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Jay rubbed his eyes as the fluorescent lights flickered a little bit, reminding the ginger of what time it was.
But he couldn't stop now.
---
"Jay?" a voice said, hours later laced with concern. "You okay? It looks like a mad scientist went... well, mad in here."
"Yeah, I'm fine, couldn't be better, it's just that my broken best friend is lying on a table in front of me and if I make one small mistake I might as well just die and-"
"Jay."
"Mhm?"
"...How much sleep did you get last night?"
"Well," Jay responded, thinking back to the last twelve hours, "I dozed off a couple times while looking at schematics of Zane's wiring sooooo I'd say... maybe fifteen to twenty minutes total?" Kai just gazed at the ginger in a mix of admiration and questioning as to how this man is still sane and going.
Well... scratch the sane part.
"Wow, okay, nope. You're getting sleep either by yourself, or I will get Cole and Nya in here to drag you to your bed. This is a warning, Jay Walker," Kai scolded, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorway.
Jay just waved a hand in the brunette's direction and dismissively replied, "Yeah, yeah, I'll go to bed in a bit, just give me another five minutes. Or hours." Jay said that last part under his breath, as he was not in the mood for another lecture from Kai. A sigh was heard from the doorway before a small slam as the door was shut, and the master of lightning was thrown back into his creepy hospital-surgery-room-esque environment.
---
Jay fumbled with a small chip he had found lodged in Zane's power supply. 'This is it, I just know it.' He dropped it onto a small cloth before turning his friend around onto their stomach to check the back of their head.
Opening up the panel, the ginger was greeted with sparks aplenty, but thankfully nothing seemed to be broken beyond repair. He grabbed a few spare wires and began to replace them, being ever so cautious with his friend's inner workings. After all, Zane was pretty advanced, even for their time. And plus, Jay would quite literally punish himself in the worst ways possible if he let something happen to the ice elemental.
---
Jay knew it had been hours, but finally, he was able to shut Zane's head panel and slouch back in his chair, sighing. Next was to just try and turn them on.
For the fourth time in the past week.
Jay didn't know what he would do if Zane couldn't turn on.
Probably kill himself.
Taking a deep breath, Jay finally opened the panel where the power settings were and began to work once more.
---
Jay had not slept in what felt like -- and what probably was -- days. How could he? His friend was lying on a table in front of him, basically dead until Jay got his fucking act together and fixed them!
The blue ninja inhaled and exhaled. 'Just like what Zane would tell me to do if they were here,' he chuckled, the first in a while, and pressed the button labeled "ACTIVATE" before plugging in a few wires, and sitting back in a chair to wait for Zane's system diagnostics o be complete before they could fully turn on.
Before he knew it, however, Jay was fast asleep on the chair he was sitting in, catching up on the hours of missed sleep caused by endless caffeine.
---
Jay was awoken by whirring and clicking coming from in front of him. He bolted upright out of the chair, and nearly fell over scrambling to the table when he realized that the diagnostics were done.
"Zane?" he asked, checking for any signs of consciousness inside the nindroid. Another whirring sound was heard, and then-
"Jay?" a robotic voice said, laced with confusion. "What am I doing here? Last I remember we were in Jamanakai Village, and I..." they trailed off, coming to the realization of what happened. "How long have I been here?"
"A week, Zane," Jay admitted.
"First Master..."
"B-but it's okay! I fixed you up, and now you're all better!" Zane looked over at their friend before eyeing him up and down with scanners.
"Jay, be honest with me," Zane stated. "Your vital signs show extreme sleep deprivation, fatigue, and starvation. What are you not telling me?"
"Zane, it's fine, I swear-"
"No, it is not fine, and neither are you."
Jay sighed. He grabbed another chair--a soft one--for Zane to sit on instead of the cold, metal table. The ginger then sat down in his own chair, and told the other what he had been doing for the past week in order to get to this point of them being awake.
"...so yeah. I'm probably depressed and suicidal now, but," Jay added, like any of this was good, "it was all worth it! Because you're awake now! Right?" Zane just looked at their friend in disbelief. "...right?"
"Jay..." Zane trailed off, not even knowing what to say in this situation, which was an odd feeling. They wanted to protect Jay's feelings, but another part of them was screaming to just tell him the truth: that this was bad and he needed to stop, now. But they just... couldn't. So, the master of Ice said the first thing that came to their processors. "It hurts to see you like this. Devoid of sleep, food, and your bodily functions are under extreme fatigue. It's a wonder you haven't collapsed already. And... and I feel guilty because you were just doing it to help me." Without a word or a reply, Jay stood up, walked over to his friend, and wrapped them in a tight hug.
Zane just hugged back, not saying anything else.
"It was because I love you, you stupid nindroid, alright?" Jay whispered, tears falling down from his eyes, the most emotion he's shown in the past week. "And I just couldn't bear to lose you. Call me stupid, call me childish, say I don't mean it, but I do."
"Jay?"
"Mhm?"
"I love you too."
"Good."