Chapter Text
He’d had a deep feeling of dread in his gut the night before move-in day.
It was a conveniently inconvenient zap of destiny’s wand for multiple reasons:
1. There was no way the roommate choosing system had somehow found out about their secret ninja identities and had, thus, paired them together. Even after Lloyd had revealed his identity as a ninja, no one had suspected of the color coordinated group of teens and young adults that just happened to hang around Lord Garmadon’s son.
Sure, the news had theorized that, for example, the teen with spiky, gelled up hair was indeed the fire ninja, however, misguiding gossip journalists with their obscure, stalky news articles was easier than the ninja had expected. For instance, it was as easy as having them parade around the city without their ninja outfits and having some of their close friends and family wear their ninja disguises in the same shot.
A few weeks ago, for example, Zane’s friend from the ice cream club, Pixal, wearing the water ninja’s disguise, had rescued Nya from getting crushed by a crumbling wall that one of Garmadon’s goons had just knocked over.
Similarly, though a little less graciously, Cole’s father had been wearing the earth ninja’s gi when he had piloted Cole’s mech to fight back against one of Garmadon’s piranha mechs that would’ve otherwise destroyed the café that Cole was having lunch in.
Small, calculated appearances like those had been enough to get the attention off of the ninja’s real identities. They were thankful for this, as Lloyd had felt very guilty about the possibility of ruining his friends’ peaceful lives.
2. The earth ninja and the fire ninja had vastly different lifestyles… like ridiculously different and not in the adorable sun and moon way, but rather, a chocolate bar wrapped in plastic paired with a campfire or a sleeping baby versus a psychopath with a chainsaw.
Cole loved music and enjoyed composing his own beats. He had scored a few gigs DJ’ing for relatively small events, but once the night was over, he liked laying down on his bed to rest in his pitch-black dead-silent bedroom. Kai’s routine on the other hand involved blasting music on his stereo while playing video games until the sun started peeking in the horizon.
To the earth ninja, one of the most depressing things was that he would love to join Kai in playing video games, but his tendency to go ballistic and curse every living and inanimate being when losing made him physically recoil to the far end corner of the room like a verbally tormented infant.
Another important detail of Kai’s routine was hitting the gym early in the morning, which just happened to be a part of Cole’s routine as well. At this point in the day, Kai would get really insistent in trying to get some conversation out of his roommate, despite it being so early in the morning that Kai’s voice sounded like scratching a chalkboard with a fork. What kind of mentally ill person likes to ponder the meaning of life or talk about some boring movie when it was still so cold and their stomachs were empty anyways?
3. They were both part of the ninja team, and wouldn’t have to hide their secret identities from the other. That was pretty much the only positive thing Cole could come up with as he ate BBQ potato chips next to Zane.
It wasn’t all that bad at the end of the day, he figured. He could be stuck at home with his dad trying to get him into dancing classes, with a curfew and strict rules against midnight snacking. Kai was also a relatively clean roommate. Sure, his clothes and self care items were sprawled in what could be considered a messy way, but he’d always get rid of the takeout containers and wash his dishes. And sure, the bar was a few layers into the Earth’s crust, but from Jay’s nightmare inducing stories about his own roommate, Cole couldn’t help but thank and curse the universe at the same time for pairing him with the hot headed Fire Ninja.
He reached for more chips when he noticed the bag was empty. He sighed tiredly before fully laying his body on the grass under a tree, watching Zane read some complicated history book, when he spotted Kai talking to someone. He squinted and saw a girl with red hair and a confident stance.
“Woah. Zane. Check that out.” Cole whispered to Zane. The young man in white hair turned his head 3/4 around trying to be subtle.
“I thought Kai was over his ex.” Zane said in a pitiful tone.
“Same, dude. She looks pissed too.”
They couldn’t actually hear what they were saying, but Zane swore he could read the words “costume” and “maybe” in their lips. Cole shrugged.
“That makes sense. Halloween is just around the corner. I bet they’re going to a party or something.” Cole rolled his eyes, getting bored of watching the embarrassing scene. His attention drifted back to the beautiful green leaves above him as he took a deep breath, enjoying the light autumn sun on his face.
