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It was raining. A lot.
Zane didn't have a problem with it, though. He was far too advanced to not be waterproof, of all things.
However, to him, it was just weather, nothing more.
On the contrary, Cole adored the rain.
It reminded him of simpler times. When his mom was alive and things were still good with his dad.
Lilly would take her son out to splash in puddles and dance around in the falling rain. Not any coordinated dance like what her husband was known for, but something natural and unscripted that brought them just as much joy.
She'd teach him the difference in the soil when it was damp. Even when the ground took a different form under different conditions, that didn't mean it was unreliable. Instead, versatile.
She taught Cole that no matter what he had to face in life, he had the ability to adapt and learn from new experiences rather than fear them.
With the sheer amount of bullshit Cole had to put up with over the years after she passed, he wanted nothing more than for her to see how far he'd come.
So he sat by the window in his room, coffee cup in hand, and watched it pour.
It was early in the day, but Zane had already left their room a while ago to greet the others on the ship and get a feel for today’s plans.
As usual, they were in the air aboard the Destiny’s Bounty, practically just floating around aimlessly, hoping any new information about the Merge or what happened to Master Wu would find its way to them. However, Lloyd assured him that they were following whatever leads they could, even if a lot of them ended up going nowhere. Zane decided it was best to stay hopeful.
“Nya? Are you alright?”
The girl that was surveying their surroundings through the Bounty’s window turned around at the mention of her name and made a face.
“..Y’know just ‘cause it’s raining doesn’t mean I’m upset,” the master of water explained, aware that her emotions could sometimes make an impact on the sky’s plans. After a thoughtful pause, she continued. “I like to let the weather do its own thing. Even though I can control it, I still feel like it’s not exactly mine to mess with.”
Zane pondered this sentiment for a moment before giving a slight nod. Despite what she had said, it still seemed clear to him that the rain occupied her in some way when she stared off into the dark clouds, but maybe she just didn’t realize it.
Walking away, he found that this reminded him of how the rainy season captivated his husband in a similar fashion. When Zane awoke this morning, Cole already had his eyes glued to the outside, so the nindroid had brought him some coffee, assuming he wanted to stay there a while. It didn’t make much sense to him, but part of him wanted to see if he could figure out the reason for it. Did every human feel such a way about the rain, or was there something else he was missing? He never liked being the only one that didn’t understand something.
Now curious, he found Lloyd at the ship's steering wheel and stood beside him, watching his face as he looked out attentively. But obviously, now he was looking at him.
“Hey, Zane. You need something?”
The robot took a short moment to think.
“How does the rain make you feel?” He questioned, staring with the wonder of a child wanting to learn more about the world.
Lloyd tilted his head slightly in confusion. “The rain?”
“Yes.”
“Uhh.. Well, I guess I don't mind it..” Lloyd glanced behind him to check the map before looking back, clearly a little preoccupied with steering, but still willing to talk to Zane. “Why do you ask?”
As the robot tried thinking of an appropriate response, he noticed something moving outside on the deck.
Taking a step forward for a better view, he realized Kai and Jay were out sparring, which brought him to the conclusion that that's what Lloyd was actually looking at.
Lloyd, noticing his shift in attention, filled him in. “You know how Kai's never been a big fan of the water, so he figured it'd be good practice to fight in the rain, with his powers weakened and Jay's—” Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed across the deck, and was soon met with a defeated Kai shouting “CHEATER,” followed by a few dry coughs and a hearty laugh from Jay.
Lloyd shook his head at the spectacle before looking back at Zane with a polite smile, which he took as his cue to continue their conversation.
“Well…” He looked away from his friend and gathered his thoughts before continuing. “I thought that humans were maybe.. drawn to the rain in a way I didn’t understand. But if you are indifferent to it..”
Listening intently, Lloyd hummed in thought.
“Can I ask why you thought that?”
Another pause.
“Cole… he’s always so occupied by it. In fact, I don’t think he’s come out of his room since this morning.. And all he’s doing is looking out the window.”
