Chapter Text
Jay doesn’t wake up in his bed. He can tell just by gazing at the bright white ceiling, because last time he checked, his room on the Bounty was most definitely brown.
A soft beeping beside him, Jay sits up, and sends a wave of pain through him, his head spinning like there’s no tomorrow.
He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to recollect where he could be.
The last thing he remembers is going to bed angry, due to another fight with Cole over Nya.
Hmm. Maybe he was kidnapped in his sleep.
The beeps weren’t helping his concentration.
Chancing another look around, praying it doesn’t affect his dizzy head, Jay finds the source of the beeps. A hospital monitor. Was he injured?
How did that happen?
There was a bouquet of flowers too, mostly primulas, his favourite, resting on the bed stand.
He heard a voice, and stilled to listen in, tuning out the beeps as best as he could.
“He’ll be awake any time soon, he’s stabilising more and more by the day.” The voice is calm, collected, and definitely Zane’s.
There’s a pause, and Jay can’t hear a reply, before Zane starts talking again.
“I’m telling you, you need to take a few deep breaths. He’s going to be okay. I’ll give it another two weeks before I start to worry.”
Another pause.
“I’m about to check up on him now. I’ll call you back with the results.”
Zane walks into the bright room, and Jay freezes, unsure what to do.
Zane hesitates, and Jay can practically hear his gears whirring as he processes, before the nindroid smiles.
“Hello Jay. Feeling well?”
“Uh, I’m a lil dizzy but other than that, everything’s good. You?”
“Relieved. You’ve had us worried Jay.”
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember? You were knocked out on the battlefield after shielding a civilian from a bomb. A large chunk of shrapnel impaled you, and and you suffered quite the hit to the head.” Zane smiles. “Of course, I knew you’d recover just fine. Your vitals were in critical condition, but a lot better than they could’ve been.”
“Huh. Okay. Where am I?”
“Our medical bay. You don’t recall?”
“Mm, not really.” Jay decides now is the perfect time to crack a joke. “Who are you?”
Zane straightens up. “What? Jay? You’re having trouble with your memory?” The fear in his voice makes Jay cut it out immediately.
“No, no, I’m joking. Sorry. I know who you are Zane.”
“Just in case... what year is it?”
“2020, duh.”
“That’s not funny Jay. Seriously. What year is it.”
Jay raises a brow. “I’m - are you messing with me now? It’s 2020 Zane.”
“Jay, cut it out. I need the year.”
“Yes. It’s 2020.” He’s getting increasingly frustrated now.
Zane is quiet. “You promise you’re being serious?”
“Zane, I know what fucking year it is.”
The ice ninja sits at the foot of Jay’s bed.
“It’s 2022.”
Jay is silent. For a minute, anyway. Then he laughs.
“Good one. Better than mine, I’ll give you that. Sold it way better.”
Zane’s expression doesn’t change.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I had a fight with Cole over Nya. He’s not with her, right? They wouldn’t get together while I’m injured, that’s rude. Right?”
“He’s not with Nya, no.” Zane looks at him critically. “Jay. If you’re joking, you need to tell me before I contact a professional.”
“You’re taking this 2022 thing way too far dude.”
Zane nods once, standing. “Okay. I’ll be back in a second.”
Jay’s smile falters. “Wait, wait. You can’t just go! You need to tell me you’re joking.”
“It’s 2022. Jay, I need to contact someone.”
“No, no, no, you can’t go, you - you’re not telling the truth, I’m not -”
Zane stills. “It’s alright Jay. It’s gonna be alright.”
“A psychologist is on their way, and I’ve spoken to Cole.” Zane draws up a chair. “He’s on his way.”
“What does Cole have to do with anything?”
“I’m hoping he’ll trigger some memories.”
“Well, tell him to go away. I don’t want to see him.”
Zane is thinking for a moment, Jay can tell.
“You’re engaged, Jay.”
“To Nya? For real? That’s why Cole’s coming? So I can re-live rubbing it in his face?”
“You’re engaged to Cole.”
Jay frowns. “Uh, sorry, I think you broke. Say that again?”
Zane sighs. “I’m sure this will come back to you once you see him.”
“Uh, no, I cannot be engaged to Cole, because you see, I’m in love with Nya.”
“Your wedding plans tell me otherwise.”
“Zane, this is a real bad joke.”
“If you’re engaged to Nya, why are you the one with the ring?”
Jay falters, staring at his hand. Fuck. Zane had him there.
“It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Zane shakes his head, patting Jay’s arm gently.
“Who’s Nya with then?”
“No one, at the moment. She’s a lesbian though.”
Jay squints, trying to will his memory back by blurring his eyesight.
It doesn’t work.
“I’m here!” Cole throws the door open. Brash as always.
“Let’s talk outside.” Zane mumbles, grabbing Cole by the arm.
Jay listens intently, but their whispers are too quiet until Cole’s big “WHAT?” followed by a harsh “you couldn’t have told me this over the phone?”
Cole never was very good at whispering, was he?
The earth ninja thuds into the room then, staring at Jay, searching for some kind of reaction.
