Work Text:
Cleaning up Ninjago City–sorry, New Ninjago City–had been a real pain in the hiney, and so was setting up the brand-spankin’-new Wu’s Academy. But finally, Jay had finished all of the tasks the Sensei needed of him, and all that was left to do was wait for the Academy to open.
A day off! What sweet music to his ears.
No sunrise exercises, no running around whacking bad guys …
The next morning, Jay remembered ruefully: Oh yeah. I never slept in late even before I became a ninja.
No matter. The sun was just starting to peek through the curtains, promising the kind of bright, warm day he was used to in the Sea of Sands. He had all day to make the best of! He just had to figure out what to do with it. That would certainly be easy; he always had ideas bouncing around in his head between battles, or prodding behind his eyes at night when he was trying to sleep.
Or so he’d thought. By the time he settled on something to do, Jay had already eaten breakfast (a tepid black coffee cut with cream, plus some leftover congee with Kai’s name on it). But there was still plenty of time—and inventing to do while he still had morning energy!
All the newfangled, fancy ideas scattered around his workbench were a little intimidating to start with after being away for so long, so Jay started with something simple: iterating on his trusty gliders. They worked consistently, and he was glad of that, but the work of the up-and-coming tech genius Cyrus Borg was inspiring him to make it better. He could make it sleeker, more modern and sturdy! What if he tried to make the wings from panels of sheet metal? Could they be retractable for easy portability?
The hours ticked by on the clock, and the bright midday sunbeams creeping across his blueprints jolted Jay back into the world. I’ve spent all this time brainstorming and coming up with big ideas, but I haven’t even decided what I’m gonna build! he realized abruptly. There’s no way I can finish this today …
With a groan, Jay moved his chair back to get up and rubbed at his eyes, sore from squinting. So inventing hadn’t worked out. That was okay, he was still a man of many hobbies! He had been meaning to refine some of his poetry drafts for Nya—
Jay’s stomach grumbled as loud as one of Wisp’s snores.
Let’s start that after I get some lunch. I can smell Misako’s cooking!
After slurping up the light, brothy noodles Misako had fixed everyone, Jay got right back to work. He’d really been hoping to ask Nya out again before Wu had them all tied up being teachers, and someone as cool as her deserved a poem that would really bring the “Wow!” factor. Something to really knock her socks off. She said she liked him best when he was himself, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to impress!
The lead left sharp-scented grey streaks as it rubbed onto his fingers. Cross out a word there, erase a whole stanza there … Nothing was flowing smoothly. Flowery and romantic poetry was far too dramatic for tough, practical Nya. Jay shuddered at the image of her rolling her eyes as he prattled on in purple prose.
No, definitely shouldn’t go that way.
But concise rhyme schemes and numbered stanzas were too formulaic. A toddler filling in blanks could have written a poem like that! No good. Even though Jay wracked his brain, his wit and wordplay had utterly abandoned him in his time of need.
Harrumph.
“I still have a few days before the Academy is up and running,” Jay tried to console himself. I can still put together something just right before them! Until then, though, it might have been time for something else.
Jay looked anxiously out the window. It was well in the afternoon.
Miserably, Jay looked at the ambitious list of hobbies he’d scrawled down in the morning. There was still model building he could work on?
Yeah! He could work on the vintage motorcycle model he’d been working on. It was a birthday gift for his Pa. If Jay got it done with plenty of time to spare, he wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting a gift the day of. He could wrap up the day feeling accomplished.
With newfound pep in his step, Jay got to work, bringing out the in-progress model, the remaining parts, the glue and the tools to put it all together. The first hour got off to a great start, with the back half of the motorcyle becoming a recognizable shape. Then a screw went in crooked. Then he ripped one of the lightning decal stickers. Jay decided after he bent a wheel spoke clean out that there was no salvaging his building skills today.
“Drat it all,” he finally snapped, tossing his toolkit against the wall. It made a sad little klink before hitting the floor, cloaked in evening shadow. “Just why can’t I get anything done today? I used to be the master of so many things, and now I can’t even dabble in one!”
As if the rest of the day couldn’t get any worse, there was a knock on Jay’s door. Just great!
Swiping at the corners of his eyes, Jay beckoned them in, and Cole opened the door.
“Hi, Jay. Everything good?”
Cole must have seen the look on Jay’s face and the abandoned model building kit. An understanding look came over his face. (Jay knew that face very well. It got annoying when Cole could understand the things Jay didn’t want to talk about.)
“Oh."
“What do you want?” Jay didn’t mean to be so blunt, but couldn’t Cole see he had sulking to do on his day off?
Cole cut to the chase. “I didn’t mean to overhear you. But I’ve been having a hard time trying to use my day off, too. I couldn’t finish one drawing today.”
He held an open notepad in front of Jay, chuckling.
“Pretty terrible, right?”
Cole must have tried to draw a candid scene of Misako cooking, but the pose had ended up like her spine wasn’t shaped right. Jay couldn’t help his snort.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But this ninja business is pretty exhausting. Cut yourself some slack,” Cole said. “Kai, Zane, and I need a fourth player for Chance of Precipitation. Wanna join?”
Jay considered responding that Cole’s feet smelled like funky cheese, or something equally as mean. But really, he was upset because days off were for having fun, and none of his hobbies had gone anywhere.
Although, it had been kind of fun to work on them …
Maybe Cole was right, and a few rounds of video games were the perfect way to relax until bedtime.
“Y’know what? Count me in!"