He was starting to doze off when suddenly, the sun rays in his eyelids disappeared, like someone or something was shading him from them. He opened his eyes and saw Kai himself standing over him.
“Hi Cole! Hi Zane!” Kai said. He was standing over Cole with his shoes on both of Cole’s sides.
“Uh… what’s up.” Cole said, shifting his face slightly to the left trying to get some sun.
“Oh nothing much… just thinking about what costume I’m gonna wear for Halloween.” Kai smiled, shifting his face and covering the sun from Cole’s face (again).
“Cool!” Zane beamed. “I was thinking about my costume as well. Maybe a stormtrooper would suit me well.”
“YES! I don’t know crap about star wars but yes- it’s the white guy with the white things, you’re gonna look awesome!” Kai winked at Zane, who smiled sheepishly in response.
Cole, still trapped between Kai’s feet, rolled his eyes playfully.
“What about you, Cole?” Kai asked, now bending down a little to see Cole’s face better.
“Uh. I dunno, I’m not gonna do anything for Halloween so I hadn’t even considered getting a costume.”
Cole regretted saying that as soon as Kai’s face twisted in horror. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. Cole raised an eyebrow.
“Bro, what do you MEAN you’re not gonna do anything?! It’s HALLOWEEN!” Kai frowned, his eyes sparkling like a puppy who had just been scowled. “You don’t have to waste money or anything, do something easy… like a zombie!!”
“A zombie costume would fit you perfectly, Cole” Zane chimed in. Kai’s frown turned into the biggest smile Cole had ever seen. “It’s also one of the most affordable costumes out there.”
And just like that, Cole had slapped a hand on his face out of regret. Now, he knew that Kai was NEVER going to drop the Halloween costume topic and would not rest until he saw Cole with fake blood all over his face, green sweat sticking to his shirt and his hair as the pores of his skin were suffocated by the cheap paint. He mumbled curses at the nindroid for his insightful input.
“Alright… alright… it’s just green paint. Sounds easy enough.” He muttered, still covering his face.
“What’s going on here?” Another voice asked. A lady’s voice. Cole recognized it was Nya, but still covered his face with his hand and kept his eyes closed. “What kind of flirting is this?!” She asked her brother. Cole felt Kai’s ankles tense on his sides.
Oh, some kind of flirting pitiful flirting had just happened a minute or two before Nya arrived Cole thought to himself.
“Huh?! No! I’m- whatever. You’re such a weirdo.” Kai answered to Nya, finally stepping off Cole and sitting on the grass next to him instead. He thanked Nya in his head as he was allowed to enjoy the sun in his face again, not because he hated Kai’s warm presence in any way.
“Anyways. I’m so sorry for that, Cole” Nya apologized for Kai. “My brother simply doesn’t know what a boundary is.”
“‘S cool.” Cole smiled, giving Nya a thumbs up.
“If anyone is familiar with how touchy Kai can be, it’s definitely me out of all people” Cole added in his head.
“Dude, I know Cole’s boundaries, he is my best buddy and he loves when I get my face all close to his!” Kai fenced quickly. Cole couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips as he observed Zane and Nya’s reactions. “Oh my gosh- all of you guys are weirdos!” Kai squeaked, finally standing up from his place next to Cole.
“I’ll get him out of your hair.” Nya said, picking up his brother and carrying him over her head. “I’ll see you guys around.” She smiled at Zane before walking away.
“Don’t check your messages app.” Zane stated in an unreadable tone. Cole finally opened his eyes and squinted at Zane.
“What did you do?” He asked, picking up his phone. He noticed his friend had sent him a photo.
It was a photo of Cole laying down on the grass beneath a bent-down Kai with his feet on both of Cole’s sides.
“Why. Just why.” He asked as he inspected the photo closely. Kai’s flashy, vibrant red tracksuit bounced back the sun rays. He almost seemed to glow against Cole in his navy-blue-black colored outfit.
Zane shrugged. Cole yawned and rested his arms back down on his belly.
“Y’know what. I’m too tired to care. Wake me up if something cool happens.” And the silence lingered for a solid minute before Zane spoke again.
“Wow. Did Kai just take off his shirt?”
