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The Bounty smelled like takeout and sweat. Dinner after a mission was always a little too chaotic, a little too loud, and the last thing they needed was someone sharing their exaggerated and entirely useless retelling of said mission.
Guess what they were getting.
“…and then Kai dives through the smoke, right?” Jay was halfway out of his chair acting it out, chopsticks in hand like props, nearly stabbing Lloyd in the head. The boy swats him away before he could get too close. “Flames behind him and all, slow-motion, hair blowing dramatically—”
Cole snorted, leaning back in his chair and nodding vaguely to the boy in question. “Pretty sure his hair hasn’t moved since we met him.”
“It moves,” Kai shot back instantly, pausing mid-bite to glare at him. Then he turned toward Jay, already halfway to defending himself. “And I wasn’t diving, I was—”
Jay steamrolled right over him, stabbing his chopsticks toward the middle of the table. “—and he yells, ‘Don’t worry, Jay, I’ve got you!’” His voice jumped up an octave in what was clearly supposed to be a Kai impression, though it sounded more like Nya.
“Pretty sure I yelled, ‘Move, you idiot!’”
Jay waved a dismissive hand, nearly sending a spray of rice onto Lloyd’s plate. “Then he sweeps me up into his strong, heroic arms—”
Kai set his chopsticks down entirely so he could gesture at him. “I don’t remember any sweeping. Maybe a shove, at best—“
“Uh, gentle heroic shove,” Jay corrected, giving a tiny, self-satisfied nod. “And from my perspective, it was a rescue worthy of an epic movie. Besides, why are you getting involved? This is nothing to do with you. It’s my story.”
Kai huffs, but before he could argue, Zane chimes in. “If my memory serves—and I think we all know it does, the moment lasted approximately three seconds and contained no cinematic slow-motion.”
Jay slapped a hand against the table in exaggerated offense and dropped back into his seat. “Can I please finish my story?”
A unanimous chorus of “No” rang around the table.
Completely unfazed, Jay plowed on. “Anyway, Kai’s holding me—”
“I wasn’t holding you—”
“—He’s holding me, and the bad guy’s like, ‘Noooo!’ and flees because he knows nothing can stand in the way of true love—’”
Kai sighed. “Oh, for—”
But Jay was already in his own world, recounting how Kai had fought off “ten, no, fifteen” enemies while still keeping Jay safe, glaring at the villain until they ran away in fear.
Zane, without looking up, leaned slightly toward Cole and murmured, “At his current rate, the enemy total will reach twenty by tomorrow.”
Cole snorted, covering it quickly with a cough. Jay glanced over, suspicious, but kept talking.
Nya leaned her chin in her hand, smirking. “You know, if you told it any bigger, Jay, I think you’d have to start selling tickets.”
“Honestly, though. I’m telling you,” he insisted, “he was like—like a fire tornado. He looked the danger right in the eye and said, ‘Not today, buddy!’”
“Pretty sure he was looking at you when he said that,” Lloyd cut in, raising an eyebrow. Without missing a beat, Jay grabbed a bread roll and stuffed it into Lloyd’s open mouth before he could say anything else.
“Shhh. No heckling the storyteller.”
Zane looked up from his plate as Lloyd tries not to choke to death. “I do have video footage if you’d like to compare perceptions.”
“Delete it,” Kai said instantly.
“Play it,” Jay countered, at the exact same time.
“You know what I think?” Nya cut in, gesturing between them lazily with her fork. “At this point, there’s only one way to settle this—a full live reenactment. Can’t trust video evidence, it’s way too easy to doctor.”
Cole perked up immediately. “Oh yeah. Dinner and a show.”
Kai levelled his sister with a long, deliberate glare. “What have I ever done to you, huh?”
“I could make you a list—”
He didn’t get the chance to argue; Jay’s chair screeched back from the table, and in one fluid motion he was on his feet, eyes sparking with mischief.
“Alright, fire boy,” he said, beckoning with both hands. “Let’s give the people what they came for.”
“I’m people, and I vote no,” Kai said flatly.
Jay ignored him completely, scanning the table like a casting director. His gaze landed on Lloyd.
“You—you’re the villain,” he announced, pointing dramatically.
Lloyd pause mid-bite. “I’m what?”
“The bad guy! Menace! Oppressor of the innocent!” Jay declared, already striding over to him. “Stand up.”
“I’m eating—”
“Stand. Up.” Jay tugged him to his feet with alarming determination.
Lloyd shot a quick look at the others, but Cole, Nya, and Zane were already settled in like they had come here specifically for this. Cole let out a loud, unhelpful whoop.
Kai frowned. “Jay, I’m not going to—”
“You are,” Jay interrupted without turning around. “You’re the hero. You’ll burst through the flames, hair perfectly windswept—”
“Windswept? No. You take that back right now. My hair was gelled perfectly—“
“—and you sweep me off my feet—”
“Shove,” Kai corrected.
Jay ignored him, grabbing Lloyd’s wrist and pretending to wrestle. “The villain’s got me cornered! I’m seconds from doom—”
Lloyd aimed a desperate, get me out of this look at Kai, but Jay was already barking stage directions like a man possessed.
