Chapter Text
Another early morning at the monastery meant another dreadful day for Kai. He never liked waking up early, cursing his alarm as it buzzed on his side table.
Kai stumbled his way into the kitchen, wiping his face to try to wake his body up. Nobody else seemed to be awake. He opened the fridge and stared at it intently.
As there were most mornings, a red plastic container sat on the bottom shelf. Kai smiled, grabbing it and reading the note on top. He was once again grateful Cole had made him breakfast. While Cole wasn’t the best cook, he had been practising on Kai.
The overnight oats he had prepared were able to save Kai from cooking his own breakfast. The note had a small doodle of Kai in the left corner. They were made just how he liked them.
Kai searched the drawers for a clean spoon. If there was one thing about living in the monastery that peeved him the most, it was how nobody washed up after themselves. He sighed, noticing that not a single spoon was in any drawers. He glanced over to the dishes, a pile of dirty spoons waiting to be washed.
Kai made sure to sigh and groan as much as possible while washing the spoons. He made sure to ignore the plates, bowls and other utensils stacked up next to them; he only needed a spoon and was only willing to acknowledge them.
Footsteps could be heard behind him. Kai didn’t bother to turn around, but the voice immediately gave away who it was.
Jay yawned. “Wanna wash me a bowl?”
“You can wash your own bowl.” Kai huffed, cleaning food off the last spoon. He dried one and snatched his breakfast back off the counter before Jay got any ideas.
“Ugh. Are you married to him or what? Why does Cole make you breakfast, and not me?”
“Because he picks favourites. And I don’t see why you would be his favourite.” Kai was quick to make a beeline to the living room, drowning out Jay’s retaliations with imaginary whale noises.
Surprisingly, the couch was already taken. Cole was sitting there, Prime Empire on the screen and a remote in his hands. Kai joined him, sitting on the opposite side and opening the container.
“Thanks for the breakfast, dude.”
“No problem.” Cole smiled, focused on the screen. Kai noticed the red in the other boy's eyes.
“How long have you been up for?”
Cole laughed. “All night. Is it obvious?”
“Yeah. Your eyes are fucked. Why didn’t you go to bed?”
Cole shrugged. “I tried. I couldn’t sleep so I made you breakfast and just sat and played this.”
Kai spoke while food was in his mouth. “I didn’t even know you played Prime Empire.”
“I don’t. This is Jay’s save.”
“You seriously decided to play on Jay’s save?” Kai chuckled through his words.
“Why are you laughing? Will he be mad?”
“Dude, he treats his Prime Empire save file better than himself.”
“Ah shit.” Cole stopped playing for a minute. “What do I do?”
“Just use my save file.” Kai had already finished his breakfast. “Let me be player one though.”
“Sure.” Cole handed the controller to Kai. As he did so, their hands grazed. He tried to stop himself from going red. His hand stayed there a little too long, before he quickly moved it away. Kai was unphased by the touch.
“I changed his avatar though.” Cole continued, distracting himself from his thoughts.
“Meh. Just gaslight him. He’ll fall for it eventually.”
Kai booted up his own save file. Cole admired his in game avatar, decked out in a range of high level weapons and gear. He grabbed a second controller, laying on the coffee table, and joined the game.
“I wish I was as good at this game as you are.” Cole spoke.
“Yeah…” Kai stretched his arms over the back of the couch. “Everyone does.”
“Cocky much. Jay’s still better.”
Kai flinched forward with his mouth wide open. “Jay?! You take that back!”
Cole laughed. “If you teach me how to play, I will.”
“Fine.” Kai smiled. “How the hell did you manage to play all night and not get any better?”
Cole didn’t want to admit to Kai that he did know how to play, but would rather find a way to spend more time with him. “Must just be bad at games.”
“Duh.”
Cole would’ve paid to hangout with Kai. Luckily for him, it was free, and Kai seemed to actually like the company. His crush on Kai had been unrequited for the best part of five years. It didn’t bother Cole; he knew that nothing would ever come of it. Kai was completely oblivious to this, ignoring all the times Cole had made him breakfast, made his bed, teamed up with him on missions.
“You know, Jay’s doing a valentines day thing.” Cole told Kai.
“Ew. Lame. I’m not going.”
