Chapter Text
Cole hated when things were quiet.
He knew he wasn’t the only one, at least, but the only thing occupying their time lately was trying to track down Sensei Wu or figure out who the new Samurai X was.
Not that either of those mysteries were being solved anytime soon.
It didn’t stop Nya, Jay or Lloyd from searching though. Kai spent any of the time he wasn’t assisting catching up with his parents.
It was seeing that that lead to Cole making the decision to visit his own father.
There wasn’t much else to do, if he was being honest. He helped out when the others asked but there was barely any crime to speak of. No bad guys trying to rise up and destroy the world again, at least not yet. The dull silence often lead him to spending his free time listening to music, something he hadn’t done enough of recently.
He needed some new albums.
Cole told Lloyd where he was going, assumed the new master would tell the others, but two days later as Cole got his things together he caught Zane’s curious expression out of the corner of his eye.
“Are you leaving?” It was strange how expressive the nindroid’s metallic face could be at times.
“Just going to see my dad for a little while. Too quiet around here.” Cole tossed his bag over his shoulder. “That and it’s been a while since I spent time with him.”
“I understand,” Zane gave him a soft smile, which only made Cole’s chest ache. There was no telling anymore how Zane felt about the loss of his father, though it hit hard at the time. Who knew magic revival elixirs didn’t last forever.
“Don’t worry, if the team needs me they can get in touch with me.”
“Can I go with you?”
The question took him so off guard that Cole dropped his bag onto the floor. “What?”
Zane tilted his head a bit. “I agree that it is rather quiet around here, and my systems can only help so much with finding Master Wu. Without Pixel around I... am not even sure how to access all of them.”
Right, she was still missing. Cole almost felt guilty about that too. He assumed she’d been running fine until that incident at the power plant.
“I understand if you would like to be alone with your father.”
“No,” the words flew out of Cole’s mouth before his thoughts finished processing. “I mean, that was the plan but if you’re bored enough you can come with. If my dad is too annoying you can just use your dragon to fly back.” He picked up his bag again before heading out down the steps.
Zane followed. “As I recall, your father has quite a delightful personality.”
“Hah, I’m glad you enjoyed it. It used to be the bane of my existence.” Cole shoved open the doors, holding one as Zane walked past.
“At the time you had conflicting interests. Perhaps it will be different now.”
“As long as he doesn’t start asking me about my future again. Even if he’s cool with this ninja thing he keeps asking me what I plan to do when it’s over. As if saving the world is something you can retire from.”
Zane summoned his ice dragon, holding out a hand. “It might perhaps benefit all of us to consider alternate paths. While we may be called to duty again, we cannot simply sit around waiting for trouble to find us.”
Cole took his hand and climbed up. He never to used to the chill of this thing, assumed that Zane simply couldn’t feel it. Despite the fact the nindroid was the same temperature, Cole hung on tight as it took off.
“Suppose that’s true, I mean, just look at what’s going on now. I’m so bored I’m going to see my dad.”
Zane laughed. “I am sure he will be delighted to see you.”
“Yeah, probably try and drag me off to some other performance.”
“But I thought you liked dancing.”
“Uh, no, thought I made it clear when we had to enter that contest that I hated it.”
Zane hummed, gaze fixed straight forward. “But you dance to your music quite often when you’re alone.”
Cole froze, almost jumping back if the dragon didn’t take that moment to dive toward the city.
“When did you see that?”
“My apologies, my falcon friend is often very curious, and likes to share the things it finds.”
Cole groaned, hiding his face in Zane’s shoulder. “Ugh, fine, I think it’s fun but I don’t want to do that for a living.”
“Your singing is nice too.”
“Okay,” Cole sat up straight, keeping Zane at arms length. “That’s it. If I see that bird peeping on me again I’m throwing a rock at it.”
Zane laughed again, not adding anything else to the conversation.
The pair landed right outside of Lou’s house, the dragon vanishing in the air. Only after he straightened up did he realize that Zane tagged along without packing anything.
“Don’t you need any supplies dude?” Cole adjusted his own bag on his shoulder as he knocked on the door.
“I do not think so. I do not require a lot of the things you do.”
“Not even a change of clothes?”
Zane paused, glancing down at his uniform for a moment. “Hm, perhaps I should go shopping.”
Cole chuckled and shook his head. “Later. I want to buy some new music anyway, there’s bound to be a few stores on the way.”
Just then his father opened the door, the slight furrow of his brow vanishing when he recognized them. “Cole! What a surprise to see you.”
