Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jay was not doing good. It had been a few months now since Nya left and he was still the empty shell of himself. He stayed in his room for days, the other ninja leaving food outside his room. They were just relieved when he actually started eating the food, getting concerned when they found the food still on the plate the day after.

The few times he left his room was in the middle of the night to get some water in a glass and just stare at it. Everyone was getting concerned for Jay. After the 4 month mark, everyone met up in the kitchen to come up with a plan on trying to help Jay get better. Benthomaar also joined, his own suggestion tossing and turning in his brain.

Lloyd was the last to arrive, and he sat down and looked at the group.

"Okay so, what are we going to do about... this." He sighed, looking around.

"I mean, the most obvious choice is therapy but... Jay's had bad experiences in therapy so I think that's out of the question as that'll just make it worse." Cole sighed.

"I say we just occasionally check up on him. I think it'd be good to just let him get his emotions out, y'know? Let him feel his grief and help him get better when he wants to." Kai chimed in.

"I do not think that is wise. Maybe at the start, yes but I have reason to believe that Jay is now starting to actively harm himself due to the increasing amount of blood stains on his laundry." Zane added, sadly.

"WHAT?! And you're just deciding to tell us that now??" Cole burst out, startling everyone else.

Just as an argument started to break out, Benthomaar cleared his throat.

"I believe I have a solution. I have to go back to Merlopia to solve some tensions there, Jay could perhaps come with me? Just as a small trip. I think he'd quite enjoy it as he might feel it might bring him closer to Nya. It would also be nice to show him around the place properly."

"That's actually not a... terrible idea." Kai mumbled.

"I agree, it would be good for him to travel a little and Merlopia may have him some closure, perhaps." Zane thought out loud.

Benthomaar smiled widely, but now he just had to get Jay to agree...

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Benthomaar climbed out of the bathtub, stretching as he did before he dried and dressed himself, heading to Jay's room. He thought it'd be more exciting to do it in the middle of the night. He waved his bathtub/bed goodbye, not missing it all as it caused so many cramps.

He quietly knocked on Jay's door, doing a little excited dance.

Jay opened it, grumbling. "Kai, I don't want to watch Star Fa-" He rubbed his eyes before opening them only for them to blink in surprise when he saw Benthomaar. "Benthomaar? What are you doing here?"

"Do you want to come to Merlopia?" Benthomaar asked suddenly.

Jay blinked, even more surprised. "I- Huh??"

"I thought it would be fun if I brought you to Merlopia! I know you're not feeling so good so I thought it would be good for a change of scenery." Benthomaar smiled widely.

Jay thought it over for a bit. He did think it would be fun... and maybe he had a chance to see Nya again. He slowly nodded and went to go pack his bags. Benthomaar had to hold in a small delighted squeal. He waited outside Jay's room patiently. He was so excited to head home, but he was also excited to show a land-dweller his home.

Eventually, Jay finished packing. "Do the others know about this or is this just an impulse thing or...?' Jay asked, curiously as they walked through the halls, towards the exit.

"They know that it's happening, but just not when!" He giggled. This caused Jay to giggle as well.

"Let me just leave a note first though so they don't think I've been abducted or anything." He explained, quickly scribbling something down in a very empty visitor book, leaving it open before he headed outside.

Benthomaar giggled at that comment before he followed Jay. They headed down the steps to where some Merlopian bodyguards were waiting with a carriage of some sorts. They perked up when they saw Benthomaar. "Ah, you're highness!-" They all bowed before they noticed Jay, to which they raised a brow.

"Ah, Jay will be coming for a visit." Benthomaar smiled.

"Oh I see! Well, the carriage is ready for departure when you're both ready."

Benthomaar glanced at Jay who was nervously fidgeting. "You ready?"

Jay nodded. "O-Oh yeah!" He smiled at Benthomaar.

A bodyguard opened the door and the two both climbed in. Jay felt a little bit smug as he heard the guards start gushing about how they're going to have the lightning ninja as a guest.

The prince and the ninja just sat in comfortable silence, silently enjoying the other's company as they looked out the window, taking in the scenery.