“Oh…That’s fine, I mean, I thought I could’ve gone and-”
“Yeah, count me out.” Kai laughed. He shuffled towards Cole. “You smell good, what are you wearing?”
Cole blushed. “Uhm. Nothing.”
“Huh. Must not be you.”
Time was flying by. The two had been playing prime empire for the best part of the morning, tuts from Master Wu heard in the background. Wu had finally spoken up, demanding that the boys go do something productive with their time.
“Ugh. We never get a break.” Kai turned his controller off. Cole followed suit.
“You wanna go on a walk?” Cole asked.
“Anything instead of training.”
Cole decided walking around the outskirts of the monastery was a good way to waste more time with Kai. It was highly unproductive, but undetectable by Wu.
Kai kicked up a rock as they walked. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
Cole always let himself get unreasonably excited when Kai asked this question. “No! I mean. No. I’m not. Just chilling.”
“Cool.” Kai smiled. “Wanna give me a lift to my date?”
Cole felt his heart drop. No matter how many times Kai told him he was going on a date with a girl, it stung the same. He gulped and replied. “Sure, dude.”
Kai took a seat on a nearby tree stump. “Even better if you can help me get ready.”
“Why me?” Cole laughed.
“Cause you dress cool.”
Trying his best not to seem too happy over the compliment, or too sad over the date, Cole let out an awkward smile.
After a few short laps around the monastery, Kai decided he needed to get ready for his date. He had provided Cole some context: it was a restaurant, fancy, and a blind date. Cole found it stupid that he was putting so much care into Kai getting ready, even if it was in his best interest to sabotage. Still, he wanted the best for him, and continued to help.
“Red tie or black?” Kai asked.
“Red. It’s your colour.”
“Well, duh, but which looks better?”
“Red. Brings out your eyes.”
Cole was sitting on the chair beside Kai’s desk, watching Kai bring different colours of tie to his chest to model. He tried his hardest to actually focus on the colour of the ties, and not let his eyes move up to Kai’s face.
“Can you help me?” Kai looked up from his tie at Cole.
“With what?”
“My tie.”
“You can’t tie a tie?” Cole grinned.
“Well, it’s not like my dad could teach me. Now get up here and tie it.”
Cole got up and began to help with the tie. He had been taught a certain way by his dad; pushing the wide end up through the tunnel. He admittedly found it quite hard to do when he was able to catch a glimpse of Kai’s face out of focus.
“I hate suits.” Kai groaned.
Finishing up the tie, Cole sat back down. “You look good!” Cole insisted.
“Yeah, but not because of the suit.” Kai smirked, doing up the red tie Cole suggested. “What do I do with my hair?”
“Please don’t gel it.”
“I always gel it!”
“But it looks so good when it’s, like, normal.”
“If I don’t gel it I feel naked.” Kai began to walk to the bathroom.
Cole followed him. “Why ask then?”
“Because I love the sound of your voice.” Kai laughed.
Cole felt that helping Kai get ready for his date was torture. He had done similar things before, and every time the ache only got worse. Kai was so casually flirty, but so painfully straight. Cole had long ago accepted he would never get what he wanted, and had made peace with it. Kai seemed to only poke and prod him, his crush getting ten times worse with every word leaving his mouth.
Cole watched as Kai slicked a glob of gel into his brown hair. The way his hands moved, the way his nose scrunched in the mirror. Cole wasn’t sure he could take it much longer.
“I hope this girl is good.” Kai sighed.
“What, looks, or personality?”
“Meh. Both, I guess. I just want someone who actually gets me.”
Cole tried to hold back; he was well aware he understood Kai, he knew him inside and out. He’d known him for so long, analysed his every movement. He pressed his feelings down and thought of a way to change the subject.
“When’s your date?” He asked.
“Like, five minutes.”
“What?! How are we getting there in time!”
“Chill out, babe .” Cole wondered why Kai had to call him that. Kai continued. “We can leave now and get to Ninjago City if we try hard enough.”
“Are you forgetting it's me who’s driving?” Cole chased after Kai as he began to rush to the car.
“If anything, I’m remembering. The time you got a DUI tells me you're willing to go over the speed limit.”
“I can’t get any more points on my license!”
“Okay, but you won’t get caught.” Kai climbed in the passenger seat. “Let’s just see how it goes!”