Jay rolls his eyes, and gives a faux smile. This was all some kind of ruse. No way on Earth was he actually in a relationship with Cole. Maybe Zane was just trying to jest with him, but failed miserably.
Yeah, that was probably it.
“Babe?” Cole’s voice wobbles.
Oh. Maybe not.
Jay feels his heart pang slightly, and there’s definitely some feeling tugging at his brain, but he can’t recognise anything but confusion.
The earth ninja’s face crumples, and he steps towards Jay like approaching a stranger.
“Jay? This isn’t - you gotta remember our relationship, right?”
Jay surveys Cole’s fragile body language, his shaky voice and wounded eyes. Still nothing.
“Sorry Cole. I don’t believe that we’re engaged.”
“Two years ago... we got together two years ago. After our shit with Nya.”
“Well, I guess I’m stuck at the shit with Nya part.”
Jay writhed as Cole slumps onto a seat. He didn’t like Cole being sad. It’s always been sucky to see Cole like that.
“Nothing? Not our conversation? Not our first date?”
“I mean, I can remember you all exist.”
“Mm.” Cole looks at Zane. “And there’s nothing you can do?”
“I’ve spoken to a psychologist. That’s the only thing I knew was needed.”
Cole takes a deep breath. “Okay. Okay.” He glanced at Jay. “Just means I’ll have to court you all over again.”
Jay shifts, uncomfortable. This wasn’t normal. None of this was normal.
Apparently he needed some therapy. That would apparently bring his memories back.
Jay called bullshit.
Back at the dojo, which was built like new, everyone was being weirdly nice to him, like he was fragile, or about to break.
Kai’s smile was strained, Nya couldn’t look at him without biting her lip, Zane busied himself with cooking, Lloyd didn’t meet his eye. Wu had apologised, seeming to blame himself for somehow influencing Jay’s decision to save a bystander.
And Cole...
Cole was hovering. Like he was hoping Jay’s memories would swoop back at any moment, like he was willing it to happen.
He looked like he was about to cry.
It had Jay conflicted. Sure, maybe Cole was an absolute asshole, but the idea of him crying had Jay torn to pieces.
He needed Cole to be okay. No matter what.
“It’s late. You guys should get going.” Kai yawned.
Jay blinked. “Huh? To where?”
Kai looked away. “Oh. Yeah. You, uh...”
“You can stay here, if you want.” Sensei continued for him.
Jay tipped his head.
“You can come back to our apartment if you want. But don’t worry, it’s okay if you’d rather not.” Cole went to put his hand on Jay’s shoulder, before immediately undoing his movement.
Jay stared at him.
This was all real. He was engaged to Cole, in the year 2022, and he shared an apartment with the guy.
They lived together.
“I guess I’d like to see what the apartment’s like.” Jay shrugs.
Cole smiles a little sadly, offering his hand then removing the outstretched palm immediately.
Jay wished he hadn’t. He was coming around to the idea of their fingers twined together.
Cole opened the car door for him. They had a car? It was a real messy one too, filled with straggler receipts and lost change.
The drive to the apartment - their home - was quiet, until Cole put some music on.
It was a nice instrumental, slow tempo, violin led with some other orchestration in the background.
Jay’s convinced he can see stars, and he can feel Cole’s hand around his, but a blink shows it’s not real.
At least, not right now. It felt a familiar scene, a memory at his fingertips.
“We ever dance to this?”
Cole smiles fondly. “Only when we’re outside. You tell me it’s outside music, it’s ‘illegal’ to be played inside, apparently.”
“Mm. That sounds like me.”
“Do you want me to sleep on the couch?”
Jay raises a brow. “Why?”
“We share a bed. I wasn’t sure if-”
“It’s fine. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“Yeah man. It’s not fair if you got a bad sleep.”
“I haven’t been sleeping too great anyway.”
“How come?”
Cole hesitates. “When you spend ages sleeping next to someone, it becomes real hard to fall asleep without them.”
Oh.
“How long was I out?”
“Three weeks. Which might not sound like a long time, but, uh- it was tough. That’s all.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have my memories.”
Cole is quiet for a moment. “Not your fault. I, uh, can talk to you about some stuff from the past if you want. I’ll do my best to recount what’s happening since the Nya argument.”
“Mm. What month is it?”
“April.”
“Huh. That makes sense.”
“Why?”
“Not cold enough to be January.”
Cole nods, eyes straying from the road for once second, just to look at Jay.
“Are we in love?” Jay asks, avoiding Cole’s short lived gaze.
“Yeah. Well, we were. I don’t know if you love me now.”
“I don’t know either.”
“That’s alright. We’ll figure it out.”
“What’s our apartment like?”
“Cozy. Warm.” Cole hesitates. “We kind of have a cake tasting appointment tomorrow. For the wedding. Not for fun. I was gonna go alone, but I can stay with you if you’d prefer.”
“No, no, uh, you should go. I should go. It would probably bring back a few memories, right?”
“If you’re sure. No pressure from me.”
“I know.” Jay looks at Cole’s face. “I know.”