Cole let himself be pulled into the hug before returning it. “Hey dad.”
“What brings you down here? Not another trophy you need to win, is there?”
He laughed when he pulled back. “Nah, it’s been quiet around the temple. Thought I’d spend some time at home.”
“Great,” Lou grinned. “I could use some help redoing the floor in the studio room.”
Cole groaned and rolled his eyes. There was no telling if his dad was kidding or not.
“I see you brought Zane,” Lou was glancing between them, his mustache hiding the faintest of smiles.
It took Cole too long to register why.
“It is nice to see you again.” Zane smiled. “Under less... stressful circumstances.”
Lou laughed, stepping back so the pair of them could come inside. “I’ll say, not a day I don’t end up having an adventure because of you boys. Come in, come in. The spare room is still there if you need it.”
Cole was relieved to hear that. As if he wanted to cough up the money for one of Ninjago’s ridiculously priced hotel rooms. “I’m going to drop my stuff off then. Be right back.”
When his father had said the spare room was still there he assumed it just meant the room itself. Instead Cole was surprised to find it in the same state he left it when he moved out. The walls were still painted black, scuff marks from where he had taped and stapled posters to the wall. His old record player was still sitting in the corner, not a speck of dust on it.
And of course, his gaudy, tie-dye bedsheets.
Cole groaned and toss his bag onto the bed. A part of him hoped Zane wouldn’t come up here but that was wishful thinking.
He glanced over at the dresser, wondering if the top drawer still had his action figures in it before he noticed his father in the doorway.
That smirk was still on his face.
“Okay,” Cole groaned. “What’s the face for?”
“What’s Zane doing here?” Lou asked.
“He wanted to come along.”
His father hummed.
“Dad, it’s not what you think.”
“No? As I recall from all your false letters about being at a dance academy you did talk quite a lot about a certain boy with white hair who could cook like an angel.”
“Okay!” Cole raised his voice. “Dad, can we please... not do this? That was a long time ago and none of the guys even know that I’m...”
“You haven’t told them?”
Cole cringed. Of course he hadn’t. The only reason his dad knew is because Cole was too young to even recognize that being attracted to guys was “weird”. Thankfully it didn’t bother his dad much. The discussions on it had been non-existent compared to Cole refusing to learn how to dance or sing.
“No, dad, and Zane and I are just friends. I’m over my crush. Can we please not make this weird?”
“Fine, I apologize. But I already asked him to cook dinner.”
Cole groaned. “Dad.”
“What? He agreed.”
“Of course he did. Zane doesn’t know how to tell people no. He’s too nice.”
“Well if it bothers you that much you can help him.”
“Dad.”
“I’m serious, it’s about time you learned. He wasn’t shy about mentioning how the team reacts to your chili.”
Cole groaned again, half tempted to smack his head against the wall. Instead he just watched his dad turn around and head down the stairs.
Bringing Zane was a terrible idea.
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Bringing Zane was the best idea.
The pair of them needed to go out and get ingredients for dinner, so they decided to take their time visiting other shops instead. Cole had to restrain himself from buying too many albums at the music store. Zane helped him keep it strictly down to five, for the time being at least. He wrote down the names of others to put on a wishlist.
Cole had never actually been clothes shopping with Zane before, as most of their clothing consisted of their uniforms, but he was slowly realizing how... off the nindroid’s sense of fashion was.
“Really Zane?” Cole couldn’t hide his smile. “A sweater vest?”
The nindroid glanced down at the dark blue. “I think it is nice.”
“Well, they are your clothes.” He snickered. “At least get some variety.”
The variety ended up being the dress shirt, a sweater vest, an actual sweater, two pairs of khakis, a black dragon t-shirt, and a white tank top with a robot face on it.
Cole shook his head. Adorable.
They didn’t get far when they were heading out of the mall. Zane spotted a photobooth, eagerly asking if they could try it out. Cole gave in. Not like they didn’t have time to waste.
The pair of them mostly stuck with silly faces, but when the photos printed out Cole was laughing far harder than he expected.
The flash had glared off Zane’s face, causing white to take up most of the frame.
“My apologies,” Zane said. “I did not think this through.”
Cole tried hard to settle his laughter as he leaned against Zane for support. “It’s fine dude, it’s fine.” He grabbed the photos. “I love ‘em.”
“You can barely see them.”
“Yeah but it makes for a good story.” He pocketed the pictures and tugged Zane along. “Come on, we have grocery shopping to do.”
