heart2heart | Ninjago Bruise

Chapter 3

He opens the door, not waiting for Cole to make his way over. He heads into the room, Cole catching the door right before it closes. Entering the room, his eyes light up with joy and amazement, watching as Jay heads over to his balcony. Cole shuts the door behind him, standing there awkwardly for a moment. The lightning ninja pulls across his curtains, taking in one last look at the great view - not that he could see much in the darkness.

"You were right about your room," Cole grins, "this is amazing."

"Eh, I guess," Jay shrugs.

"You guess?"

Jay wanders over to the bed, picking up his gaming controller. He hands it to Cole, who is still standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do with himself.

Jay shrugs, refusing eye contact as best he can, "get comfy."

"Thanks," Cole gives him a wide smile, not that Jay even notices it.

Jay heads to the bathroom, the light flickering on as he enters. He shuts the door without a word, leaving Cole alone. The earth ninja takes the chance to look around the room, and especially at his notice board. It's not really decorated yet, which was understandable since they hadn't had much free time to spend in their rooms yet, however, there were a few pictures of Jay and his parents, which Cole found pretty heartwarming.

There was something so joyous about seeing Jay with his parents. Cole loved his dearly, especially his late mother, so seeing someone else have such a loving and close relationship with their parents made him feel a little less empty. Besides, Ed and Edna were like parents to the whole team. Jay got really lucky in that department.

Although, it did often cross his mind whether or not Jay felt strange about being the only one with two parental figures. He had no reason to feel bad; the team's situations were nothing to do with him, but Cole did find himself wondering about it some nights.

To be completely honest, Cole didn't know that much about Jay at all except for his hobbies. The lightning ninja wasn't very open about his childhood, and that was likely due to the fact he didn't have much and probably didn't want to upset anyone by talking about his parents. That bothered Cole slightly, especially since Jay deserved to be so open about his life. Perhaps tonight would be a good chance to actually get to know him and his past.

It never crossed his mind how wonderfully open yet closed off Jay was about himself.

Was he hiding something?

The bathroom door opens again and Cole could see the light flick off in the corner of his eye. Jay reappeared, changed into his actual ninja gi rather than the bottoms of one of Chen's goons.

"This is a cute picture," Cole chimes up.

Jay hums, making his way over to where the earth ninja was. He stands not too far from him, but close enough so that neither of them were uncomfortable. Jay smiles at the picture Cole is pointing at - a selfie of Jay and his mom back on the last Day of the Departed.

"I taught my mom how to use a phone camera so now she won't stop taking selfies."

"That's sweet," Cole grins, glancing over at Jay briefly.

Jay leans over, pointing to a picture of his parents sitting outside the junkyard, building something that looked similar to a bike.

"This one is my favourite though," he smiles, "they look so happy."

The two remain in silence as they glance over the last few images. As Jay goes to walk away, Cole lets out a deep breath.

"So.. you said you taught your mom how to use the camera?" he asks awkwardly, "you'd think, considering how into technology you guys are, that she'd already know."

"We're not necessarily into technology ," Jay replies a little dryly, "we didn't grow up with anything like that except a landline. My mom spent ages saving up for a proper phone."

"Oh right."

"She said it'd be good for the business but dad thinks she should've spent the money on a TV."

"TVs are pretty cool."

"Not when there's no signal all the way out there," Jay tells him, "besides, all the channels suck."