Work Text:
“Listen, I just need you to distract Kai long enough for us to sneak everything to the Samurai X cave,” Jay explained to a very hesitant Cole. “Why does it have to be me? And how do I even distract him?” Jay made a sound of frustration. “I don’t know. Just find something to keep him occupied enough not to notice us, okay?” Cole glanced around at the rest of the ninja who were all staring at him expectantly. “Fine,” he sighed, “but only because it’s his birthday.” They all simultaneously slumped over in relief. “Okay, whatever, now get in there!” Lloyd commanded. Cole mock saluted as he walked backward into a door frame. “No one saw anything.” He glared and turned around, hearing snickering as he walked through the hall to Kai.
“Oh sweet! You're playing Fist2Face! Mind if I join?” Cole walked into the room, playing it cool as he leaned onto the back of the couch over Kai. Kai hummed noncommittally, choosing instead to focus on the game. Cole easily hopped over the couch and plopped onto the floor next to Kai, grabbing a spare controller on the table in front of them.”What level are you on?” There was a moment of silence as Kai locked in on the screen.
Cole took the moment to glance behind him, seeing the group approach the door. “Twenty, uh,” he paused the game, “twenty-seven.” He looked over and properly acknowledged Cole. “You wanna join as player two?” Cole’s eyes widened. “Uh.” He said intelligently. Forgetting Kai’s eyes on him, he shook his head at the group, hoping he was doing a good enough job at getting them to wait.
“No?” Kai scoffed, “well I don’t know what to tell you, Cole, I’m already player one.” Cole blinked. “I’m sorry, player two sounds great, Kai!” Kai gave him a weird look before shrugging and returning to the game. “You good, dude?” Cole took a second to glare at the group before turning towards the tv and responding. “Yeah, fine. Let’s just play.” Kai unpaused the game. Cole kept up the banter as they flew through levels while the rest of the ninja went by undetected.
Kai paused the game to yawn and stretch, smacking his lips. “I’m gonna head to the kitchen and grab a snack.” “NO!” Cole shouted, seeing Lloyd standing behind the couch, eyes open and alert as he held what was probably a wrapped comic. Cole would have laughed if it weren’t for the look he was receiving from Kai. “...Why not?” “Uh, because we need to finish the level?” Cole tried his best, only getting a chuckle in return. Lloyd slowly crept forward. “Dude, you’re almost as bad as Jay about finishing levels. It’s fine, we can just finish it when I get back,” Kai stood up and was about to turn around but Cole stopped him again. “UH- I LOVE YOU.” Cole closed his eyes and loudly blurted out, shocking not just Kai and Lloyd, but himself as well.
“I mean.” Cole weakly tried, opening one of his eyes and peeking, “I love your hair? It looks great today?” Kai and Lloyd stared at him.
“Are you serious?”
“About which part?”
“You know which part.”
Cole fell silent. “That’s what I thought.” Kai scoffed, “I don’t know why you’ve been acting so weird today, but… Messing with my feelings? Not cool, dude.” Lloyd hadn’t moved an inch due to the tension in the room. So when Kai was about to turn around and run into him and the comic, Cole did the most logical thing (in his opinion) that he could have done. He grabbed Kai by his jacket and pressed their lips together.
Kai was shocked at first, but then slowly started kissing back, eyes closed and unaware of the telepathic conversation happening around him.
“FIRST MASTER YOU FINALLY KISSED KAI” Lloyd’s mouth hung open as he stared at the two of them.
“I KNOW THAT NUMBSKULL, NOW GO!” Cole furiously blinked in Lloyd’s direction while simultaneously ensuring he was kissing Kai back enough not to raise any suspicions.
Lloyd nodded and snuck out of the room, leaving Cole to finally relax into what had evolved into making out. After a good minute, he pulled back panting, taking in the sight of Kai with messy hair when did his hands have the time to wander up there and wet lips. “Does that answer your question?” Kai shrugged, “Partly.” Cole waited for a second, but he didn’t clarify any further. “What’s the other part?” He asked. “You were acting… weird earlier…” Cole winced, “Weird how?” “Oh I dunno, staring at the wall behind me, acting spacey when I was talking to you, generally being anxious the whole time, ring any bells?” Kai looked unimpressed. “Uhh, partly?” He nervously laughed and pulled out his phone, quickly texting Zane to ask if the cave was ready for them yet.