As if.
They had to take a detour into the game shop, which lead to a lengthy discussion of finding something to take back to the temple.
“I can’t even remember the last time we all sat down and played something.” He shifted through the multiplayer games. “Heck, Lloyd and Kai used to be addicted to these. Didn’t think being a ninja would make them forget.”
“Considering the adversaries we’ve had recently, fighting and training do take up most of our time.” Zane said.
“Well it’s not now. I know they want to find Wu but... I don’t know. I miss goofing off sometimes.”
Zane glanced at a game, possibly looking up the reviews for it. “My father often told me that working too much could be as dangerous as not working at all. Perhaps some downtime would be beneficial.”
“See?” Cole was glad the nindroid was on his side. “Now come on, let’s narrow it down to few and get moving.”
That still took some time, arguing over fighting games vs. racing games vs. co-op games. In the end he got one fighting game and two co-op games, maybe the excuse of it as a “team building exercise” would let it slide a little easier.
They finally reached the grocery store, and Cole was somewhat regretting not bringing a vehicle to put their other stuff in. Still, he carried it all around as Zane went through the list he’d jotted down in his memory.
Cole quickly found a way to relieve his boredom.
“Hey Zane, look.” Cole smiled as he picked up a pineapple.
“Hm?”
“Peen-a-peoples.”
Zane frowned at him, narrowing his eyes. “Cole, that’s a pineapple.”
He snickered and put the fruit back down. He followed Zane toward the veggies before he picked up something else.
“Man-juice.”
“Mangos.” Zane sharply corrected.
He kept his laughter quiet, but Zane’s tone did little to deter him. In fact it only encouraged it.
“A-vaca-doos”
“That’s an avacado.”
“Cuck-ombres”
“Cucumbers.”
“Gel-apenos”
Zane narrowed his eyes. “Jalapeños.”
The charade continued well into the store. In fact it didn’t stop until they passed by the detergents. Cole immediately pointed to one of the packages.
“Titty pods.”
Zane whirled around, eyes still narrow. “I am beginning to think you are doing this on purpose.”
Cole lost it at that point, leaning on the shelf to keep himself upright. Zane didn’t look the least bit impressed, but his expression softened.
He needed to turn his humor switch back on sometime.
“Alright, sorry, joke over.” Cole waved a hand. “What else is on the list?”
Cole kept the humor under a lid as they moved on to get cheese, butter, and milk, since apparently his dad was almost out. Cole only agreed to get it because he knew what kind of mood his dad would be in if he didn’t have milk to put in his coffee.
On the way out of the store, Zane was staring at the bottle of oregano. Cole assumed he was reading the text on the bottle as he turned it around in his hands.
“Or-jane-o” The nindroid suddenly mumbled.
Cole’s gaze snapped over. “What?”
“Or-jane-o.” Zane practically shoved the bottle in his face and laughed out loud. “I get it now.”
Cole smiled, gently pushing it to the side. “Yup, or-jane-o, for the may-car-on-eye we gotta make.”
Zane laughed harder. “That almost sounds like how Jay’s father pronounces it.”
Cole gasped. “Oooh he’d be so mad if he heard that.”
“Good thing he is not here then.”
“I should tell him.”
“You would not dare.”
“Maybe I would.”
Zane reached for him and Cole ducked out of the way. He laughed louder as he took off down the street, groceries in hand. Zane wasn’t far behind him.
Cole weaved around a couple and an elderly gentleman walking on the sidewalk before he glanced back. “You’re gonna have to run faster than that, tin can.”
Zane’s determination quickly turned into surprise. “Cole!”
When he looked back in front of him he realized he was two steps onto a crosswalk. He heard the screech of tires but didn’t have the courage to look.
Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him off his feet. He lost his grip on the shopping bags when he slammed into them.
Cole quickly recognized the cold sensation on his neck, tilting his head back to look up at Zane.
“Are you alright?”
Despite the chill he felt his face getting warm. He scrambled back onto his feet, recovering the lost groceries. “Yeah, sorry about that.” Cole waved at the car that had stopped to check on him. “Thanks for the catch.”
“You are welcome. I would advise more caution with running on the streets.”
“Yeah, think I got it.” Cole waited for the car to turn before glancing down the street to make sure it was clear this time. “Let’s get home. I’m really in the mood for some macaroni.”
“I believe you mean may-car-on-eye.” Zane flashed a smile.
Cole laughed again.
