Before anyone comes for me, let me explain: This is not technically Jaya (depends on how you see it), but I've watched the new core short 'Balance' and in that one scene in which Cole has his flashback of his parents dancing, we can see that Lilly is wearing the same kimono that Nya is in the short 'Let's Dance'. Then I came to wonder why they are wearing/owning the same kimono. After that, my friend @/multifan.station on Instagram gave me this initial idea you are going to read. Lil spoiler for this oneshot; it's about Cole and Nya talking and stuff. IT'S PLATONIC COLE AND NYA, I HAVE NOT LOST MY MIND! Ugh, just read to find out what I mean.
Set in the short 'Let's Dance' right after Nya manages to convince Jay on going dancing with her.
Nya walked back inside the monastery, feeling happier than ever.
Dancing was probably the most random thing she could think of to do in her free time, but she had always dreamed of staying in the spotlight for something else she was good at, and not just for being the Girl Ninja.
However, she had told herself that she would have to put her own desire aside for an undefined time, because who knew when she would have the chance to get a day off from work? She had been thinking about going on her own, but that would've felt too sad.
And she had given up on wanting to dance that day, thinking everyone else was off doing whatever the heck they were doing. But once she came across Jay, she immediately knew what to do.
He was her boyfriend, she was positive he wouldn't be able to say 'no'.
Convincing him was easier than she would've thought, but it's Jay we're talking about, so it was also expected that he'd cave in quickly.
As she was walking down the hallway, all she could hear was her own footsteps. It was an odd feeling for it to be that quiet inside the monastery, given that it was always crowded.
Anyways, once she reached her room, she immediately grabbed her hair brush and bathrobe and then went over to the bathroom to take a nice, long, and harshly cold shower, knowing no one would force her out of the bathroom for a longer time that day. And she was also sure that Jay would take at least a few hours before giving up on the arcade and meeting up with her.
When she was done, she blow dried her coal black hair and took as much as she wanted, feeling free for once.
After her hair was dried off, she grabbed all of her stuff and headed back over to her bedroom.
Then she chose to wear one of Jay's hoodies and some shorts she found for the time she would be choosing her dancing outfit.
She was going to have a dancing outfit, of course. Besides, it had been a while since she had made the effort to look better for him.
Nya looked inside her closet to find a lot of gi's, some hoodies, her blue kimono (which she could definitely not wear for a second time), a few jeans, and some t-shirts.
She blinked. Yeah, she would have to go to the mall to buy new clothes, for sure. Then she frowned, looking at the alarm clock on her nightstand. Did she have enough time?
The Master of Water groaned loudly, deciding she probably couldn't make it in time. She shouldn't have taken so long in the shower. Nya reached into her closet and grabbed the first thing her hand touched, which was a very old gi, and threw it onto her bed.
She repeated the same process with many other clothing items, hoping for something wearable in the back that she overlooked in the beginning.
"Whatcha doin', Waterlily?"
Nya jumped and gave off a very high pitched squeak before turning around to see Cole standing in her doorway, his body leaning against her doorframe and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He held a smirk, seeing her reaction.
"Cole," she said through gritted teeth, glaring at him.
"The one and only," he sassed as he pushed himself off and walked into her room. He looked down at her bed to see all sorts of clothes scattered around. "What are you doing?"
Nya sighed, looking away. "Sorry, I can't tell you. I made a promise." She felt bad for not being able to tell him, although she knew he wouldn't be mad at her.
"That's fine, I respect that," he smiled. "But why do you look so stressed out?"
She started to think. She wasn't able to tell him anything about the dancing part, yet she was allowed to give off other information which didn't have anything to do with dancing.
"Well, Jay and I are gonna spend the day together," she told her friend.
"Okay," Cole said. "That doesn't explain this mess, though." He pointed at her bed.
Nya groaned. "I don't have anything to wear!"
The Master of Earth frowned, a playful smile on his face. "Since when do you care about your looks?"
She rolled her eyes. "Haha, you're so funny," she said sarcastically. Then she sighed. "I'm serious, I don't know what to do."
"Is it a date?" Cole asked, making her cheeks go a light shade of pink.
Nya looked away, not able to contain the smile that found its way onto her lips. "Something like that."
Cole chuckled. "Follow me."
The girl raised an eyebrow. Before she could ask anything, he was already out of her room. "Wait!" She exclaimed before she ran the few steps to catch up to him in the hallway. Though once he entered his own room, she frowned. Why would he want her to follow him into his room? Nevertheless, she walked inside.
There she saw him opening his own closet, revealing a lot of black. In fact, the closet itself was painted black.
Without sparing her another look, he started to go through his clothes inside the closet. Nya could sense that he was looking for something specific, yet she was still confused on what he was doing.
Her eyes widened when she saw him carefully retrieving something rather girly out of his closet, not that clothes should even be labeled to a gender.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she watched him put the fabric down on his bed neatly. It was a pink kimono with a few lighter shaded flowers covering the part above the chest. It also had an adjustable, wide piece of clothing which could be considered a belt which was purple with a pretty pattern on it.
Nya sighed, a small smile on her face, as she eyed the kimono. "I always knew you had a very feminine side to you," she said.
"What?" Cole asked, confused. "No! I..." he looked at the kimono as if he was thinking about something he wasn't ready to share with her yet.
"You know I won't judge you, Cole. Besides, that's a great choice, actually," she referred to the kimono.
"Nya," he paused. "This isn't mine."
"Sure," she said, smiling.
