Chapter Text
~~~A week later~~~
Jay lay in his bed, exhausted from the past week. Cole had been at the house all week, just to catch Zane up on everything that had happened. As well as introduce him to Tori.
He had tried to stay in his room, but the others had found one way or another to keep him out of it. It was hard, because he was just bashed left and right. It had definitely taken a toll on his self-esteem. He hadn't even been able to leave to see the gang.
He wondered how Jen, Addison, and Logan were doing. He was sure it was much better than him.
He supposed he needed to try to get out of bed. Jay lay there, trying to gain the will to get up. But that was impossible. Until he heard a knock on his door.
Finally hoisting himself up, Jay trudged for the door. He opened it to Lloyd. "Do you need something?" Jay asked.
"I need you to fix a leak in the bathroom sink." Lloyd said. Then the green ninja turned and left back down the stairs.
Jay just sighed and turned on his heel, back to the bed. He grabbed his tool kit and then headed to the bathroom, which was right next to his room. Great, another thing keeping him out.
He just wanted to go back to the hideout, but he couldn't. There hadn't been a big enough fight to constitute him leaving. But he couldn't just stay in his room all day, they kept having him do things.
Jay opened the door to the bathroom, and stepped in a puddle of water. Reeling back, Jay growled in anger. "Just a leak? Seriously!"
He quickly turned off the water to the sink and then returned to his tool bag. Immediately getting to work, he looked at the pipes under the sink. He had to lay on the wet floor, soaking his clothes.
Looking at the pipes, one had a visible crack in it. Sighing, Jay detached the pipe from the others and got up, taking it with him. He headed downstairs to the kitchen, where someone was bound to be.
To his surprise, everyone but Nya and Tori was there talking. Jay cleared his throat, holding up the cracked pipe. "Water to the bathroom sink is off. I have to buy an entire new pipe, but I'll be back in a bit."
Nobody looked or answered him, so Jay just turned and left. He went outside, summoning his energy dragon, and flew off. He flew to the auto-body shop.
They didn't usually carry regular house parts, but he knew of a bunch of pipes of different kinds had been stored in the back from an accidental shipment a few years back. If anyone really expected him to buy a brand-new pipe for a house he hated, they really were stupid.
Landing out front, Jay headed inside. The bell to the door rang as he walked inside. Borodo looked up from what he was doing.
"Ah! Jay, what brings you in today? Come to work?" Borodo asked in his booming voice.
Jay strained a smile. "Not quite. You still have those old boxes of pipes in the back?"
Borodo shrugged. "I believe so. Do you need some?"
"Just one to fix a sink pipe."
"Well, feel free to go look." Borodo smiled, before looking down and going back to his work.
Jay walked around the back and into the storage room. It was a mess of boxes, tools, and parts of all sorts. Maybe he could get paid cleaning this place up next. It'd be harder for him to be found in here.
Going around, he looked for the pipes. After almost half an hour, he found the box. He rummaged and found the pipe he needed. Walking back to the front, he waved goodbye to his work boss. "Thanks Borodo! I'll try to come into work later."
"I hope to see you soon, Jay!" Borodo said.
Jay got on his elemental dragon and headed back to the temple. He had been gone for quite a bit. He had to hope that they wouldn't get mad at him for taking so long. The temple soon came into view and Jay sped up. The faster, hopefully the better for him. Finally landing, he headed inside.
Shouting came from upstairs as he opened the front door. Sighing, Jay rushed upstairs. As he stepped onto the last set of stairs, his shoes squeaked. Looking down, there was water coming down the stairs. Well, he knew what the yelling was for.
Continuing up, he made it to the bathroom. Lloyd, Kai, and Cole were around the door. Jay heard Tori and Zane talking inside.
Lloyd turned around and glared at Jay. "You couldn't have told us you took the pipe out?"
Jay felt his stomach sink. Steeling himself, he sighed. "I told you I turned the water off. And I held the pipe out for you to see before I left. Just because you weren't listening, doesn't mean I didn't say or do anything."
Lloyd just huffed. "Well, maybe you should speak louder next time."
Jay opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and breathed through his nose as calmly as he could muster. "Whatever." He just shoved his way through into the bathroom. Zane was finally closing up the water again. Tori was soaked in water, and looked like she had just been in tears.
