Work Text:
Zane hums absentmindedly as he scrubs the dishes, only pausing to put them in the drying rack when he completes a set. His mind wanders to the encounter the group had earlier that day, a biker gang, claiming to be “The New Sons of Garmadon” had ransacked a local bar near downtown Ninjago City, and the ninja were called to deal with it. The fight went about as expected, with the gang getting knocked out within 15 minutes, and dragged to Kryptarium Prison soon after.
Though… there was something about a particular moment that crept into Zane’s mind. At some point, Kai was slammed into one of the support beams of the building after being surprise attacked by a play-dead biker. He heard the slam itself as a loud and reverberating “THUD!” And a possible crunch of… something. Kai quickly recovered after and seemed uninjured, but the moment wouldn’t stop replaying in Zane’s mind.
A loud clattering crash startles Zane into a surprised yelp. It came from somewhere near the bathroom in the back of the Bounty. He instantly races down the hall and slams open the door, heart racing with worry.
Zane confirms the sight in front of him. Kai is sitting on a stool beside the bathtub, with dried blood and soot caked into his hair. He sits defeated and weak, with his arms hanging onto the side of the bathtub wall for balance. He’s gritting his teeth in pain, and dried gauze hangs around his torso, showing his endlessly scarred and blistered sternum in the full spotlight. The shower head lays on the floor, the obvious culprit of the clattering sound.
Kai breathes, heavy and uneven, and lifts his head only a centimeter to look at Zane. He tries his best to hold a confident smirk, but it just as quickly morphs into a groan.
“Sorry about the hold up, buddy. Just….Give me a second.”
He tries to push himself upward to stand, but Zane quickly intercepts him, wrapping his arms around Kais waist for support.
“Please don’t get up unassisted. I’ll help you.”
Kai sighs, before taking a deep breathe, clearly about to chastise Zane for worrying about him. Before he can, Zane grabs a towel with his free hand and wraps it around Kai’s shoulders.
“Don’t- what are you doing?”
Zane gently places Kai back down on the stool.
“I assume you came in here to wash your hair. I can’t imagine it is very pleasant to have caked blood in it.”
Kai nods, punctuating it with a hollow laugh.
“Yeah, it’s not the best feeling.”
Zane knows he’s avoiding the obvious. The painful realization that Kai has been hiding his wounds from everyone. That he skips medical checks not because he isn’t hurt, but so that nobody worries about him. That he’s so afraid of vulnerability he deliberately lets wounds heal wrong.
He knows Kai can’t handle that discussion quite yet, so he turns the shower handle towards “warm”, and grabs the hairbrush on the counter.
Kai tries to move Zane’s hand away, tries to suggest he leave and let him take care of himself. But he already has for far too long.
“Zane. I’m fine.”
Kai tries to force out a light hearted chuckle, trying his hardest to diffuse this situation. Trying to stop the inevitable conclusion.
“I don’t care.”
Zane’s voice, gentle and firm, shatters Kai’s walls like a shotgun blast through stained glass.
“I. You. What? What are you-“
In an instant, Kai is left clinging to his last thread of desperation, instinctually petrified of what comes next if he lets it go. His eyes are frantic, scanning the room as though the shampoo bottles would save him in some way. He knows the jig is up, but First Master let him keep his last shred of dignity.
“Zane, please. I’m fine. I know I look like shit but don’t worry about it, I’ll be out of here in 5 minutes tops please just leave me be. I’ll sort it out. You’re not a part of this it’s me I’m the fuck up just let me fix it-“
Zane lifts a hand to carefully wipe away Kai’s now-present tears. He smiles lovingly and places a stray hand in Kai’s hair, stroking it lightly.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
And, like a landmine activated after sitting dormant for decades, Kai finally breaks, his pain and exhaustion exploding into a mass of every emotion he’s ever repressed. He digs his hands through his hair and sobs into his arms, his throat clogged with tears no matter how much he tries to scream. But Zane pulls him in, and embraces every corner of his ugly vulnerability.
Zane, in infinite patience, waits until Kai drains every painful memory out his eyes. He waits until Kai asks for a tissue and dutifully hands it to him. He waits until Kai takes enough deep breathes to calm the hiccups. He waits until Kai can finally speak again.
“You didn’t leave.”
Kai’s raspy voice breaks the silence, daring to ask the impossible. Zane only smiles.
“And I still won’t. Can you hand me the brush, please?”
Kai offers a weak, but genuine, laugh. He hands the brush to Zane, and decides, for once in his life, he’ll let someone else handle it.
Zane starts by methodically running his fingers through Kai’s hair, ever so gently untangling every knot he comes across. For the extra persistent knots, he braces one hand with a lock of the hair, then runs water to loosen the grime, and finally tugs as lightly as he can muster with the hairbrush. It’s a slow, tedious process, but Kai has never felt more loved in his life.
Even after the knots are taken care of, Zane continues to run his fingers through Kai’s hair, presumably to double check his work. He then cups Kai’s face in his hands, thumbs lightly circling his jaw. The contact makes Kai shiver.
Zane moves to tenderly holding Kai’s right hand, and rubbing light circles on his coarse, endless layers of scar tissue. Kai chuckles to himself.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, I just know that it feels like sandpaper at this point. So it’s just.. a bit funny that you’re being so careful with it.”
“I’m being careful with it because you’re beautiful.”
Kai nearly jumps into the stratosphere. Beautiful? His hands? His scars? Him? Zane has to be messing with him at this point. But… then again… Zane is still looking at him, completely serious. As if this were the most important moment in history.
“You sure you don’t mean someone else or…”
“Is there anyone else in this bathroom?”
“You tell me, buster.”
“Then I will confidently say no.”
Kai snorts, whiplash cracking into his psyche with a vengeance. He loves Zane’s bluntness more than words can say.
Zane grins, apparently content with this response, as he grabs the shampoo bottle and lathers his hands, making sure the soapy bubbles don’t hit the floor in the process. He once again slides his hands into Kais’s hair, taking extra care to make sure every strand gets clean. Kai loosely hangs his arms around Zane’s neck, admiring his focused expression and dedication to something so mundane. He savors every second that Zane’s fingers hold him.
Once Zane seems satisfied with his soap layering, he brings the shower head back to give one last rinse. He concurrently runs his hands through the section of hair sprayed by the water, just to make sure it gets in every crevice. Before he can reach for the towel, Kai, with a mischievous grin on his face, shakes his head wildly, lightly dusting Zane in water. Zane sputters for half a second before laughing, appreciating Kai’s attempt to make him smile.
“Ah. This is how you repay me. I see.”
“Nah, you get repayed with permission to touch my hair whenever you want. On the house.”
“Are you certain? I promise that I will heavily abuse this power if you grant it to me.”
“Then abuse it, babe.”