Her smile faded, however, when she realized that something was wrong. His gaze was glued onto the kimono, making her question what he wanted to tell her. Or rather what he wasn't able to tell her.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
Cole cleared his dry throat. "This, um..." he hesitated. "It was my mom's."
Nya's eyes widened in shock. Cole was definitely not one to talk about his deceased mother, ever. She surely hadn't expected him to start to talk about that topic. She let him continue whenever he was ready to.
"I can remember how she wore it on one of her dates with my dad," he let out an obviously paining laugh. "I was like what, five? I can remember seeing both of them full of joy. They didn't know I was watching them, but I saw everything. I heard every compliment they gave each other, saw the way they were holding each other. Everything about them screamed 'love', and I, upon not knowing what love was because I was younger, only thought it was cute. I didn't know that love wasn't self-evident in everyone's lives. I thought it was a common thing. Oh, I was so wrong."
Nya felt a pit in her stomach while she was listening to everything he was saying. She could see the tears welling up in his eyes, yet there was nothing she could do about it, other than listen to what he wanted to share with her. She assumed that no one knew about this, not even Jay, his best friend.
"I only realized that love is not a feeling everyone can have when I saw how my father was breaking down in front of her grave. I mean, I, myself, was a crying mess, but seeing how much her absence destroyed him... it was probably not something a six-year-old could mentally understand. Before I moved out of my dad's house to move into the monastery, I was able to take a very important picture with me."
He turned around and walked back to his closet and pulled out a black box, which reminded Nya of a shoebox, and opened it before pulling out a picture frame.
He handed it to her. Nya carefully grabbed it and held it as if it was a holy object, which was probably the case for Cole, based on the fact that it was a picture of both of his parents in each other's embrace, smiling at the camera. His mother was wearing the same kimono that was placed on his bed, and his father was wearing a brown suit. Upon hearing him continue, Nya lifted her head to look back at him.
"I've always kept this in my closet ever since she's been gone. I don't even know why, I just have. And..." he swallowed. "I guess it's time for it to come back to life."
Nya gasped, realizing what he was about to tell her. "Cole-"
"Nya," he said while grabbing the kimono with both of his hands. He looked at her, extracting his arms out to her.
She grabbed the kimono carefully while handing him the frame back. She looked down at it. "I can't wear this," she whispered.
"You mean a lot to me," he said, catching her attention. Then he chuckled. "Of course not as a love interest, but something equally deep. Like a sister I've been able to choose. I want you to wear it... because I think you deserve it. Besides, it's only going to keep collecting dust if it stays in the closet for any time longer," he insisted on, making both of them let out a small chuckle.
Nya looked back down at the kimono, contemplating his offer. Then she slowly nodded. "Then I'll... uh..." She awkwardly pointed at the door.
"Of course," Cole answered.
Nya then left the room and went over to her own bedroom to get changed. After she was done, she walked back into Cole's room.
Once his eyes shot into her direction, he let out a tiny squeak, his eyes wide. After he didn't say a word, Nya immediately regretted her decision. Just as she was about to apologize and offer to get changed again, she heard a cough before it turned into full-on sobbing into his hands.
"I'm so sorry, Cole, I'll go take it off again-"
"No, no, it's fine," he choked out, rubbing his eyes aggressively to wipe his tears away.
Nya felt pity for her friend. She felt lucky that she had never witnessed one of her closest family members die, yet she was familiar to the feeling of growing up without her parents.
"It's fine," he repeated, although it sounded more like he was telling that to himself than his friend. After he calmed down, he smiled. "It looks good on you."
"Thanks," she said. "I actually like it a lot."
"Pink is definitely your color," Cole mentioned.
"Meh, I don't know about that one, but I do like it," she answered, looking herself up and down in the mirror in his room.
Suddenly, Cole smirked. "It's also pretty easy to move around in, especially for special occasions."
Nya frowned, looking at him. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I don't know," he mused. "Stuff like running, climbing, dancing."
She glared at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, looking away and crossing her arms.
He chuckled. "Dolpinum street 24."
"What?"
"Dolpinum street 24. That's a great dancing studio," he repeated, grinning.
"I- how do you know?" She slowly asked, raising an eyebrow. She had certainly not told him, especially not when she had promised Jay she wouldn't.
Cole chuckled. "I was walking towards the kitchen to-"
"Cole, we really need to talk about your cake obsession," she said, rolling her eyes.
"- get a glass of water," he deadpanned.
"Oh."
"Anyways, while I was getting my glass of water, I heard that you two were talking. And might I mention, you talked so loudly that I could almost hear everything."
"Oh," Nya said again, embarrassed. Then she frowned at him, a thought crossing her mind. "What are you still doing here?"
Cole snorted. "It's my afternoon off, I deserve to have the entire monastery to myself. Besides, I have no idea how you could convince Jay to dance, and I'd love to stalk you two and get some pics, but you know me... I'm too lazy," he said, making both of them laugh.
"Don't tell anyone that we're going dancing, okay?" Nya asked, holding up her pinky.
He then also held up his pinky. "Don't tell anyone about the origin of the kimono, okay?"
A second afterwards, the two intertwined their pinkies and shook their hands up and down.
"Deal," they both said at the same time.
I know what some of y'all might be thinking, but I don't really regret writing this and publishing it. After all, it's my book so I can kinda do whatever I want. Nonetheless, since Cole is technically supporting Jaya in this and giving Nya ideas and stuff for her date, and this is building up that short, I think it's appropriate.
To "redeem" myself for not having enough Jaya in this, I'll post the oneshot I was actually planning on posting tomorrow! Thanks for reading!