Kai rolled his eyes. “What’s the other part?” Cole’s eyes widened as he asked that. All Kai did in response was raise an eyebrow while he waited. Cole glanced down at his phone and almost fell over onto the couch in relief. “Well. Lucky for you, I can now show you the other part.” Kai looked on in confusion. “Lead the way, Rocky.” Cole grabbed Kai’s hand out of impulse and led him to the hidden elevator. They both awkwardly stood in there holding hands until they got to the bottom. “Is the surprise that the power is out or something?” Kai jokes, not being able to see anything. Out of nowhere, the lights turned on and the team jumped out of the darkness. “Surprise!” They shouted in unison, confetti raining down from where Lloyd shot it out of a party popper.
They all moved in to hug him while Kai stood there in shock, tears in his eyes. “Guys, you didn’t have to do this for me…” Nya lightly punched him on the shoulder. “Hey, consider it payback for all the birthdays you threw for me, ‘kay?” Jay appeared at her side and chipped in. “What, you really thought we wouldn’t do something for your birthday, hair gel?” Kai rolled his eyes, “Of course, you still bully me on my birthday. Lloyd, do something about this,” he complained good-naturedly. “Hey, don’t bring me into this. I may be the leader but Wu is still sensei. Complain to him about it,” Lloyd snickered.
Zane figured now would be as good a time as ever to join the conversation. “Perhaps Jay can somehow make it up to you? It is your birthday, after all.” He glanced over at Jay and was met with a glare. “Yeah, yeah, throw me under the bus why don’t ya.” Jay rolled his eyes. Kai caught on quickly, unfortunately for Jay. “You know what, you’re right Zane! It’s my birthday. Jay should make it up to me. Maybe he should fetch all my presents for me.” Nya just patted his shoulder and stepped away from him. “Hey,” he pouted, “first the birthday boy and his accomplice team up on me, then my girlfriend?” Pixal laughed. “Hear that Zane? You’re just an accomplice now.”
“As long as I am with you, I do not mind being an ‘accomplice’.” Kai stuck his tongue out jokingly in disgust. “Go get a room,” Cole suggested. Lloyd loudly snorted, “Ha! That’s rich.” Much to the confusion of everyone there, Kai and Cole furiously blushed. “Ohhhkay, moving on, let's let the birthday boy open his presents!” Cole swiftly changed the subject, moving everyone's attention to the pile of gifts.
“Oo! Oo! Do mine first!” Jay exclaimed, grabbing his red gift bag and handing it to Kai. He swiftly opened the bag and set the tissue paper aside, pulling a plushie of himself out. “Thank you so much, Jay! Where did you get this? It’s really nice.” Kai put the bag on the ground, keeping the plush by himself. “Thanks! My ma made it for you.” Jay grinned at the praise while Zane handed over his gift. Kai nodded, holding the plushie close while he received Zane’s gift. “I think you’ll find this useful.” Kai unwrapped the elegant-looking gift, revealing a small tub of hair gel and a red comb with flame patterns adorning its edges. “Thanks, Zane, I’ll definitely be using these a lot!” Kai carefully set the items aside as another present was brought to him. This time by Cole. Kai made sure to carefully rummage through the red and orange gift bag, pulling a customized mixtape out, along with some cool-looking car posters to put on his wall. “Thank you so much, Cole! Maybe we can listen to that mixtape later tonight?” Cole blushed and wordlessly nodded.
Pixal, having mercy on the flushed boy, quickly grabbed her present and offered it up to Kai. “Here you go, Kai. I have a feeling you are going to enjoy this.” He unwrapped a small box and opened it to find a gaudy pair of sunglasses and a key. “The car is from me too, we both worked on it,” Nya added, taking amusement from the look of shock on Kai’s face. “Thank you both so much!” He carefully set them by the rest of his opened gifts. “I’m not done yet,” Nya brought over a red gift bag that matched Jay’s. He moved aside the tissue paper and pulled out a small box of hot tamale candies, a small race car plush to match the mini plush of himself Jay gifted, and a cute pair of fire earrings. “Hot tamales? Really?” He pretended to be annoyed but was already leaning in for a hug from her. “What, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. You know how it is.” They both hugged for a second before sitting back down.
