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• Everything I Thought I Was by shadowshighlights

  Fandoms: LEGO Ninjago (Cartoon 2011-2022)  

  • Mature
  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • M/M
  • Work in Progress

  24 Aug 2026

  Tags

  • No Archive Warnings Apply
  • Cole/Kai (Ninjago)
  • Nya/Jay Walker (Ninjago)
  • P.I.X.A.L./Zane (Ninjago)
  • Kai (Ninjago)
  • Nya (Ninjago)
  • Jay Walker (Ninjago)
  • Cole (Ninjago)
  • Zane (Ninjago)
  • P.I.X.A.L. (Ninjago)
  • Lloyd Garmadon
  • OC - Character
  • Sensei Wu (Ninjago)
  • Gay Cole (Ninjago)
  • Confused Kai
  • Slow Burn
  • Friends to Lovers
  • Best Friends
  • mutual pinning (kinda)
  • mutual yearning
  • Identity Crisis
  • Self-Discovery
  • Emotional Hurt/Comfort
  • Angst with a Happy Ending
  • Romance
  • Action/Adventure
  • Mystery
  • Kai-centric (Ninjago)
  • Protective Cole (Ninjago)
  • Kai needs a hug
  • Cole needs a hug
  • patient cole
  • pinning cole
  • Soft Cole
  • Ancient Prophecy
  • Original villain - Freeform
  • origonal lore (kinda)
  • Mystery Plot
  • Identity
  • elemental powers
  • learning to love yourself
  • Fear of Change
  • Fear of Vulnerability
  • Emotional Repression
  • self acceptence
  • Scared Kai
  • cole has been patient for years
  • he's as bad as me lowkey
  • Lava - Freeform
  • lava needs help asap
  • no one communicates at first because then we'd have no plot
  • love is not the only thing kai is trying to understand
  • im kinda bad at tags
  • read all notes please
  • supportive ninja team
  • its kai x cole so the others may not show as much because writing dialogue for like 9 characters plus the villains is hard
  • first time writing a lava ship fic im nervous
  • it starts off slow but i swear it gets better
  • trust me please
  • leave comments!!
  • smut?????????????
  • LGBTQ Themes
  • Internalized Homophobia

  Summary

  Kai and Cole have been training under Wu for the past 8 years along with other amazing friends, experiencing all types of dangers, chaos and wonders. To say Kai's life was perfect would be a lie, but he was as happy as a ninja could be. So when he started seeing his best friend under a different light after so many years and a new villain being after his fire power, he started to question if he ever really found his true potential.

  Or himself.

  -----------------------------------
  To say Cole has secretly been pinning over his straight best friend for the last 4 years would sound ridiculous, though he wouldn't be able to deny it. Although he tried to move on, it seemed like his stone heart yearned for the heat of his friend's fire touch. After watching Kai date other women, an opportunity arose, giving him hope that maybe, he felt the same. But self-acceptance is messier than he remembered.

  Especially when friendship and a life is on the line.

  Language:

  English

  Words:

  18,411

  Chapters:

  5/?

  Collections:

  1

  Comments:

  85

  Kudos:

  103

  Bookmarks:

  21

  Hits:

  1,084