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“Cole, you are aware I am fine doing this task on my own.”
“I know,” he couldn’t look Zane in the face as he put the rest of the ingredients on the counter. “But dad has a point and I’m sick of people complaining about my cooking.”
“Well, you have the dedication, just not the right training.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cole raised an eyebrow at the amount of spices on the counter. Oregano, mustard powder, black pepper, and some bottle of a sauce he couldn’t possible read the name of. “But how hard can Mac and cheese be?”
“It’s not, but it can take some strict timing.”
Before even turning the stove on the pair of them grated the cheese, Zane smacking the back of Cole’s hand when he tried to sneak a handful of it.
“So,” Cole stole a few strands when Zane turned around. “I boil some noodles while you make the sauce?”
“Nice try,” Zane said. “But you only learn by doing.”
Thankfully it wasn’t too painful, at least not at first. Melt some butter in a sauce pan, mix in some flower, add the milk, easy.
But after stirring said mixture for only three minutes, Cole’s impatience was only boosted by the heat from the stove.
“How long does this take?” He grumbled.
“Until it’s thick.”
“How are you supposed to tell?”
Zane smiled, gently taking the spoon and giving it a few turns. “Not quite, keep going.”
Cole groaned again.
When it was finally ready, long after Zane had put the noodles in the water, Cole aimed to start adding cheese, grabbing a handful.
“Whoa,” Zane took his hand. “A little at a time. It melts easier that way.”
Cole didn’t say anything. His impatience slowly faded as he realized Zane was still holding his hand, guiding it. The nindroid slipped closer behind him, shoulders pressing against his back.
Cole held his breath. When he stopped stirring Zane’s other hand took over. He always did his best not to think about it, the smooth, cold metal against his skin.
Only when all the cheese was mixed in did he remember to breath in. He tried not to think about how long it took Zane to let go.
“I see it’s going well.”
Cole jumped, the spoon sliding to the side and tossing some of the sauce into the air. He spun around to see his dad, smirking.
He wanted to curse, find out how long his dad had been there, but he had to play it cool so Zane didn’t notice.
“Yup, going pretty well. Just uh, gotta add the extra stuff I guess?”
“Indeed,” Zane took the spoon. “But taste it first. It helps you learn the differences in flavor.”
Cole did as he was told, tasting between each additive to a point he was almost sick of cheese. Twice he burned his tongue. At least the pain was a good distraction from his father’s snickering.
When everything was mixed together and baking in the oven, all three of them set to work on the table. Since Lou lived alone half of it was covered in papers and leftover boxes. He filed through all of them while Cole got out the plates and silver ware. His task was quickly distracted when he realized that the magnets on the fridge could also stick to Zane’s face.
“Cole,” Zane glanced at him. “What are you spelling on my face.”
Lou looked over before heading out of the room with the stack of papers in his hands. “It says ‘butt.’”
Cole laughed louder but quickly moved to take them all off. “Sorry, sorry, I just can’t believe that works.”
Zane was watching him as he put the back on the fridge one by one. He let himself glance over the pictures, a number of them from dad’s troupe, but a couple of them stood out.
His dad still had that crayon drawing of himself that Cole drew when he was six. Next to that were a couple of photos of his mom.
“This is your mother?” Zane was suddenly far too close.
“Uh, yeah.” He glanced over to check if his father had come back yet. “Not exactly a much discussed topic in this house.”
“My apologies.”
“It’s cool. I don’t uh, really remember her.” Cole sighed as he studied her smiling face. “Uh, anyway, we should probably get the table set up.”
Yeah, that was a topic he wanted to avoid for now. Honestly he was surprised no one else on the team had asked about his mother yet. Then again, with Kai’s situation maybe they all assumed it was better not to.
It’s not that Cole had issues talking about it, but he’d only heard it from other people. It wasn’t something he actually had to deal with. As far back as he could remember it had just been his dad.
Sometimes he wondered if what his dad told him was even the truth.
It was almost strange, eating dinner at such an uncrowded table. It was so much quieter, but a nice change of pace for the time being. His father poked questions about what all the ninjas were up to. How they dealt with the Hands of Time. Cole gladly filled in the details, possibly overdoing his explanation upon which Zane would correct him with the facts.
Cole asked about the troupe, if there were any upcoming performances. Turned out there would be one that weekend and he agreed to go see it. As long as his dad didn’t drag him on stage.
Zane seemed content to just listen to all of it.
Cole ignored the moments their elbows bumped together.