Work Text:
Jay really didn't see the appeal.
Princess Vania was just another girl. Sixteen years old, adventurous, free spirited. And FSM forbid, he had nothing against that. Now that she was sixteen, Vania was free to make her own decisions and go her own path.
But that was beside the point.
Cole was his best friend. And for as long as he could remember, Jay could come up with three things when on the topic of Cole and romance. Those three things were either:
a) Cole just wasn't into girls. At least, from Jay could and had picked up on for the several many years they had known each other. OR…
b) Cole simply wasn't interested in dating or romance. The lack of affection Cole happened to show when he was around new faces was little to none. OR…
c) Cole just had a strange way of showing said affection. Maybe, like his element, Cole was also stubborn and could hide his true feelings about a person well beneath a hard exterior.
After the stupid love triangle, Cole had confessed to Jay that he was never really into Nya to begin with. While it was relieving to hear at first, that got Jay wondering why he fought over Nya in the first place.
Maybe Cole was just confused. Maybe Cole had just been caught up in all of the bickering and fighting that to back out of it would be too late and a cowardly move. And this next thought, Jay liked to entertain quite often. The thought that Cole fought for his attention.
For Jay.
Nonetheless, Jay had seen the look Cole had given the Princess as she cheered gleefully over their heroic tales.
He wondered if maybe it was just a look of admiration.
Of course, who wouldn't be flustered when you had a superfan right in front of you, gushing about how amazing and brave you were?
Which was true, they were pretty awesome.
Still, Vania seemed more drawn to Cole out of them all. But Jay couldn't blame her for that. Cole was pretty handsome. Kind, strong, with a big heart and a big appetite.
Jay shook his head once more, trying to erase the image of Vania with Cole from his head.
He had been standing right next to the master of earth when Princess Vania introduced herself.
Meaning he saw how Cole's eyes had softened. And how his smile had suddenly turned small and timid, yet big and outspoken at the same time. He heard how the tone of his voice had all of the sudden shifted - smooth and delicate as the words spilled out of his mouth with ease.
The master of lightning wrinkled his brows, shifting under the heavy blankets in the room he was led to by one of the Shintaro guards.
He didn't want Cole to fall in love with Vania. He didn't want Vania clinging to him like a helpless, lost, little puppy. He didn't want them to end up together. And he sure as the First Spinjitzu Master wanted Cole to look at only him that way.
After all, Jay did. At Cole. Right after his best friend had saved him from falling thousands of feet in the air from the dire bats.
Jay laughed. He couldn't find the words to describe how overjoyed he was when he saw his hand in Cole's. And the master of earth riding on top of the dire bat, holding onto Jay with all the strength he had. Cole had actually rode one of those horrendous creatures!
Jay's shoulders hunched a little till they were touching his ears, making himself feel small.
His thoughts spiraled back to after first introductions with the King and Princess. When Jay turned to Lloyd with a grimace on his face and butterflies in his stomach as they followed behind the others while the King led them through the palace with Cole and Princess Vania by his side.
"Isn't it strange that Princess Vania seems to like Cole?" Jay had asked Lloyd at the time.
Though the question was rhetorical and out of spite, he quickly covered it up with, "I mean, yeah, Cole's my friend, pfft. But like… Cole?"
Jay stared at the ceiling, his mind numb.
Why did he say that?
Why couldn't he just keep his thoughts to himself? Why did he have to go and blurt everything out like it was everyone's business to know. What prompted him to say that in the first place?
Lloyd must have been confused out of his mind being approached with that kind of question.
But what could he do? He couldn't apologize to him about it. And even if he did, what would he be apologizing for?
"Hey, Lloyd. Sorry about earlier when I randomly dropped my thoughts aloud to you about Princess Vania being interested in Cole. I guess I felt weirded out by it?"
Then, of course, he would feel the need to explain why he was "weirded out" by said interaction.
Jay threw a pillow over his face, screaming into it with high hopes that no one had heard him.
This amount of turmoil within him was disastrous. It was a complete mixture of pain, and anguish, and sadness. And it was killing him. All he wanted to do was sleep, but his brain wouldn't let him. Neither would his body.
And Jay refused to admit it. Because of course… he wasn't jealous. Was he?
No, no, green was Lloyd's color. 'Cept, the whole phrase went 'green isn't your color'.
And green sure as heck wasn't his color. He was the blue ninja.
Which posed the next question. Why did he still feel so sad?
Jay's heart sunk. It felt heavy, like a rock. Like there was a foot pressed against his chest, holding him down.
Maybe he should just keep quiet for the time being and see where the day's events would take him. That way, he could easily focus on whatever was going on in his head earlier that day and sort himself out.
And perhaps his answer could be found by the sole fact that he was constantly denying his heart its terrible aching for Cole.