“Ha, ha. Nice try dude. I’m not gonna fall for that one.”
“No, I’m serious,” Cole opened his eyes to see Zane’s stunned face, “he’s ripped!” Zane added, completely enthralled with something.
Finally, Cole felt for the bait as he pulled himself up slightly with his forearms. His jaw dropped as he saw Nya chasing a shirtless Kai across and away from campus. He wasn’t sure why it surprised him that much. He’d seen him with sleeveless shirts and compression shirts before at the gym—why did his guts feel funny when Kai made eye contact with… did Kai just wink at him?
“You’re blushing, Cole.” Zane stated.
“You are too! I didn’t know nindroids could blush!”
Thankfully, the next few days passed by smoothly. Oddly enough, Kai had been out of his hair, just like Nya had said, minding his own business for the most part. Cole had the room to himself for most of the day as Kai left early in the morning to go to his classes, then came back late at night. He wondered if he had felt embarrassed about what his sister had said… it would be a little out of character to take her jabs to heart, since the guy seemed to have little to no shame, but it also wouldn’t surprise him that much.
No, he wasn’t starting to miss Kai’s jokes or the way his beefy arms felt when he decided to hug Cole out of nowhere. He did NOT miss waking up in the middle of the night to Kai blasting music either. Despite Zane’s attempts at getting the master of earth to “slip up” and admit something stupid, that last week had genuinely been the most productive he had been since the semester started and he didn’t feel like his brain had been replaced with cotton balls after so many good nights-sleep.
As he laid in bed listening to one of his sadder playlists, he couldn’t help the way his eyes drifted to the red jacket that was hanging on the coat hanger behind the bedroom door. The Earth Ninja remembered the time he’d found Kai sleeping in his bed… “his” as in Cole’s.
It was late, maybe 10 or 11 PM when he made it back to their shared 1 living room-1 bedroom-1 bathroom apartment. If he was completely honest with himself, the memory was a little foggy because he had just done a blunt with Jay an hour or two before taking his ass back home. The memory rolled back in his head like some of the vinyls on his turntable when he was feeling in a good mood; it was probably because he’d been listening to that same sad playlist when he opened the door.
The first thing he tripped with was one of Kai’s shoes near the doormat. His entire world had spun before he realized he wasn’t about to land on his face, but had been able to steady himself with the couch instead.
That silly Fire Ninja with his ridiculous gelled up brown hair was never gonna hear the end of the one and only Earth Ninja when he sued him for almost sending him to the hospital, or maybe even a morgue if he was able to land correctly.
He was feeling so fuzzy and nice that he’d had the decency to stick his ear on the door, knocking, and announcing himself before opening the door to their shared bedroom. God, he did not want to repeat the incident from a few weeks ago, but that was a story for another time. As present-day reminiscing Cole laid on his bed scratching off the bad experience so as to not tarnish the lowkey adorable picture of Kai sprawled on Cole’s bed.
A quick inspection of Kai’s own bed on the other side of the room revealed the obvious: his bed was perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, Kai had washed his sheets that Monday, while Cole had been a little lazy to wash his own for a few weeks already. Something red was on top of the Fire Ninja’s bed, and it was either his backpack, an apple or a huge satisfier but Cole could NOT remember for the life of him. Again, who cares?
When he finally dragged himself to his own bed, ready to shake the guy awake because Kai had definitely NOT taken a shower before wrapping himself in Cole’s comforter…
..of course he was proven wrong as he leaned over and caught a whiff of Kai. No, he was not a creep or a weirdo, he was just about to shake the man like a cocktail, but he smelled so nice like a really nice lavender soap and high Cole didn’t hate it so much.
But Cole was the one who was going to put off showering and was hoping to get some rest (or rot, whatever came first) on his dirty bed and if Kai didn’t scram he’d be forced to take a shower as to not hop on Kai’s clean bed all dirty and filthy and smelling like pot.
He took fistsfuls of his own comforter. “Dude, pleeeease, I wanna go to bed.” Whined the Earth Ninja. To no avail, as his only achievement was flipping Kai over. “I wanna sleeep.”
Kai grumbled awake. “Whaddaywnt.”
“SLEEP!” He cried, shaking Kai more forcefully.