By the time they got to the docks, the sun was rising. Jay took a deep breath as he realised that everyone at the monastery would be waking up right now, if they weren't already awake.

"Hey, it's okay... They know you're here, plus you left that note! It'll be fine." Benthomaar smiled softly, trying to reassure the other man.

"Yeah, yeah I know it's just... it's kinda weird being away from them... It's not a bad weird, I'm super excited but it's just been so long since I've been away from them all."

"Yeah, that's a valid reaction. You're always welcome to go back whenever you wish, Jay. Just let me know and I'll arrange something. You're also free to come back too!"

"Thanks Bentho." Jay gave him a soft smile back which made the other man's heart flutter. That's odd. Benthomaar thought, he's never felt that before... Eh, it was probably just excitement over a new friend, he's never had a friend before after all!

They waited a little at the docks waiting for some human friendly transportation, while Benthomaar would lead the way. Jay was a bundle of nerves now, fidgeting and hopping around on his feet, yet excitement was evident on his face.

Eventually, a little submarine came up and a merlopian hopped out, waving. Jay then hopped in, getting comfy as the merlopian explained the controls. After a little test drive, Jay was confident in his submarine skills so he got ready for the dive.

Benthomaar dipped into the water, sighing in relief as he felt the ocean's water hit his skin. The bathtub was good, but it wasn't home. He then dived into the water, Jay doing the same in his submarine. The two waved to each other, before Benthomaar started swimming and Jay followed.

After what felt like hours, they could finally see Merlopia. Jay let out a sigh of relief as he followed Benthomaar to the castle.

Eventually, Jay parked up the submarine in the submarine room before he climbed out with Benthomaar waiting for him. Jay walked over, looking around. Not much has changed yet, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were some changes in some of the other rooms...

He was very wrong, as he walked through the corridors, absolutely nothing had changed. There was some workers repairing some cracks and such in the wall which must've happened in the fight with... Jay shuddered at the memory of the octopus man. He moved his thoughts to admiring the fancy interior as he followed Benthomaar. Eventually they reached the thrown room where there were multiple fancy looking merlopians standing. They turned to Benthomaar, not even noticing Jay.

"Ah, you're highness! You've returned!" A seahorse woman exclaimed.

"Yes, I have."

"Oh, I see you've brought a human with you... Is it your jester or something?" a dolphin man scoffed.

Benthomaar blinked, taken aback by that comment. "No, he is not my jester. He is my friend and he will be our guest for the foreseeable future. Is that a problem?" The shark prince asked, anger in his eyes which startled Jay a little.

The dolphin man cowered a little, backing away. "No, you're highness..."

"Good. Now, I will be escorting him to his quarters so he can drop off his bags and then we can start this meeting." He said, opening some doors and he kept them open for Jay to slip through.

There was a heavy silence in the air, thick and tense, a stark contrast to the one from the carriage.

"I'm... I'm sorry about that comment. A few Merlopians follow the same ideology my brother had, albeit a little less extreme. I'll make it clear to everyone that you are my guest and should be treated as such." Benthomaar finally broke the silence with his apology.

"I appreciate it but I've had worse things said about me, I'm kinda just used to it at this point... But I appreciate you sticking up for me." Jay replied.

"I see... I'm very sorry that you had to face similar treatment before."

"It is what it is, I guess." Jay shrugged.

The two stayed silent as Benthomaar lead him to the guest bedrooms.

"Well, here's your room. My bedroom is just across from yours so if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask! Though, I'll just be in the throne room just now because I've got a few meetings. You're free to join me or you can stay here and rest."

"I think I'll just stay here and rest, thanks for the offer though."

"It's no problem, I hope you have a nice rest." Benthomaar gave him a smile before he headed off back towards the throne room. Jay took his bags into the room but he didn't bother unpacking. He just went straight to the window to look out of it to see if he could see Nya.

Chapter Text

It's been a few days since Jay had come to Merlopia yet Benthomaar hasn't seen him at all. Not around the castle, not in the gardens or even in the city. He was beginning to get worried and finally those nerves boiled over in the 3rd evening of not seeing his new friend. He knew the palace was big but it's not that big.