Lloyd offered up his gift next, a just barely adequately wrapped comic book. Probably Starfarer. Kai unwrapped it and smiled, guessing right. On his lap was a copy of Lloyd’s first edition Starfarer comic that he had ‘borrowed’ for just under a year. “First Jay, now you. Who am I getting into Starfarer next?” Lloyd joked, earning a hair ruffle from Kai. “Thanks, nerd. I really appreciate it,” Kai smiled. “Hey!” Lloyd exclaimed, “I’m not fourteen anymore!” Kai shrugged. “Eh, whatever. On to cake!”
Cole couldn’t have stood any faster. “I’m not opposed,” he put his hands together. They all laughed while they piled into the elevator and made their way up to the kitchen. Zane opened the fridge and pulled out a delicious-looking 2-tier cake. Cole quickly grabbed plates and forks for everyone, asking Zane to slice him a piece. Zane grabbed a knife and soon there were plates of cake distributed to everyone. “This is really good, Zane, thank you!” Zane smiled in appreciation, “It was nothing.” “I second that. Thank you, Zane!” Cole added. The rest of the room chimed in, complimenting Zane on the practically perfect cake he had baked.
After they all had finished their cake, they decided to move into the living room to watch a movie. “Birthday boy picks,” Jay jokingly grumbled as he handed over the remote. Nya’s eyebrow went up. “I wouldn’t have done that if I were you, Kai sucks at choosing movies. He basically lives off of the Fast and Furious franchise. At first, I thought it was cool he found something he was interested in, but then he barely ever watched anything else with me.” She shuddered.” I never want to see another Fast and Furious movie as long as I live. No matter how many new ones come out.”
Kai made a noise of offense. “I wasn’t that bad!” Nya turned to the other ninja, “He was that bad.” Kai rolled his eyes. “Fine. What about Karate Kid? Mr. Miagi always did remind me of sensei Wu,” he joked. Lloyd made the grave, grave mistake of asking, “What's Karate Kid? And Who's Mr. Miagi?” He was met with the stares of the entire team. “Alright. It's decided.” Kai got up and grabbed two VCRs, inserting one of them into the tv. “Get comfortable, guys. Cus there's a sequel.”
Halfway through the first movie, Lloyd and Nya fell asleep. In between the first and second, Zane and Pixal retreated to his room. Somewhere during the second movie, Jay nodded off, leaving Cole and Kai the last ones awake. “Wow, they're out like candles,” Cole remarked, poking Lloyd in the shoulder. Kai quietly laughed, “Yeah, guess they just don't appreciate the movies like I do.” Cole chuckled, turning back towards the TV to pay attention.
They continued to sit in silence until the credits rolled. Kai stood up for the first time since switching the VCRs and stretched. Cole did the same, not before carefully and slowly moving Lloyd off of his shoulder. He yawned and stretched, then laid a spare blanket over him. He then moved over to Jay and shook him awake. “Ugh, what time is it?” Jay ran his hand over his face.” Cole lightly hit his shoulder and quietly hissed. “Not so loud, Lloyd’s still asleep!”
Jay’s eyes comically widened. “Oops. Hehe.” He stood up, rubbing the back of his neck, “I’ll just-” He pointed to the door and walked out. Cole turned to Kai who had been watching the entire interaction with a smile on his face. “You gonna wake Nya up?” He questioned, glancing over to her sleeping form. Kai sighed, shaking his head. “Nah, I’m just gonna carry her to her room. I just wasn’t sure if I should set her up with a blanket like you did with Lloyd, though.” Cole shrugged, “Do whatever you want.” Kai nodded, deciding to take the quicker and easer route of throwing a blanket over her.
“You wanna hang out for a bit, or are ya tired?” Kai questioned as he gathered up his presents to take with him. Cole shrugged again. “I could probably go to sleep, but I’m down to hang out. You need any help, by the way?” He gestured to the pile of stuff in front of them. “Please,” Kai breathed. The two of them carried everything into Kai’s room where it was carefully set down onto a desk in the corner. “Hey, wanna grab that mixtape? We could listen to it in your room,” he suggested. Cole nodded. “Good idea,” he grabbed it and they walked to Cole’s room. “Make sure the player volume is set to low though, wouldn’t want Zane coming in here and sending us to bed,” Kai suggested, getting comfortable on the floor and leaning back against the bed.