“FINE!” Kai groaned.
The taller man let out a sigh of relief because thank god he would not have to shower at that instant to simply go to bed.
Except.
Kai did not SCRAM. The man who struggled to understand what the words ‘personal space’ meant simply scooted over and faced the wall, leaving Cole some room in HIS BED.
“Dude you are clean and I’m not and my bed is dirty and you should go to your clean beeeed.” Cole whined. The words in his mouth didn’t feel his as he pronounced them. “I don’t wanna shower right now.”
“Bro I don’t care if you smell like a monkey, come here!” Kai groaned, pushing himself up with his forearms to look at Cole. This is when Kai’s eyes lit up as he realized something. “Oh my god, are you high?” He giggled.
“Fuck you…” Cole sighed, though he had no intentions of actually being mean to Kai.
“If I cared about smelling nice I wouldn’t be in your bed in the first place, you silly,” Kai explained, “it smells like you in here so… must with hints of burnt wood and pot.”
“You’re making that up.”
“C’mon, I’ll read you a bedtime story.”
And as the man in red pajama shorts and a blank tank flopped back down to bed and picked up his phone, Cole realized Kai had been serious about the invitation to sleep together. Oh god. His roommate really was a ridiculous man with ridiculous gelled up hair, which wasn’t really gelled up that night, but sticking in all directions and framing his face, because for some strange reason, he’d mentally convinced Cole to let him stay in his bed.
And it was both adorable in the way a puppy would seek the warmth of another puppy or its mom, or if they were two kids with bellies full of s’mores and pizza dozing off under dinosaur and spacemen blankets, but Kai wasn’t a puppy or a kindergartener so why was the image of his fellow Fire Ninja all relaxed and warm in his bed so adorable? How was it that weeks after that, the warmth of Kai’s body next to his still came back to haunt him?
But the memory was fuzzy as he stood up from his bed to open the window and let some of the chilly fall breeze clear his mind. He seriously needed to get his act together. Thinking so much of a guy who was clearly longing for his ex girlfriend was one of the worst ideas he’d ever had.
And maybe he shouldn’t have opened the window that night because dread had pooled right back in his gut instantly after:
1. It was extremely cold outside. Cole had been told before by friends and family that his body temperature was warm most of the time. He’d realized it was one of the reasons why he liked to hang out around Zane so much. The nindroid was like a portable air conditioner friend who also offered moral support, refreshing ice popsicles, and occasional friendly bullying.
He chuckled, as he remembered about someone else who had told him he was “whatever the opposite of a lizard was”. Kai had been walking around campus with him that afternoon when one of the photographers for the college’s social media had asked them if they’d like to take a picture. Kai had jumped in excitement and asked Cole if they could recreate one of those textbook college student pictures.
The DJ hadn’t expected Kai to hop on his back and ride him piggy back style, but he’d been quick to support Kai so he wouldn’t fall. Kai, on the other hand, hadn’t expected Cole to feel so warm. Fire was HIS thing after all, wasn’t Earth supposed to be cool? After all, burying drinks under the sand usually kept them cool for longer.
2. The cold reminded him of the morning after his little sleepover with Kai. He’d woken up drenched in sweat as the Fire Ninja had turned into a toaster oven in his sleep. Sobered up, Cole had the strength to pick Kai up and drop him on his bed. Needless to say, the brunet had been extremely embarrassed after he woke up and realized he had burned the shape of his body in his roommate’s bedsheets. Later that day, he came back to their dorm with a new bedsheet and an apology slice of chocolate cake.
3. Maybe Cole lied when he said the only positive thing of sharing a room with Kai was not having to share their secret ninja identities. After all, whenever the little firecracker would goof something up, he’d come crying before Cole’s feet with a slice of cake and hundreds of high-pitched apologies, which was both delicious and funny at the same time.
The worst thing about Kai being out of his hair was precisely that: he hadn’t had the chance to mess something up to have an excuse to get Cole a cake. The worst worst thing about having Kai as a roommate was the fact that the brunet had no idea how kind and warm and funny and enjoyable to be around he was, and thus, his absence in the dorm rang even louder. It made the silence at least twice as empty.