Chapter Text
Having been held back by his math teacher, Kai expected everyone to be impatiently waiting for him to show up. Oh, what a surprise it was to find the place empty. Except for Cole. The black-haired boy was holding his script, seemingly practicing his lines.
Kai dropped his backpack on the ground and approached him.
“Hey, where's everyone?”
Cole turned to him, the flicker of surprise on his face turned into a smile.
“Teach said she had some emergency at home, so everyone decided to enjoy a free Friday afternoon. I thought I'd stay and practice a little when there's no one to watch me.”
“Oooh, so I'm wrecking your plans, huh?” Kai asked, his smile mirroring Cole's.
“Well– Now that you're here…” He hesitated, Kai's raised brow urging him to speak. “I'm thinking… Maybe we could practice the, you know, the kiss scene? When there's no one to watch and all, maybe it'll be easier?”
Kai felt himself tense up just as Cole seemed to be. “Oh yeah… That might be a good idea…” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Cole nodded, chewing on his lip as in thought. Then he dropped the script aside and the two boys stared at each other helplessly. “Yeah, okay,” Kai breathed out, more so for himself, and walked closer. “Let's just– let's just get this over with.”
The tension filled the air every single time this particular scene came up. And the worst thing was that neither of them knew about it being in the script when they did the auditions. What a shock it was for them when they received the full scripts. Every time they practised it was the biggest problem. And having others watch didn't help. The teacher asked them what they were planning on doing once the hall gets filled with audience and all they could do was stare at her as helplessly, as they did at each other now.
“That's what actors do, it doesn't mean anything.”
Cole hesitated with his hands centimetres away from Kai's waist until Kai held them firmly and placed them there. He felt tingles run up all over his body when Cole adjusted his grip. They inched a little closer, neither able to look the other in the eyes.
“This is ridiculous,” Kai complained, feeling everything inside of him shake.
“Tell me about it.”
They stood there for a while, as if waiting for some signal, something to tell them to start. Like runners waiting for the pistol to shoot. Cole's hands remained on his waist, spreading warmth there while Kai's arms just hung loosely by his side.
“You're gonna start?” Cole finally asked.
“What?” Kai looked into his eyes and their gazes met for the first time since they started.
“You're the one supposed to initiate the kiss, remember? You bragged you remember all of your lines.”
“Yeah, right,” Kai muttered, looking down. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath to steady himself, then he looked back up, Cole's eyes as if waiting for him. Reaching with his hands to cup his face, Kai eventually leaned in and kissed him, quickly retracting once their lips met for what felt like infinity.
“That works, no?”
“Well– I mean, I guess…”
“What?”
“Well, you gotta put more emotion into it, you know?”
“What are you on? I put lots of emotion into it!”
“But it's not supposed to be nervous!”
“I know! I know!” Kai tapped his foot in annoyance as he looked somewhere behind Cole to put his nerves back together. During their conversation, he never noticed that his arms rested around Cole's neck.
Another deep breath, he tried to get into his character, tried to feel what he was supposed to feel. The lines from the script replayed themselves in front of his inner eye, as if he was actually listing through the pages.
Their eyes met again.
You're not Kai right now, he thought to himself, you're not Kai right now.
He leaned in once again. If the first kiss was like dipping your toe into the water, this was like tenderly stepping with both feet into it.
When they parted again, after a longer while than before, Kai was grateful Cole was there to support him because he was pretty sure his body might give out any minute. Their eyes were glued to each other.
“That was better,” Cole commented, his voice strangely quiet and low.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“But… I think– I think it should go more like this.” And then Cole leaned in for the kiss and Kai felt something ignite inside him, it almost made him worried his identity might be given out.
“Right, I see.” Kai kissed him again. And then again and again. And before the two of them knew it, they were going way off the script. Their touches weren't as shy and unsure as before, they became more passionate and steady – and neither of them was sure where it was coming from but it was fine for their minds have gone blank anyway.
And suddenly he was up in Cole's arms like a bride and without looking away for a second, without letting their lips go, he carried him backstage, where they hid between all of the hangers with various costumes and clothes, where they continued their perfectly synchronised dance, void of any of the previous shyness.
Kai honestly wasn't sure at all what came over him – what came over them – because until now he was pretty sure the only person whose lips he wanted on his own were Earth's. And now he was making out with Cole, who he still hasn't gotten to know that well, behind the curtain and he couldn't get enough.
Well, there was one thing he knew for sure. This can't happen on stage on the day of the premiere.
But who cares? You're not on stage and it's not the premiere. There's no one, why fuss over it?
