The Ground Shaker

Forehead Kisses

Cole ducked an attack from Kai. He spun around, finally being able to use Spinjitzu like the rest of the ninja. It took him weeks— months— to catch up to them. Cole always took longer to learn things, much like it took him a while to get ahold of dancing. 

"Wow! Cole, you did it!"

"I did it..." Cole mumbled. "I actually did it!"

"Crap!" Jay came running through the courtyard, his phone in his hand which was waving crazily over his head. 

"What happened, Jay?"

"Nothing. Nothing." Jay kept running around. Something had obviously happened. 

"Jay!" Cole shouted as Jay ran out of the courtyard. He shared a look with Kai. "I'll take care of him."

"Good luck. He's difficult to calm down."

"Thanks." Cole went off to find Jay.

He wasn't well versed in the monastery. He's only gone to the courtyard, dining room, and the living room once. He had to run around for a while before he heard Jay's pacing and talking to himself. 

Cole stopped, standing in front of a door with a poster of Ground Shaker and a blue handle. He stared at the poster before shaking his head and knocking on the door. "Jay?"

"Cole?" Jay opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you. You were pretty freaked out for 'nothing.'" Cole made air quotes. "So, what's wrong?"

Jay huffed. "It's stupid."

"I doubt it is. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." Jay moved aside to let Cole in. 

He came in, looking around. "I like your room. It's nice."

"Thanks." Jay sat on his bed.

"So, what's up?"

"I was scrolling through Clipperest, and someone said that the Stone Hearts are breaking up."

"What? Who said that?"

Jay showed him the screenshot of a Chirp account that claimed to be the official Stone Heart account that said the band was breaking up. 

"That's not the official account. There's not an underscore between Stone and Heart, it's a hyphen."

"Wait," Jay sniffled and checked the screenshot, "you're right."

"See? It's okay. There's nothing to be upset about. The way they act with each other, I doubt they would disband any time soon." Cole sat next to Jay, putting his arm around Jay's shoulders. "But if they did, you have us all to lean on. I'm so lucky to get to be one of you."

Jay looked over at him, staring into Cole's deep brown eyes. His heart skipped a beat and he could've sworn sparkles surrounded Cole. "We're... we're lucky to have you."

Cole smiled softly. "Do you want to do something to cheer you up more?"

"Could we, I dunno, cuddle or something?"

"You want to cuddle?"

"I do." Jay scooted to where his pillow was and laid down. "Come here."

Cole scooted over and pulled Jay close. He gently pressed a kiss on the top of Jay's head without thinking. They both froze then looked at each other.

"Sorry."

"No, don't apologize. I liked it."

"Oh. Do you want me to do it again?"

"I don't see why not."

Cole kissed Jay's head again, stroking his hair with a hum. "Do you want to go out sometime?"

"I would."

"Cole!" Ryan woke him up by jumping on him.  

Cole shrieked, pushing Ryan off him. "I'm tryna sleep, Ryan."

"Get up! Mic made lunch!"

"Lunch?" Cole sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah. You've been asleep all day. We have practice later."

"For?"

"The show next week."

"That's next week?"

"Mhm. Come on, get up, you big tub of lard."

Cole stood up, following Ryan to the small dining room/living room. "Don't call me that. I'm more fit than you are and you know it."

"Shuddup."

"Oh, look who's awake," Bennie teased him. "We've got something we want to talk to you about."

Cole sat down, grabbing a sandwich and stared at him. "What is it?"

"So, we've been thinking about setting you up with someone. Bennie has a friend who we think you might be good with."

"Oh."

"Wait, did you find someone?"

Cole coughed, hacking up a bit of his sandwich. "Maybe."

"Holy shit!" Micah shouted. "Who is it?"

"You wouldn't know him."

"Come on, Coooolllleeeee. Tell ussssss." 

Cole shook his head. "Nah."

"Bitch," Micah mumbled. 

"Mic, be nice."

Jay sat on his bed, Cole on the floor. Jay was gently braiding Cole's shoulder length hair. He was amazed at how soft it was, wondering what products Cole used. 

They had agreed that they shouldn't go out on proper dates. The public eyes was very nosy and if Jay was caught with a strange man a date, Cole would get a lot of unwanted attention. So, they agreed to keep their budding relationship a secret. 

None of the other ninja knew about it. Kai was horrible at keeping secrets and Nya would tell him if she knew since she kept almost nothing from her older brother. They agreed that if those two couldn't know, it wouldn't be fair to Zane and Lloyd to know. 

"Jay?"

"Yeah, Cole?"

"Do you think we're doing the right thing? I want you to meet my other friends, I want to go places and hold your hand. I want to be with you and make sure you're safe. I want to be there with you during your best and your worst."

"Cole, you're the ninja who has no public identity. Trust me, being bombarded out in the public isn't as fun as you would think. We're able to stop that for you. Even being seen with me will get you a lot of attention."

"I know. I just.... Want to be open with you."

Jay grabbed a hair tie and wrapped it against the bottom of Cole's braid. "Sometime, we'll tell everyone."