Cole sighed and got in the driver seat. “I’m not speeding. It’s your fault for not telling me what time it was at.” He secretly hoped Kai would blow his date this soon, but knew that it would hurt him. He pushed those feelings back and started the engine.
The drive there was anything but quiet. Kai was quick to connect his phone to the speakers, letting his music blast. Cole tried his hardest to focus on the road, ignoring the time. 4:57pm. He had three minutes.
Kai listed directions to Cole, albeit not very good ones.
“Okay, at this junction, turn left.”
Cole indicated left.
“Wait! No! Right.” Kai corrected himself.
Cole indicated right. The traffic lights were changing.
“No! Left. Definitely left.”
Cole indicated left. “Dude, make up your mind!”
“Left. I choose left.” The traffic lights went green, and Cole turned left.
They were halfway down the street when Kai spoke up.
“I actually think you were meant to go right.”
By the time they reached the restaurant, they were ten minutes late.
“I’m not allowed to park here, so go, quick!” Cole shooed Kai out.
Kai opened the glove box. “Do you keep condoms in here?”
“What? No! You don’t need condoms for a restaurant date!”
“You never know!” Kai put his hands up defensively. “If I have an illegitimate child, it's your fault!” He spoke, halfway out of the car. “I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“Okay dude. Bye!”
“Love ya!” Kai blew a kiss and walked into the restaurant. Cole shook his head and drove off.
On the drive home, Cole's mind was plagued with thoughts of Kai. His face, the clear skin, the soft lips. His hair, only when it wasn’t covered in gel. The way he so casually said he loves him, the way he blew a kiss. The way he walked out of the car. He was close to crashing; he was so distracted. He began to think he needed his licence revoked.
Kai walked into the restaurant, confident and cocky. He went up to the host and asked for a table in the name ‘Smith’.
“Smith. Your table is down and the second one to the left. The rest of your party is already there.”
Kai walked down to his table. He was excited to meet the girl. He had never been on a blind date, and was hopeful he would actually have some luck this time due to his micro-celebrity status. Second table to the left. He looked to the left, one table up…and he saw his date.
Skylor.
Kai shuffled into the booth awkwardly.
Skylor giggled. “Funny seeing you here.”
“Yeah. Cool.” Kai tried not to make eye contact.
“You know, I wasn’t really in the mood for a date with some shitty guy anyway. We can have this dinner as friends.”
“Friends. Yeah.” Kai nodded, pretending to listen.
The last time Kai had seen Skylor was a month ago. Kai was the kind of man to believe any girl could fall for him. He took her out for ice cream, everything going smoothly. She laughed at all his jokes, she looked beautiful.
When he asked her out, he got rejected.
It was the first time Kai had ever gotten turned down by a girl, and he hadn’t talked to her since from the embarrassment of it.
“You know, there's no shame in you having asked me out.” Skylor spoke, reading the menu as she did.
“No shame. Yeah.”
“Are you actually gonna listen to me?”
His mind was a blur. His thoughts were mainly about Skylor, the rejection, his last failed date. He couldn’t help but notice Cole snuck in there, when he tied his tie, the way he smelt on the couch. Maybe he needed a friend right now.
Kai snapped up and straightened his back. “What! Yeah. I have been. I’ve been listening.”
“Then what did I say?”
“That there's no shame.”
“In what?”
Kai didn’t reply.
Skylor sighed. “Okay. Let’s start from the top. There's no shame in you having asked me out. We can be friends.”
Kai gulped and didn’t know how to reply.
“So, what are you thinking of having?” Skylor was carrying the conversation
He hadn’t even checked the menu yet. Picking it up, Kai looked at his options. A few variations of pasta caught his eye.
“Um, maybe the risotto lobster thing.”
“That sounds good. I’m probably just gonna get lasagne.”
“Well if you’re getting something simple, I should.”
The waiter came over to the table.
“Any drinks for you two?”
“Can I get a glass of rosé, and he wants…” Skylor looked at Kai.
“A coke zero.”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t carry any coke zero.” The waiter replied.
Kai glanced at the drinks menu. Shit. This place was too good for that. He came up with something quickly. He felt his heart beat faster.
“Uh, just water then.”
Scribbling on his notepad, the waiter left.