There was a rational part of him trying to bring him back to his senses – but it just felt like a little kid tugging on its parent's clothes while they were deep in conversation with their old friend. Absolutely pointless. Futile.
The other part of him, the one that was currently drowning in all of the various sensations, only pleaded for more because it felt nice and who doesn't like the nice things to last? So he blindly followed and blindly found Cole's lips over and over and they found his.
His breath felt erratic and he was sure his heart was a ticking bomb more than ready to explode. He felt his fingers brush through Cole's hair despite not remembering giving them an order to do so. And then he felt Cole's brush through his hair and for sure Kai must've melted on the spot. Luckily, Cole was there to hold him. Which was so nice. It was all so nice.
But – his rational part of mind still wouldn't let itself get drunk as well – how come he can find those things nice when he swore his heart belonged to Earth? Was he just too quick in his judgement? Or was he falling for two guys at the same time? Or was this, what was happening between him and Cole, purely physical? Or, or, or–
He had to get a breather, so he pulled away from Cole's lips, resting his forehead against Cole's. Panting from them both filled the air even more now and Kai felt like he was struck with electricity, considering how much his body tingled. He didn't dare open his eyes – what if he got lost in the green forest that might be just waiting for him?
“Sorry,” Cole breathed out and Kai could swear he heard the smile in his voice.
“Don't be,” he swiftly replied, unable to contain his own smile. Shuffling in his seat – which he now realised was Cole's lap the entire time – he untangled his fingers from the black hair and held onto Cole. “So, was this enough emotion for you?”
“Oh yeah, plenty– plenty emotion.”
At last, he dared to open his eyes. And despite the darkness backstage, he did get lost in his eyes just as he predicted. He fell down those dilated pupils and the fall never seemed to end. Until Cole's eyelids and lashes got in the way as he looked down.
“Uh, I d– Do you–” But Cole couldn't fight with his thoughts to tame them into sentences and Kai kissed him instead. What was the point? Neither of them knew what to say. And neither of them seemed to have had enough. So he kissed him a few more times until Cole kissed him back and they continued where they left off.
But when has this happened? yelled his rational part into the void, its voice only echoing down the deserted hallways. He loved Earth for years now, while Cole came into his life only a few months ago. They got along well, that was true, they became friends quite quickly. Perhaps thanks to the fact that they sat together in every class. Or perhaps because who wouldn't love Cole? He's sweet and caring, just like Earth is. They both offer him a hug when he needs it most – and he doesn't even have to say anything.
Could it be possible he just happened to stumble upon two people of the same nature and fell for them, because that's just exactly his type?
Because with Cole, it just couldn't be only physical, Kai knew it. They weren't the closest yet but they might as well be. Of course was attractive, god damn, Kai knew that well – he had to thank the teachers at his previous school because he really grew up into something majestic – but this wasn't his thing. Whatever he felt towards Cole, it was coming from the same depths as what he felt towards Earth.
Earth, Earth, Earth… It made Kai feel guilty with how much he thought about him.
And then, for a fleeting moment, his mind played tricks on him and he imagined he was kissing his ninja teammate – his age-old partner in crime-fighting – and he even felt the gi under his fingers and guilt came crashing in.
This wasn't fair towards Cole.
And it felt like cheating on Earth despite the two never saying anything about their feelings.
So now he was torn between two sides, hanging above the pit. Which one should he hold on?
Cole was there and real and really him.
But he's been in love with Earth for ages and–
Cole's lips landed on his neck and Kai's mind finally gave out, it finally malfunctioned and gave up. It left him to fall into the unknown, left him to face it all on his own. Why would it do that to him? Come back! he wanted to yell but all that escaped his lips was a shaky exhale.
And when his eyes blinked open for a moment and the screen of his watch burned into his retina, that's when his insides joined in on that freefall into the pit.
He hastily untangled their bodies and got up from Cole's arms, from Cole's lap.
“Uh– Sorry, I gotta go.” With that, Kai ran out of there, picked up his backpack on the way and ran and ran.
If he already didn't feel breathless from his unexpected rendezvous with Cole, he definitely did after running through several streets without stopping even for a second to catch his breath.
Once he found an empty, hidden alley, he dropped his backpack and slid down the wall.
He didn't know for how long he sat there, catching his breath and pushing all the fresh memories of Cole's skin burning into his, but he knew that with each passed moment he was prolonging his delay.