He went to Jay's door and knocked gently. No response. That just made him panic a little bit more and he continued knocking, it slowly turning frantic. He was just about to start yelling before Jay opened the door, bewildered.

"Benthomaar? Is everything okay? You look like you're going to cry." Jay asked, his head tilted.

"I- Yeah, I'm fine! I just... I got worried about you, that's all. I haven't seen you and uhm... you weren't answering the door so I got really worried and I thought something happened-" Benthomaar started to ramble, not even noticing the tears starting to flow from his cheeks.

"Oh, Bentho... I'm so sorry- I just... I've not been doing well and I'm just constantly looking out that damn window. I know I shouldn't and I have to let her go but... It's so hard." He looked at his feet, slightly guilty for making Benthomaar this freaked out.

"No, no don't apologise... I was the stupid one jumping to conclusions. I get it, and I'm sorry it's so hard. Y'know, I used to do the same when my father first took me in. I sat by my window, staring out into that abyss desperately looking for my birth parents, but they never came. You may not see the Nya you know but she is out there, and she's all around you just now." Benthomaar smiled.

Now it was Jay's turn to burst into tears and he tightly hugged Benthomaar. "Thank you, so much... for all of this." He sniffled.

"It's really not an issue, Jay. I'm happy to help."

"... Can you stay with me? I don't want to be alone right now." Jay mumbled.

"Of course I can."

The two went to go sit on Jay's bed.

"I'm actually adopted too." Jay said, staring at the ceiling.

"You are?" Benthomaar blinked, not expecting Jay to tell him something so personal.

"Yeah... Nobody other than Nya knows, my adoptive parents also don't know that I know. I can't remember my parents but I know they were super famous, and it's funny because my biological dad is actually an actor and he was in my favourite film series." Jay giggled.

"No way! That's so cool!"

"Says the guy that got adopted into royalty!"

"Touché"

The two just sat in silence after that, enjoying the other's company. Benthomaar ignored the fluffy feeling bubbling up inside him, he still didn't know what it was but he was so sure that it was just friendship.

"What was the movie series? I'm super curious about human movies, I've actually never seen one..."

"Really?? Well lucky for you, I brought the full DVD collection of Star Farer! Are you up for a movie night, Bentho?"

"Of course, that sounds fun!"

"You get the snacks! I'll just try and figure out where the closest DVD player is..."

"Oh, it's in the cinema room!" Benthomaar perked up.

The cinema room?

"... Do you have everything here?"

Benthomaar just laughed and dragged Jay to the cinema room, helping him setting up the DVD player before disappearing to locate some snacks (that are also edible, safe and tasty for humans)

Jay sat down in a chair and waited for Benthomaar. His mind started to wander to his and Nya's first date (he's just choosing to ignore that Cole was there for now, though he does love his best friend.) and how they went to go see the last Star Farer movie... His mind jumped away from the memory as Benthomaar came back holding various snacks with the help of some butlers.

Jay laughed at the almost comical stack of snacks the shark man had. "Wow, you got a banquet there?"

"Only the best for you!" He exclaimed.

Jay tried to ignore how warm that made his face feel.

After they settled down ("You have gummy bears down here?!" Jay blinked, thoroughly surprised.) they put the movie on. Benthomaar was completely blown away, his mouth agape in wonder and awe. However, during halfway into the 3rd movie, Jay felt himself drifting off into slumber. He had barely gotten any sleep recently... Benthomaar only noticed that Jay had fallen asleep when the sleeping man leaned his head on his shoulder, softly snoring. Benthomaar blinked before he blushed, letting the other man sleep as he continued watching the movies until all of them were finished. He was completely in awe of the movie series and he was very excited for Jay to wake up so the two could talk about the movies together.

However, he knew that Jay needed his rest first and foremost however so he put the DVDs back in their correct place, picking the human man up before he carried Jay back to his room, putting the DVDs on his nightstand. Benthomaar then left a note saying 'they were so good!!! I really enjoyed them :)' before he retired to his own room, trying to ignore the butterflies building in his stomach.