“So, what have you been up to?” Skylor smiled.
“I need to pee.” Kai left his booth and walked as fast as he could. He didn’t even know where the bathroom was; he just knew he needed to go.
Kai’s throat was tightening. He looked around. A sign. Male bathroom, to the left. He went down the narrow corridor, opening the creaky door and locking himself in a stall. His heart pounded out of his chest. He slumped down to the sticky bathroom floor and pulled out his phone with shaking hands.
“Shit.” He tried to read the contact names, eyes blurred with tears.
He haphazardly clicked on what he thought would be Cole, and called the number.
“Hey?”
“Cole, I need you to pick me up now.”
“It’s only been 10 minutes man! I’m coming.”
“I can explain in the car, I’m just…I’m stupid and I messed up and…”
“You don’t have to explain, I’ll be there in 5.”
Hanging up, Kai slid his phone back into his pocket. He tried the advice he had been given before. Breath in. Breath out. Name 5 things around you. Toilet, toilet roll…That wasn't helping. Breathing in again, breathing out again.
Kai let himself sit in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, he got up, wiping his palms on the sides of his trousers.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to go out the front door. There was too high of a chance Skylor would see him and confront him. The back door was most likely reserved for chefs. He left the stall and looked at his surroundings.
There.
A window, small and up slightly higher than him. He knew what he was about to do was stupid, but he didn’t care.
Climbing onto the counter beside the sink, Kai balanced himself. He pried the window open, readying himself to haul his body out.
Grasping onto the ledge, Kai flung himself halfway out the window. He realised his stupidity when he looked down, realising he was head first out a tiny window.
The bathroom door opened.
“You okay there, mate?” A voice spoke from inside.
Kai bit his tongue. “Yeah, I’m good.”
He heard the sound of the other person pissing. He awkwardly tried to push his legs out without tumbling to the ground. He realised he needed to give up, and let himself forward roll tumble onto the pavement below.
Patting himself down, Kai searched for his phone.
It wasn’t there.
He looked back up at the window, and shouted hopefully.
“Is my phone in there?”
Impatiently, Kai stared up at the bathroom window. He prayed for a response.
“Sure man, it’s here!” The man dangled it down out the window. Kai snatched it back.
“Thank you!” He shouted, checking his phone to see where Cole was.
Parked on 5th. That was at least a ten minute walk. Kai sighed and began to move there.
Part of him felt guilty for leaving Skylor alone at the restaurant. The other part of him didn’t care, just glad to have made it out of there without her knowing. The most obvious downside was now his suit was grubby, covered in residue from his landing.
He saw the black mustang up ahead. It flashed its headlights at him and he jogged over to the passenger side. Kai got in the car with a loud and exaggerated sigh.
“Sorry I couldn’t park outside the restaurant.”
“Nah, it’s…it’s chill.” Kai’s voice cracked.
Cole began to drive. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not much to talk about. I ran away. It was Skylor.”
“She didn’t wanna be friends?”
“No, she did. And that’s why I ran away. It’s embarrassing to be friends with someone you like that much.”
Cole winced. “Yeah, totally.”
“Ugh. What’s my luck? And, I forgot to say, I had to climb out a fucking window.”
“You had to?”
Kai laughed. “Well, no, but it felt like it was my only option when I did it.”
“It would’ve been awkward if she caught you leaving. You do know she’ll like it, still know you ran away?”
“Mhm, but how’s she gonna get me?” Kai smirked.
Back at the monastery, Kai shut himself in his bedroom. He made sure to take a shower first, the gel in his hair getting on his nerves. Plus, he didn’t want to be in that suit for the rest of the night. He flopped onto his bed.
It hadn’t even been a minute before Nya let herself in.
“Hey there, you…” She looked at Kai, who was face down.
“Yeah?” He flipped himself over.
“How was your blind date?”
“Okay, horrible. It was Skylor, I ran out a window, she doesn’t know.”
“Yeah, she texted me.”
“You’re still friends with her?!”
“Why aren’t you? She only rejected you, it’s no biggie.” Nya moved to sit on the edge of the bed.
Kai sat up, cross legged, and looked at his sister. “No biggie? Nya, that was the most embarrassing experience of my adult life and I don’t wanna look her in the eyes.”
