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Surprisingly, it was Mike who noticed first.
He cornered the others in the dojo late one night while Jayden was taking a bath and Ji was in the kitchen making tea. "So, my dad isn't exactly the traditional kind of Samurai," he announced, grabbing the frame of the doorway and using it to swing around into the room.
"Shocking," Kevin said dryly.
"Shut up," Mike replied without heat. "So I'm just trying to figure out, is it a Samurai Thing or a Jayden Thing when he tenses up and gets all weird if you get into his space?"
There was an awkward pause.
Mia lowered her bokken, frowning. "That's ... "
"'Cause like, he doesn't give me that 'Remove your hand before I remove it for you' look that Ji totally does," he continued, attempting to sound like Ji and failing, "But just touching his shoulder or something? I mean, it's supposed to be a friendly gesture, and he's acting like I just made a threat on his life."
"It's not a me thing," Emily offered. "My sister and I have always been really close, and we've never had a problem with showing affection."
There was a note of longing in her voice, and Mike moved automatically to wrap an arm around her. She smiled up at him as he gave her a quick squeeze.
Kevin let out a long sigh. "You're not thinking this through, Mike," he reprimanded softly, shooting him a reproving look. "Yes, culturally speaking, physical affection is only done with people you're close with in Japan. A lot of families on the island still hold to that. But you're also forgetting that Jayden is the heir to the Shiba family."
"So what?"
"He means that Jayden was very isolated as a child," Mia explained. "He's probably not used to being around anyone but Ji, and most of the people he did meet were likely very reserved with him as well. It's just become a part of who he is."
"Please," Mike snorted. "We're his *team*. It's our job to fix things like that before he has a nervous breakdown and becomes a supervillain or something."
"A supervillain," Kevin repeated skeptically. "Jayden."
"Of course. It's always the guy who didn't get enough hugs as a kid. Don't you read comics? Anyway," he dismissed before Kevin could do more than open his mouth in protest, "That's why I'm initiating Operation Hug Jayden Into Submission. We'll have to start small obviously, because we don't want anyone to lose an arm or something."
Emily's eyes widened "Lose an - "
"Mike," Mia tried protest as Kevin quietly put a hand over his face.
"It's for Jayden," Mike spoke over her, giving them all a very pointed look. "Because he needs this."
And that was that.
****
They started small.
Mike began leaning into Jayden's personal bubble as he talked, ignoring the way Jayden stiffened and clearly had to fight the instinct to lean back. Emily walked closer to him, smiling brightly in an effort to disarm him. Mia started making and serving meals, leaning forward with a warm smile as she set down each person's plate in front of them. Kevin mostly tolerated the others' displays, as he was only barely more comfortable with them than Jayden, but he did make the effort to stand closer beside them all.
They started becoming more affectionate with each other. Mia and Emily held hands, linked arms, and hugged each other at every opportunity. Mike wrapped an arm around whoever he happened to be standing next to without thinking about it. Kevin startled Mike by deliberately gripping his shoulder, smiling at him despite the awkwardness behind the gesture. Nothing about the change was a smooth transition for anyone, but they all made an effort, and it became easier as time went by.
And slowly, it started to work.
Jayden stopped tensing up when they stood near him. His smiles became more open and frequent, and less forced than before. He sat almost shoulder to shoulder with Kevin after Madimot's spell, talking quietly as he reassured him. He joined them for a game of Samurai Journey, and sat close enough to Mike to let their knees brush with minimal flinching.
But there was a downside to it too, as he became more protective of them. He stood at the front of the team in a fight, and became quicker to rush at the Nighlok before anyone else could move to stop him. He became reckless in battle, and when they tried to protect him, he tried to leave to 'keep them safe', as he claimed later.
His one and only real attempt to run away from them was swiftly dealt with, but it left all of them wondering, secretly, why he was desperate to keep himself isolated.
And then Antonio arrived, and Jayden's face lit up in a way none of them had ever seen before.
Antonio was full of in-your-face energy, constantly in everyone's space and ears. He had no boundaries, invading personal space and gesturing widely and throwing out affectionate gestures as easily as he breathed. He talked and laughed at the top of his voice, interrupting when others spoke. He was late to training if he showed up at all, and while he clearly loved the idea of Samurai traditions, he obviously had little to no idea how Samurai culture actually worked in practice.
Ji hated him, and the team found themselves struggling to adjust. He made Kevin frown in disapproval, but Mike liked him and Emily adored him, and Mia hesitated somewhere in the middle, because having Antonio around obviously made Jayden happy. And they do need him, even if not everyone wanted to admit it.
Kevin privately thought of him as a form of chaos, but Emily pointed out that sometimes a little chaos can be a good thing.
And it was. Antonio brought a form of energy that no one else could quite duplicate. He revitalized their arsenal, pushed Mia to improve her cooking, made Mike laugh and Emily smile, and slowly convinced Kevin to lower his own walls, to see that these are his friends, his team, and he doesn't have to hold himself back from them.
With Antonio, Jayden laughed more than ever, and smiled easily. Mike did double-take the first time Jayden and Antonio shared a bro-fist. Jayden still pushed himself too hard, but he became more likely to lean on the others when he needed to. Even Ji began to lighten up, slowly coming to accept Antonio's place in the team.
By the time the Black Box was solved, even Jayden didn’t think twice if Emily hooked her arm though his as they walked, or jump when Kevin shoulder bumped him with a smile. Mike was just as likely to give Emily a hug as Mia was. Neither of the girls hesitated to cuddle Antonio as they all discussed his sudden fear of fish, and by the time they gathered around the table for dinner that night, only Kevin paused long enough to realize how close together they were sitting, and it took him a moment to remember why that was significant.
But by then, it didn’t really matter anymore.
****
Lauren arrived with a stiffness that was both familiar and foreign, and a shy, hesitantly hopeful smile that was almost painful to see. Even reaching out to touch Jayden's cheek had an awkwardness to it, just barely tempered by the look of affection in her eyes as they stared at each other. She jumped slightly when Mia put a hand on her shoulder, giving another tentative smile that still held an edge of fear and desperation to it that even Jayden had never quite shown.
But Jayden was currently leaning heavily on Antonio and Kevin as they supported him without even a hint of hesitation, and he smiled at his sister with a warmth that no one would have been able to imagine a year and a half ago.
It wasn’t impossible. They’d already fixed the impossible once before, after all.
****
"So," Mike remarked the next day as they waited for Lauren and Jayden to join them for Lauren's welcome feast, "Operation Hug Lauren Into Submission is a go?"
Kevin rolled his eyes theatrically. Mia just shook her head with a smile. Emily giggled and nodded, and Ji eyed them suspiciously from the doorway but no one cared.
"I knew it!" Antonio crowed triumphantly, pointing at Mike. "I knew it was all you guys! Jayden tried to play it off as team bonding, but I knew better. He'd never let go of all that Samurai training without a fight."
"Well, you did help," Emily pointed out with a grin.
Antonio preened. "Of course I did. The trick to out-stubborning Jayden when he's being silly is not to take no for an answer."
"You think that's going to work with Lauren?" Kevin asked skeptically as he set down the ketchup and mustard.
"We'll make it work," Mia assured him. "We can't give up now."
"That's what friends are for, right?" Mike declared, nudging Kevin gently with a grin as Lauren finally appeared outside Mia and Emily went to drag her over to them.
Kevin sighed, shaking his head with a fond smile. "Lucky me."