“Alright, villain, come on,” Jay said, pointing dramatically at him. “Menace of the people. Strike fear into my heart.”
Lloyd deadpanned, “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Now—attack!”
Lloyd sighed, set down his fork, and made a half-hearted lunge toward Jay. Kai let out a loud groan, like this was the biggest inconvenience of his life, but he still stood, pushing his chair back. “Alright, alright—before Lloyd ends up dead.”
Jay immediately beamed. “Ah! And thus, the hero arrives—”
“I’m not—” Kai started, but stopped when Jay backed up, feet planted like he was daring him to follow along. Something in the boy’s grin was pulling him in before he could think better of it.
That was the thing about Jay—he had a knack for dragging people into his orbit, getting people to go along with whatever ridiculous thing he’d decided was happening, and before Kai knew it, he was already halfway there with him. He found himself straightening, a reluctant smile creeping in. “Fine. But if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right.”
Jay’s eyebrows shot up, but the grin didn’t falter.
“The villain,” Kai announced in a mock-deep voice, sweeping an arm toward Lloyd, “has underestimated my power for the last time.”
Cole snorted from his chair. “Oh, this just got good.” Jay cackled at the same time, eyes bright and practically sparking. He bounced on the balls of his feet like he’d just baited Kai into the exact reaction he wanted.
Funnily enough, Lloyd played along this time, jumping towards Jay with an exaggerated growl. Kai stepped in, one hand catching Lloyd’s shoulder to push him back—but before he could even turn, Jay let out a ridiculously overdone gasp and launched himself forward.
He threw both arms around Kai’s neck like they were in the final scene of some romance movie, stumbling back against him with a ridiculous, swooning motion. “Oh! Saved again by my dashing hero!” he cried, leaning his full weight into it.
Kai staggered back a step, caught entirely off guard, his hands instinctively going to Jay’s waist to steady him. “Jay—wait—”
“No time for questions!” Jay announced, still clinging to him like they were seconds from death. “You’ve saved me from certain doom! I am forever in your debt!”
Kai opened his mouth to fire back, but the retort stalled halfway. His expression hovered somewhere between exasperation and the sharp awareness of just how little space was left between them. Jay was close—close enough for Kai to notice the way his curls fell across his brow, close enough to catch the quick rhythm of his breathing. There was a faint, metallic smell to him, something that clung after missions, and for a moment the noise of the table seemed to fade, leaving just the two of them in the space between heartbeats.
His hands stayed where they were, as if he actually needed saving, even though he could have stepped back by now. “You’re ridiculous,” he muttered, softer than he meant to, but he still didn’t let go.
Jay tipped his head just slightly, and the grin on his lips shifted, losing some of its stage-bright edge and softening into something smaller. Something that felt… meant for him.
Cole’s laughter crashed through the quiet. “Ten out of ten. Perfect execution. I actually think I remember it looking exactly like this.”
“Put him down, Kai,” Nya said amusedly, looking back down to her bowl, “before he starts reciting wedding vows.”
Jay finally peeled himself off with a dramatic sigh, grinning like he’d won something.
Kai shook his head a little, sank back into his seat, and tried to ignore the way his ears were heating up. Across the table, Jay dropped into his own chair and sent him a quick, pointed wink, setting off another round of laughter from the others. Kai didn’t look up, but he knew the flush creeping up his neck was giving him away.
Later, when the others had drifted off to their rooms and the night air had turned crisp, Kai spotted him out on the deck, propped against the railing with that infuriatingly smug smile that meant he knew he was getting under Kai’s skin.
“Do you enjoy making me look like a complete idiot?” Kai joined him, leaning beside the boy.
Jay glanced over, an expression of faint amusement on his face. “Yes. But that’s not what I was doing in there.”
“You made me sound like some big stupid hero.”
“That’s ’cause you are one,” he said. His tone was lighter than the words, but Kai felt the sincerity underneath. Jay rarely said things he didn’t mean.
Kai shook his head, half amused, half embarrassed. “You’ve got a real gift for exaggeration.”
“Maybe,” Jay admitted with a small shrug. “But I’m not making it up.”
Kai frowned faintly, unsure what to do with that. Jay turned toward him then, resting his elbows on the rail, his voice dipping into something a little more steady. “I’m serious. You are. And you did save me. Maybe I dress it up a little, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
Kai looked away, cheeks warming. He hated how easily Jay could get past his guard with just a few words.
Jay stayed quiet for a moment, watching him. Then, in that deceptively light tone that always carried more than it let on, he said, “You always show up. That’s why I tell it that way—it matters to me.”
Kai huffed out a breath, trying to play it off the way the boy’s words made his heart thump a little louder. “Yeah, well… you left out the part where you were screaming like a banshee.”
Jay laughed then, bright and unguarded, the sound carrying easily into the quiet night air. Kai told himself it wasn’t a big deal, that it was just a laugh—except he found himself staring, a familiar warmth curling in his chest, something that happened every time he managed to pull it out of him.
They stood there in comfortable silence for a while, Kai thinking maybe he should argue more, but not really wanting to. Jay’s grin had faded into something softer, almost thoughtful, and Kai found himself watching it instead of searching for a comeback.
Maybe there were worse things than being someone’s hero.