Chapter Text
Ronin walks back to the table before turning to Kai
“Hes bound to pass out soon, so don't freak out”
Kai frowns but nods
He doesn't want to make a big deal about it. As long as the liquid ammonia works he can deal with Jay passing out
Yeah he can
He's seen Jay getting hurt before it's not a big deal
Kai walks over to Jay stopping at his head
Jay is staring into space probably because of the pain he's in
The fire ninja kneels down at Jay's head so that he's at level with him
“You ok?”
Stupid question yeah but he wants to hear Jays voice
Jay's eyes search for him before finally locking onto Kai's face
“Yeah”
His hands hover at the wound mentally deciding if pressing down would make the feeling worse or better
Kai notices Jays hands and quickly takes one in his own hand
“Don't touch it… you're gonna make it worse”
He runs his thumb over Jay's knuckles a soothing gesture meant to distract Jay
“You know motor mouth, you haven't been talking that much”
From the corner of his eye he can see Ronin getting more gauze
If he can get Jay to talk perhaps that could distract the lightning ninja long enough so that Ronin can get the job done
“Talk to me”
Jay gives Kai an incredulous look
“Talk?”
He's already in pain and now Kai wants him to talk?!
The auburn haired boy lays there in silence for a moment trying to decide to either snap at Kai or just go along with it
He hesitates before adding “about what?” his eyes flick to Ronin anxiously
Oh god he's anxious
He's gonna throw up- or at least he thinks he will
He doesn't tell this to Kai yet though, unless he's actually going to throw up
Kai shrugs
“Anything, I just want to hear your voice”
Jay freezes and turns his face away as he blushes
Kai wants to hear his voice….
Oh god
As Ronin comes closer he catches Kai's eye
The fire ninjas face very obviously says wait
Ronin shrugs and goes back to cutting more gauze in preparation for when he packs the rest of the wound
“I mean…. I wanna buy more video games”
Kai nods
“What type of video games?”
Jay shrugs looking at Kai's face instead of Ronin or the wound
Which in Kai's opinion is progress
The lightning ninja thinks for a moment
“Racing games”
“You know like Forza Horizon six”
Kai smiles a smile that's meant to reassure Jay “are you buying it for yourself or will you share it with me and the others?”
Kai doesn't really mind, as long as Jay is happy he's happy
Jay shrugs “I mean you can play multiplayer but you guys also ways mess up my high scores”
“So I guess I'll share as long as you don't play the challenge races, ok?”
Kai smiles “ok, but we both know that I'm better at video games than you”
He's got Jay distracted now so he glances at Ronin giving him the clear to start packing the wound again
Jay gives Kai a look
“We both know that that's a lie”
“I think I'm one of the best people at video games in the monastery, bar Pixal but she’s a nindroid so she doesn't count”
“But by that logic Zane shouldn't count either but he's ok at video games, do you think it has something to do with their designs?”
Kai shrugs “I dunno, maybe”
“Your he one whos good at tech and mechanics”
Jay nods slowly
“Yeah probably, Zane's design is way older than Pixals even though his is more efficient”
Kai tilts his head “is it?”
Jay nods again
“Yeah, if it wasn't efficient he would have powered down by now”
The fire ninja thinks about this for a second “oh yeah”
He smiles a small smile “you know a lot about this kind of stuff”
Jay smiles a half smile “I was raised on a junkyard, I was basically raised around this type of stuff”
He winces as Ronin presses at the side of the wound
“M- my dad used to teach me how to fix things around the junkyard”
The stutter is caused by his neck jerking to the side making the bones in his neck crack only audible to Jay
Kai squeezes Jay's hand “keep on talking, what did you fix on the junkyard?”