Was it perhaps Friday the 13th? Because he sure had great luck coming late to every meeting he was supposed to attend. Then again – was there anything new? Ages ago, his guidance counsellor told him about his terrible time blindness. And that shadow was always following him everywhere he went, looming over him like a dark cloud.
His breath and heart rate finally settled back on some normal frequency and Kai got up, happy to realise the tingles had gone too (if he didn't think about that much). So, he checked if it was still safe and then put on his gi.
As Fire he then climbed the walls and left his backpack on one of the buildings he always passed by on his way home.
Running and jumping to the spot they all agreed to meet at, Fire flipped through his mind to find a good enough excuse for his late arrival. He can't possibly say something along the lines of, ‘Sorry I'm late, I was busy exchanging DNA with my sweet & spicy classmate,’ right?
Come on, Kai, seriously? He had to groan at himself.
Finally, the little colourful group came into view and while he was still in the dark considering his excuse, it was nice to see an escape from the company of his own mind. He jumped down and finished his run towards them. But even before they turned to him, he noticed a certain absence.
Because he always noticed when Earth wasn't there.
And his mind went blank once again.
“Where's Earth?” he asked, forgetting to say a simple hi or to even muster up any reason why he was late.
“Where were you?” shot Water back at him.
“I– Uh– I got held back.”
“Yeah. We kind of noticed,” replied Lightning, his arms crossed but his voice was as light as ever.
“Whatever, we don't have time to lose. I say we pair up as always, Fire, you wait for Earth to come, and we all patrol until sundown, okay?” Energy took over the conversation once again, as he, or Ice, usually did.
“Wait!” Fire exclaimed, surprised by himself. Then again, his mind seemed to have a mind of its own today. They all turned back to him. “Could I… maybe patrol with someone else today?”
“Why?”
“Just… don't wanna wait for Earth is all…” Lightning scoffed but Kai didn't have the energy to even bother frowning at him or doing anything else besides helplessly standing there on the invisible podium.
Energy huffed but replied nonetheless, “Fine, I'll wait for him, you can go with Water.”
“Thanks, Energy.”
“Just go.”
And ‘go’ they did. The two pairs went in opposite sides, leaving the green ninja to himself, and began their usual patrolling routine. They always went in groups and looked over different parts of the city, helping as many people as they were able. That was what they did when there weren't any major threats. It was almost like the after-school group he called it in front of his family.
“Since you came so late, you didn't hear it – but we thought we could hang out a little once we're done if there's nothing big. Just talk over some campfire or something, you know?” Water told him as they scanned the streets underneath. He hummed in response.
“Are you down?”
“Sure, why not?”
And then the conversation was over as she jumped down to stop a bike robbery.
🜂
The fire cracked in front of them as its light illuminated everyone's masked faces. Fire could feel every single movement of the flames when he concentrated enough and for a moment he thought he might as well be its dance partner. Everyone around him chatted happily as they enjoyed some duty-free time together.
Then somebody poked him with their elbow and got him out of the trance he knew so well.
“You're getting mesmerized by the fire again,” muttered Earth.
“And?” Fire looked up at him. “Is there anything wrong with that?”
“No, but I missed your voice.” Fire was far from being able to count how many times he had to thank all the deities for the mask covering his face that surely now didn't feel warm because of the damn element.
Well… another element.
“So? Why did you come late?”
“Why didn't you wait for me?” Earth shot back and Fire could practically feel his mouth get zipped shut. Then Earth laughed that breathy heavenly sound and answered without waiting for Fire's response (not that he had any), “Actually, it's… kind of embarrassing.”
“Ooh, I get it, you had to take a dump,” he teased, bumping him with his shoulder. But Earth pushed him away and Fire felt it wasn't as friendly and light as it usually was between them.
“No, no, that's not it, that's not even embarrassing.”
“Sure. You don't have to feel bad, your secret's safe with me.”
“No, Fire, I… I kind of… lost track of time kissing someone.”
Was he falling down the pit again? For sure, he was torn into two pieces just like before. Part of him wanted to set the entire forest on fire and find the person that did it, that stole Earth from his grasp. The other party the more rational part that would never stop thinking, started getting ideas, connecting evidence with red strings.
After all, didn't he also lose track of time kissing someone?
Earth must've taken his tensed silence for something horrifying. “It wasn't supposed to happen!” he began quickly trying to find a way to help him relax. “It just sort of happened. We were alone and–”
“Practicing,” he breathed and Earth stopped. Maybe both of them. The arms clad in black dropped.
“Yeah.”
They stared at each other, then Kai was running away for the second time that day, ignoring his teammate's shouts and cries.