“Most embarrassing experience of your adult life? Please. You're so dramatic. Everyone else can handle rejection, why can’t you?”
Kai shrugged. “I don’t know! What is this, a therapy session?”
“I’ll put you back in them if you keep acting like this.”
Kai raised an eyebrow. “And I’m the dramatic one?”
“We’re both the dramatic ones. Why don’t you text Skylor and apologise?”
“Oh no. That’s mortifying.”
“You left a girl alone at a restaurant.”
“And?”
“I’ll take you out for dinner, order the most expensive meal, and run off so you're left with the bill.”
“Okay, but I didn’t order anything.”
“Kai-”
“Fine, fine.” Kai took out his phone. “I’m texting her now.” Kai took out his phone, and tried to craft a text message to Skylor. Nothing was sounding right.
“Hello, Skylor…” Kai said his text message out loud. “No, no…”
“Why not say ‘Hey Sky, sorry, but something came up.’?”
“Sky? That’s so casual.”
“Are you trying to be formal?” Nya laughed.
“No. I’m not. Fine.” Kai sent the message his sister suggested and slammed his phone face down on the bed beside him.
That night, Kai couldn’t sleep. He did feel guilty for ditching Skylor, even if he didn’t want to admit it. When glancing at his phone earlier, he saw that she had replied. He didn’t dare open it, too scared of the response. He realised this is probably why he couldn’t get any sleep.
He had to check.
Grabbing his phone and unplugging it, Kai brought the screen to his face. He navigated to Skylors messages…
Read.
She left him on read. No response.
Shit.
Frantically, Kai began to type a second message. An apology for his apology.
No.
He couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to talk to her, he was angry at her. He was devastated she hadn’t responded, sure, but the anger was worse. He deleted his text.
Backing out of Skylors messages, he noticed someone else had texted him.
Cole.
A short message from earlier, with an image attached. ‘This made me think of you lol’ . A busted up fire hydrant was the image he had sent along with the message.
Kai didn’t overanalyse what this meant; he wasn’t the type to. Instead, he scrolled up through their messages. Each voice note Cole had left, every drawing he had sent to him. Kai smiled, curling up into fetal position and playing one of the voice notes.
He fell asleep for the next few hours.
He got up again later that night. Kai decided a snack would help calm his nerves and help him go to bed for good. If not food, maybe Wu would have a tea that could help him doze off. He walked down the corridor, floorboards creaking with every step he took.
There was already someone at the fridge. Hopefully not Zane again.
“Cole?” Kai squinted his eyes to try to see the figure in the dark.
“Oh, hey man.” Cole gleamed at Kai.
“What time is it?”
“About 2am. I’m making cereal, want any?”
“You say that like cereal’s hard to make.”
Cole grabbed milk out the fridge and closed it with his hip. “It is if you're me.”
“I don’t want any. Probably just gonna get a biscuit.”
“Suit yourself.” Cole poured himself a bowl of cereal, started adding milk and looked at Kai.
He was glad Kai didn’t notice him staring. Cole took every chance he could to look at his face, daydream, imagine what could be. Soon, the milk began to overflow out of the bowl and onto the counter.
“Oh shit!” Cole stepped back.
Kai turned around to look and laughed. “How do you add that much milk?”
“I, uh…Wasn’t thinking.” Cole rushed to get some paper towels.
“Did my presence really throw you off that bad?”
Cole awkwardly laughed, mopping up milk with the paper towels. “Yeah, dude, you're just so…beautiful.” He tried to say it in a way where Kai could assume it was a joke.
“Mhm, I know.”
Cole wiped the rest of the milk up and binned the towels. “Sorry about your date.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“I just feel bad.” Cole began to eat his cereal.
“Don’t.”
“Sorry, sorry. I mean, if you do feel a bit sad about it, Jay’s still doing that Valentines party…”
“I thought I told you how I felt about that!”
“The date didn’t change your mind at all? It could be fun. We can go together! As friends.” Cole regretted adding the last part.
“Yeah, I guess it gets me away from girls.”
“So you're going?”
“Why not. It’s here anyway. I’d have to stay in my room all night to avoid it.”
Trying to hide his excitement, Cole bit his lip. He had actually convinced Kai to go to Jay’s Valentines day party with him.