"Excuse me. I've got the replacement pipe." Jay said. He went under the cabinet and put the pipe back where it needed to go. Then he turned the water back on. "There, it's fixed."
Zane and Cole were no longer there. But Kai, Lloyd, and Tori were. "You can clean up the water, since you didn't inform us about the pipe." Kai said. The two older guys turned and walked away, taking an apologetic looking Tori with them.
Jay closed his eyes, trying to keep calm, and from crying himself. After taking a minute, he went to the storage room to grab a mop. Not that it would do much. He would need to have multiple mops. The flooding wasn't only in the bathroom, but on most of the floor, and going down the stairs.
It took him over two hours to finally clean up all the water from the entire top floor of the house. His pants, socks, and shoes were all sopping wet at the end of it. Jay left all the supplies he had used in the tub, and headed up to his room. He took off his wet clothes, and changed back into pajama pants and a tank top. He then walked into his closet, curled up and started sobbing.
Why didn't his plans work? He just wanted to go home to the gang hideout. He hadn't been able to go for a whole week, and it had been heck the entire time. The ninja had him do so many things, and yelled at him for one thing or another. It couldn't get worse, he hoped. Jay tried his best to calm himself.
"Come on James. Get yourself under control. You're a wreck." He chastised himself. It didn't help, it just made him feel worse. Maybe he could make a quick escape for the night and rest of the afternoon. He could spend time with Logan, Jen, and Addison. He had been stuck here for so long, he hadn't even heard how Addison's doctor's appointment had gone last week.
Jay prayed that he would have gotten rid of the ninja, and was living the life he wanted, by the time his kid was born. He wondered if they knew if it was a boy or a girl. He had to leave somehow. Not tomorrow, or the day after, but tonight.
Jay wiped the tears from his face, sniffling. He then lugged himself out of his closet, trying not to feel sorry for himself. He looked at himself in the mirror, trying to make sure he didn't look like he had just been sobbing. Jay sighed and walked over to his jacket and bag rack, he grabbed a bag and walked to his dresser. Jay started grabbing a few clothing items he didn't have at the hideout.
As he next walked over to his desk, a soft knock sounded on his door. It opened just as he shoved his phone in the front pocket and Tori poked her head in first, before walking in.
"A-are you leaving?" Tori asked.
Jay took a glance at her, before grabbing a few things and closing his bag. "Yeah. I just need a break." He walked past her to the door and walked out.
Tori followed him to the door, but stood in the doorway as Jay walked away. "I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't aware that the sink was even broken. It's my fault for having Zane turn it on."
The blue ninja stopped at the top of the stairs and sighed. "You're fine. I'm not mad at you, just frustrated at the others. Don't let them give you a hard time. I shouldn't be gone for more than a few days."
Jay continued on, and went down the stairs to the front door. Exiting the house, he hopped on his energy dragon, flying to Ninjago city. He hoped that Tori didn't feel like he was upset with her. But he really just needed to get out. Once he reached the city, he carefully made his way to the hideout.
The police and ninja were still looking for the hideout, even after all these months. They had managed to bust the other one when Jay had been with the gang, to the knowledge of the ninja. Coming to the hideout, he made sure that nobody was watching, and headed inside.
Inside was very busy. If he could guess, he would say that they've either gotten more people in the gang, or had rescued former members, or former members had been released from kryptarium prison. He continued in, and walked to the kitchen. He was hungry, and hadn't eaten all day. Then after all that cleaning, yeah, he needed food.
Searching in the fridges, he pulled out some turkey and cheese, then went and grabbed some bread. He then started making a sandwich.
"James!" He heard someone shout his name. Looking around, Logan approached him. "Hey, where have you been? It's been a week."
James smiled lightly and continued making his sandwich. "I just haven't been able to leave. They've been yelling at me and having me do stuff all week, while they slack around. Nothing super noteworthy until today. So I left, and I'll go back later. They'll probably shout at me for leaving, but I really don't care."
Logan nodded. "Fair enough. We're just glad you're here. The girls are out for the day. Having a girls' day. So if you wanna do something, I'm down."
James took a bite out of his now finished sandwich. "I guess I'm down. Had anything in mind?"
"Video games? It's been a while since I've had a good challenge." Logan said.
James chuckled and smiled. "You know what, you're on. Sounds relaxing to me."