He set up the tape into the player and sat next to Kai on the floor. “So.” Kai awkwardly tries. “Ahah,” Cole laughs awkwardly as he knows exactly where this is going, “about earlier.” They glanced at each other “Everything happened kinda fast. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you, between you know, making out with you and surprising you for your birthday, I guess.” He blushed at the reminder. “Yeah, uh, listen, I’m not exactly opposed to making out with you, but a warning next time would be nice,” Kai rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’m so sorry,” Cole winced, “Lloyd was right behind you holding a gift and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” Kai looked at him curiously. “Was that the only reason you kissed me?” Cole blushed and turned his head to the side. “... ‘s not the only reason,” Cole mumbled so quietly Kai could barely hear him over the music playing in the background. “What was that?” “I uh, I said that wasn’t the only reason. I’ve liked you for a while.” Kai curiously glanced over. “How long?” “Uh, kinda since we first met?” Cole winced but when he looked over to gauge Kai’s reaction, he was met with a soft smile. “I’ve liked you probably since Jay properly met Nya. I had a crush on him for a couple weeks but when I saw how infatuated he was with her, I knew I didn’t stand a chance. I think it must have been a little bit before Zane went missing that I got a proper crush on you,” Kai confessed.
Silence fell between them as Cole let the words sink in. “Wow. I mean, this whole time, we’ve both been pining for each other like idiots?” Kai laughed at that, Cole joining him. “First master,” Cole barely got out between laughs, “we’re both oblivious!” They continued to laugh until their stomachs hurt and tears were in their eyes. Finally after a while the pair calmed down. “I’m gay, by the way,” Cole said. “I’m bi,” Kai gave a thumbs up. “Makes sense,” Cole shrugged.
Kai gasped, slightly offended but mostly confused. “Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?” Cole snickered. “It means you’re not as subtle as you think. Come on, you really think we bought that whole ‘I’m straight’ thing? Kai, you literally try to get guys’ numbers all the time. Just look at your Chirp history!” “Oh come on, I couldn’t have been that obvious…” Kai blushed and looked away. Cole shrugged. “Just the way the cookie crumbles.” “Yeah yeah whatever, it's not like we couldn’t tell you were gay, mr ‘never had a crush on a girl, ever’.” Cole rolled his eyes and they both laughed again. “Alright, alright, we’re both oblivious and obvious,” Kai said. There was a silence in the room until Cole realized the music had stopped. He stood up, causing Kai to be confused until he realized what he was doing. Once again, music filled the room and he sat by Kai again.
“You enjoying the tracks so far?” Cole started up the conversation again. Kai nodded enthusiastically and complimented him. “Yeah! You have such a great taste in music!” He smiled, “Thanks.”. Kai nodded. “Sorry to change the subject again, but what exactly does that make us? I mean, I would love to date you, but I’m chill if you wanna just stay friends or something…” He said nervously. Cole’s eyes widened at the straightforwardness of Kai’s question. “Uh. We can be whatever you want, I guess. Whether that's boyfriends or best friends.” “Boyfriends.” He immediately said, before regretting how fast he replied. “I mean, if you want, that is. I wouldn’t mind being your boyfriend.” “Yeah, boyfriend sounds nice,” Cole blushed. They sat there awkwardly, both not knowing what steps to take forward. “Sorry if this is too fast, but can I kiss you?” Cole broke the silence. “yEah,” Kai’s voice embarrassingly cracked, and he could have sworn the temperature of the room went up a couple degrees as he blushed.
They both leaned in until their lips softly met, directly contrasting with the hasty kiss they had shared earlier that day. Kai pulled away before it could deepen, taking a deep breath. “Wow,” He blankly remarked. “Wow,” Cole agreed, “that was… Interesting,” he awkwardly sat there, trying to control his breathing. Kai nodded to show his acknowledgement, but he wasn’t much better. “So what now?” Cole tried his best to carry the conversation, despite almost seeing the overlying self-consciousness in the air. “Oh. Uh. I du-” Kai interrupted himself with a yawn, “I dunno…” It fell silent again. “Should we go to sleep? You seem tired,” Cole shrugged.
“Sure, sounds good.” Kai stood up and stretched. “Night, Cole,” he said with a little nervous wave. “Happy birthday,” he blurted out. Kai smiled and then left the room, closing the door behind him. Cole turned around and face-planted onto his bed, groaning into his pillow.