Jays voice is a bit shaky but talks anyways “At first it was small stuff like my toys, this was when I was around five to ten years old”
Ronin presses the gauze into the wound making Jays voice waver
Kai frowns “your ok, keep on talking”
“Ngh… A- and then my dad noticed and he- he started teaching me how to fix more complicated stuf—”
As Ronin pulls his fingers out from the wound Jay cries out and tries to press down on the wound with his other hand that isn't in Kai's grip
Well wasn't in Kai's grip
He takes Jay's hand and squeezes both of them “dont touch it, ok? Just keep on talking"
Jay nods his mouth slightly open still making small noises
“I- I even made lightning rods for when there were storms, because there was a lot of metal on the junkyard so my parents didn't want the lightning striking the stuff”
Ronin pushes in the second part of the gauze he's halfway done now
Jay continues talking though
“Which- which was honestly stupid— mmh…. Because I can function as a lightning rod myself”
Jays neck jerks again
Kai frowns
“You function as a lightning rod?”
Jay stifles a cry
“M- mhm”
Kai glances at the wound
The first layer of gauze is already soaked through with blood
Kai cringes internally knowing that all of that gauze is going to have to come out
He turns back to Jay
“Does it not hurt?”
Jay shakes hisnhead “no, well kinda it only hurts in my left eye”
He points at the left eye which Kai has noticed in the past is a different colour than the other
Well not different colour but theres blue mixed with the brown
His eyes are pretty
But Kai pushes that thought away
Now's not the time for thoughts like that
“What happened to your eye? I mean, were you born like that or did something happen?”
Jay shrugs
“I hit my head, this was during training before you and Nya came”
“I woke up a few days later and it was blue and brown instead of just brown”
Kai smiles
He's glad that nothing too bad had happened
“How come you haven't told me this before?”
Jay shrugs “it never came up”
After a while of Jay rambling
Kai reassuring Jay
And Ronin packing the wound
“Lift your hips”
Ronin finally speaks again after letting Kai talk to Jay
Jay has a small sheen of sweat on his forehead and he's frowning
“What?....”
Ronin puts a hand on Jays hip lifting him roughly
“Lift your hips so that I can bandage wound”
Kai stares at Ronin's hand a feeling of jealousy rising in his chest
Also he doubts that Jay can even keep his hips up
“You can let go. I can hold them up for him”
Jays eyes are glazed over
But as Kai's gentle hands replace Ronin's rough ones he relaxes slightly
Which makes Kai smile
“So is he ok?”
Kai braces himself
The older man looks at Kai with an exasperated expression
“Does he look ok?” He gestures at Jay's expression
Which does not look ok
Kai scowls “I obviously know he's not ok, I mean is the wound in an acceptable condition”
Ronin rolls his eyes
“The wound is packed you'll need to take the gauze out after a few hours”
“You can do that right?”
Kai nods “yeah I can”
Ronin steps back surveying the scene
“You can let him go now”
The fire ninjas face goes red “I- I know”
He gently lets go of Jay's waist making sure he doesn't drop down onto the table suddenly
Ronin points ar his radio
“Does that thing work?”
Kai shrugs “dunno”
The thief points at Jay now
“Shouldn't you contact the ninja to tell them about what happened to your lover?”
Kai pauses for a second
“My what?”
He pushes the comment away “I uhm yeah, I think I can”
He stands up and walks to the corner of the room and picks up his radio
He presses the button which alerts the other ninja
There's static for a moment before Cole's voice comes through
“Hey Kai, where are you?”
“The others have been asking”
Kai sighs he completely forgot that they were supposed to come back to the monastery or at least signal if they were going to be late
“Uh yeah, sorry”
“Listen me and Jay are at Ronins pawn shop, we kinda had a problem that I'll explain later. Can you pick us up?”
Coles voice comes through again
“Yeah sure I'll be there in about ten fifteen minutes”
Kai nods even though he knows Cole can't see him “thanks”
There's static again as Cole hangs up
Kai turns back to Jay
“Hey”
Jay makes a small noise which sounds like a muffled Hey
“Listen Cole's gonna come pick us up in about ten minutes, you good?”
Kai takes Jays hand again
“Yeah…”
Jay squeezes Kai's hand gently
The fire ninja hopes that Jay isn't lying