Theories of Relativity (NINJAGO JAYA)

Jaya Day 2020

Jay has never been bitten by a mosquito.  A fact that no one believes, and Nya finds rather infuriating.  To be fair, he has never been bitten by any bug.

"I don't get it," Nya says, after a long sip from her boba drink. She crushes a pearl between her teeth and enjoys the exquisite blend of tapioca, mango, milk, and tea flavors. "I mean, Zane never getting bitten by a bug would make sense. But you?"

Jay gives her a sideways glance then folds his hands behind his head while continuing their nonchalant stroll down the street.

"I never thought anything of it until we had to camp in the Forest of Echoes for a mission.  The fire went out overnight and when we woke up everyone was covered in angry red welts-- except me."

Nya huffs, remembering the incident. "Everyone was mad at you for not getting bit. Ugh, those were the worst mosquito bites ever!"

"After that mission," Jay continues, "I found out from the guys that I had missed out on an important part of my childhood."

"Being an idiot?"

"What? No-- ugh." Jay is surprised by how easily Nya is goading him.  "Never getting bitten by a bug!  Ever!  Little boys and bugs are a thing, O. K?"

"I have an older brother, I know all about boys and bugs," she grumbles, as if recalling an unpleasant experience with Kai and fire ants.

They come to a stop at a crosswalk and wait for the light to turn green.  Nya takes another long sip of her drink.

"But why?" she finally asks.

"Question of the century. So of course, we figured it out."

Nya rolls her eyes, not even wanting to imagine their ridiculous antics in discovering Jay's anti bug bite ability.

"After many experiments, we discovered that any bug that lands on me, and tries to bite me, gets fried."

"You mean, zapped?" she clarifies.

"Yeah."

"Your elemental power has a natural built in defense against bugs?"

"Yeah."

"You know what this means, right?" she sing-songs, her giddiness almost too overwhelming to contain. 

Jay eyes her incredulously.

"You really are a Zap Trap." She is unable to contain a gorgeous smile spreading across her face.

"Ugh," Jay rolls his eyes, "Wow, so clever."

"What's wrong funny man, can't take a joke?"

"I think I need to take that boba drink away from you, it's making you too hyper."

Nya pulls the drink to her chest defensively.  The tapioca pearls and ice slush around the straw.  "Hands off my boba, mister!"

The light turns green and Jay takes the opportunity to place his hand on the small of her back to usher them across the street.  She leans into his sudden closeness and feels a tingle dance up and down her spine.

"My hands sometimes move on their own accord," he murmurs so that only she can hear, "I can't be held accountable for disappearing boba."

Nya eyes him suspiciously before lifting the straw to her mouth.  Flirty Jay is fun, and usually leads to things that are more fun, but first she has a little more prying to do.

"Hmmmm," she hums, "does this mean when you sometimes zap yourself awake, it's just a bug trying to bite you?"

"Maybe," he says, considering her words.  The thought had not occurred to him before.

Nya gasps, and Jay is not sure if she is angry or surprised. "Does this mean, all the times you zapped me awake, was because a stupid bug was trying to bite you?"  Nya is not sure if she should be surprised or angry either.

A smug smile blooms across Jay's face.  He can't believe Nya just gave him such a beautiful setup.

"Or you are the bug," he coolly responds.

Nya stops dead in her tracks and looks up at him, mouth agape, but no words are coming out.

"What-- we both know you like to bite," he adds and shrugs his shoulders.

"I'm not-- You-- What-- Ugh--" Nya sputters.  She feels her eyebrow twitch and can almost hear her mental restraint snap.

"Come on, we are a roadblock standing here," Jay moves them forward again but Nya side steps away.  She stares at her drink, then back at Jay.  He can see her trying to calm down, but her cheeks are red, eyes wide, and just too cute when flustered.

"I'd throw this drink at you," she finally finds her voice, "but I'm enjoying it too much so consider yourself lucky."

"Thank you, for not covering me in your disgustingly sweet milk tea," Jay says dryly. "Although, it would turn me into a tastier treat.  Exceptionally bite worthy." He folds his hands behind his head again, elbows sticking out, taunting her with his unprotected sides.  There is a bounce in his step as he is trying so hard not to burst into laughter.

Nya purses her lips and wonders when Jay got the upper hand.  She was trying so hard to get a rise out of him, but instead he flipped the situation around and got a rise out of her.  She resists the urge to crush the delicious boba drink in her hand.

"I think, we just found something else experiment worthy," he continues, fully knowing that he is pushing his luck, "I suggest we find someplace private to test out this hypothesis."

Nya has to forcibly stop herself from blowing up in the street.

"And what hypothesis is that?  You are bite proof?" she growls.  She wants so bad to rage out but knows her outburst would attract unwanted attention.  Jay looks like he is going to burst from holding back his laughter, which is only fanning her flames of rage.

His face is split in half with that stupid wise-cracking grin of his as he says, "Is Nya really a bug?"

Nya counts to ten, tries everything she knows to calm down, but that fiery gene she inherited from her father is just too hard to control. The look on her face tells Jay everything he needs to know.  He bolts. 

"Get back here, Zap Trap!" she screams.

He is running down the street, occasionally turning back to taunt her, but makes sure to keep his distance.  They are causing a scene as they weave through the pedestrians.  People are starting to recognize them and pull out their phones to snap a shot of the ninja.  Nya is hot on his tail, seething with anger, but Jay doesn't care, he loves the chase.

A/N: I posted this to tumblr for #jayaday2020, thought I would post it here for your reading pleasure while you are waiting for the next one shot. Next installment we will be venturing into broken up Jay and Nya territory. Now before you rage quit on me, consider the possibilities: drama, tension, and self introspection. Broken up Jay and Nya is fun to write and I think it will be fun for you to read. ;P