“Can I come in?” He asks, allowing her to slowly nod before opening the gap for Jay to slip in. He closes the door behind him, making sure to lock it twice before following after her. 

“It’s so silly. How could someone be scared of something they used to control?” She scoffs, wiping her face and only deepening the frown. 

“I told you, it’s not silly or dumb.” He finds himself standing in front of her, reaching out to drag his thumb across her jawline. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. No one’s forcing you to.” He reminds her, gently stroking a thumb over her cheek. 

She flares up, anger—not directed at him—rising in her chest. “I have to! I stink, I feel dirty and I need to clean myself!” Nya begins to aggressively shake her head, losing Jay’s touch.

“Why don’t we shower together?” He asks, innocently but with that look of confusion covering her face, he knows he’ll have to elaborate on what he means. “Or we can take a bath together if you’d like?”

“I’m not getting naked in front of you.”

He pouts jokingly, before returning to a normal giggling expression. “If you don’t want to, that's fine, but I am offering some help.” The word ‘help’ steps into dangerous territory, because Nya used to swish her head the other way and shove him off.

“Help to have a shower? Just say it, I’m pathetic.”

“Not at all, Waterlily. What did we say?”

“That’s not the same. I should be able to shower without needing anything, because I used to do it all the time and everything was fine then-” Jay notices how she begins to ramble a lot now, a quality that she picked up from him undoubtedly. 

“Circumstances change. It doesn’t matter what the situation is.” Jay raises to intertwine their fingers, gripping tightly onto her hand. “You can say no if you want to, and I’ll listen. I’ll leave and we can hang out in my room.”

“No, please.” Her hand grips him tightly. “Don’t go.”

He wouldn’t, not like he wanted to anyway.

He raises her hand to his lips, gently pecking them. A gesture he had only recently gotten into doing.

“Can you help me wash my hair first?” She asks hesitantly, her fingers pulling at the ends of her gi.

“Sure.” He responds, a gentle smile forming across his freckled cheeks.

Within moments, he’s detangling himself from her grip to place the towel onto the rack. She follows after once her gi is taken off, leaving her in her undergarments.

Jay begins to turn around, to reach a hand out to her before he stops in his tracks.

“Wait don’t turn around.” She spits out, hands racing to cover her body protectively.

“Is everything okay?” He questions, eyes remaining on the ground as half of his body faces towards her. “Nya?” He calls again, after an unsettling amount of silence.

“I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought we agreed we’d wait until we got married.” 

The words slipped into his ear, running through the cogs in his brain before plummeting through. 

“Oh.” He whispers, his freckled cheeks now blazing a bright red. “Uhm..” He stutters, eyes racing from the floor back to the wall away from her.

“We don’t have to do anything.” He squeaks out, his hands now rushing to cover the heat flaring from embarrassed cheeks.

“I know, but you’ll see me. What if it…” She begins, yet the words seem to drift from the tip of her tongue. Until she finds the confidence and slips them out. “What if it loses the spark?”

“I’m the Master of Lightning. Nothing ever loses the spark with me.” He grins ridiculously at a wall, hoping that she could pick up on the foolishness dripping from his words.

“I mean it. If you see me, won’t it ruin the first night?” Her voice grows timid, as if she’s shrinking as she continues to pursue this idea. An idea that Jay finds silly.

How could he not lose his breath when he sees her, no matter the day or occasion? 

“If you want to put your clothes back on and just have me wash your hair over the sink, can I do that?” He offers.

“You would?”

“Mhm.” He hums. “But, if I do turn around and see you, I want you to know that it wouldn’t ruin that night. I’ll still find you as breathtaking as I would. I’ll even gasp for longer that day.”

“Okay.” She whispers.

“Okay as in I should look or okay as in let me think about it more?” He questions, curious about her answer.

A hand rushes up his side, gently pressing his gi more intensely against his biceps before turning him around. Filling his view is Nya, in sky blue undergarments and her hair—now free from the chains of a hair tie—loosely falling across her scarred shoulders. 

“You look beautiful.” He whispers breathlessly, inching closer towards her.

“Can you wash my hair?” She asks, smiling gently as the compliment grew louder from the look of admiration in his cobalt eyes. 

Nya’s hands find his, clutching onto the sweat beginning to build of lightning scars rushing on his hands. 

“For you, I would do anything.” He responds swiftly, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her palm. 

“Just the hair.” She reiterates, giving a light pointed look.

“Just the hair.” He repeats like a parrot, grinning foolishly. “We might want to hurry up before anyone catches us in here together.” He suggests, moving closer so that they were centimetres apart. 

“Take off your clothes then.” 

“That’s bold of you.” He smirks, earning a scoff and a drift of coldness as Nya detaches herself from him.

“I think I’ve changed my mind.”

“No! I’m taking them off! Gone!” He splutters, rapidly untying his gi off and scrambling out of the clothes.

“You look…” Nya begins, eyes drifting over his now bare body—with boxers clinging to his sides—and leaning against the shower wall. 

“Desirable?” He finishes for her, raising an eyebrow. 

“Pretty…?” She squints, rethinking her word choice.

“You look prettier.” Jay quickly counters, leaping towards her with large steps. “Okay, let’s do this before anyone catches me and decides to set me on fire.”