Lava | Ninjago

🜃 | private premiere

And if that wasn't enough, his next words surely made that conviction rock-solid.

"Hey there, Earthling."

"What are you doing here?" He wasn't sure what to call him.

The shoulders clad in red moved up and down as he sighed, yet he still refused to turn to look at Earth. The unsteadiness of his body was a sign that he was rocking his legs again.

"I came to say sorry."

At last, the red ninja did turn around but he still avoided his eyes. Earth wanted to rip their masks off because all they did was build more barriers between them. It didn't matter anymore anyway.

"For what exactly?" His element surely must've taken control over him, why else would he be glued to his spot? Why else would he be unable to walk closer to him?

"For going radio silent on you. And disappearing. Avoiding- you know," he cut himself off. "For not being there."

"Yeah, everyone's pretty frustrated."

"Yeah, but how about we just forget about everyone else for a while?" Red stood up and did what Earth couldn't. He walked over to him. His hand roamed around the collar of his gi and Earth could only watch it in his frozen state. "I'll make it up to them later but I wanted to speak to you first."

"Why- Why did you want to speak to me first?" he breathed. Screw his mind! All it did was cause trouble! All it did was work overtime when it shouldn't and go AWOL when he needed it! Useless brain!

"I- I've figured out who's underneath all this." He tugged on the fabric. "And it freaked me out a little. Not in a bad way! It was just... a really big surprise but the more I stayed in my bed the more sense it all made. And the more I avoided everything the more scared I became to face you again because I wasn't sure how much I hurt you."

Earth couldn't muster up a word. Not yet. Let him do the talking, god knows how much he missed that voice.

"I think it's safe to assume you know who I am as well?" Kai asked and their eyes finally met. Which was only for the worse. Nope, he was definitely sure he was currently free falling. There was no earth anymore.

"Well, I do have some assumptions."

Fire chuckled, his eyes fixed back on the black gi he was still holding onto. They stood there in silence for a moment that felt endless and ephemeral at the same time.

He looked back at him.

"Hey, Cole."

"Hi, Kai."

And despite having it all figured out over the course of that week, Cole's world still spun. Yes, he definitely lost control of his element.

"It's a pretty funny coincidence, huh? Though I am kind of disappointed our first kiss didn't go how I imagined it."

His voice was low as he stuttered again, "How did you imagine it?"

Without breaking their eye contact, Cole was sent back to the dreamland he visited so many times as Kai raised his hands and found the hem of his hood. He lowered his head, a silent nod to encourage him and Kai started pulling the fabric up, carefully as if opening a precious gift. As if one wrong move would tear it all apart.

And as if they practiced it before, Cole started doing the same to Kai until they both uncovered each other's mouths. He wasn't sure whether the chills that attacked him were from the fresh air or from the way Kai's fingers brushed against his skin.

There was a silent chant of 'it's real, it's real, it's real, it's real' as their faces slowly inched closer and closer.

Despite the fact that they already kissed - more than just kissed - once, it truly felt like a first kiss. Perhaps it was, at least symbolically.