Trailing water on their way in, Jay and Kai grabbed towels that were set aside for them before the latter started speaking. “You mean at the rain? ..Well, you know when Cole was a ghost he couldn’t touch water, so.. I think that was just one of a lot of reasons that he was so sad when it happened.”
“Oh, well, yeah, but he’s asking why that made him sad,” Jay chimed in.
Kai made a face at him and shrugged. “I mean, I dunno, but I know Morro used to love swimming and uh.. He kinda can’t do that anymore, so...”
As Zane mulled all of this over, the green ninja decided to give him a clearer directive, since he knew he worked better that way.
“Hey, how about you go ask him yourself,” he gently suggested.
Newly enlightened, Zane agreed and headed for Cole’s room. It was odd that he seemingly still hadn’t left.
Thinking more on the matter, Zane had always felt bad about Cole’s time as a ghost, knowing he wasn’t there for him nearly as much as he should’ve been, but they’d talked about it plenty afterwards and accepted that it was something they couldn’t change. Zane made up for it by promising that he’d never again let Cole feel as alone as he did on the Day of the Departed, and Cole’s way of dealing with the realization that he could die again at any moment—whenever he least expected it—was to tell Zane how much he loved him.
Despite all of that, he supposed they hadn’t talked much about how the water made him feel. Cole was always good at getting over his fears, so the nindroid just assumed he’d done the same for this one.
Reaching the room, he knocked as he opened the door to make his presence known.
“Love?”
Still sitting by the window, Cole made a small noise in surprise before swiftly wiping away the tears on his face.
With a new sense of urgency, the nindroid made his way to his husband’s side. “Cole?”
Sitting down, he put a hand on his arm while the earth master just laughed a little at himself. Zane looked him in the eyes, searching for a reason.
“..I’m sorry.” He sniffled and looked elsewhere.
“Sorry? For what?”
“For..” He vaguely gestured to himself. “..Being like this.” A mess, he wanted to say.
Zane lightly shook his head. “Why would you even apologize for that?”
Cole just gave a short, sad smile.
Sighing, Zane adjusted himself and took his husband’s hand in his.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s, uhm..” He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts in order. “It’s nothing serious. Just…”
He gazed out the window as if the scene outside would show him the right words for what he was feeling.
He looked back to Zane. “...Just been thinking about my mom.”
Not quite knowing what to say, but now understanding, Zane gently squeezed his hand.
“The rain.. reminds me of her.”
He continued after a moment.
“When I was real little..” He gave a quick laugh thinking about it. “We used to go out and splash in puddles, dance in the rain— that kind of thing.”
Zane just nodded, listening intently. Cole seemed to relax slightly, finally able to get this out.
“She was the kindest. And the toughest.” He wiped his eyes again, more tears threatening to fall.
Zane pulled his husband in for a half-hug, the both of them staying like that for a while.
Personally, he didn’t have much experience with those things. When he was newly built, he didn’t understand why anyone was brought joy by disturbing water or moving along to an assortment of sounds. It just didn’t make sense to him that such normal things held much significance, which, in a way, made life simpler— easier, even.
But the more he talked to Cole and learned all these little things about him, the more he realized how beautiful it all was. That not everything had to have reason or rhyme.
With this in mind, he couldn’t help but be reminded of his father.
Truthfully, his death hurt a lot more than he liked to admit.. Or, more accurately, he wasn’t sure if it made sense to be so upset about losing someone he didn’t know that well. Dr. Julien came back into his life too late and left too early.
So in that way, he understood what Cole was feeling.
“She'd be really, really proud of you.”
He figured it was something he needed to hear himself, too—that his father would've been overjoyed to see how far he'd come. It made him realize that he never even got to introduce Cole as his boyfriend, let alone his husband… but the other man didn't get to introduce Zane to his mother at all.
The earth ninja just nodded and held on a little tighter.
Dr. Julien, Zane thought, would’ve wanted him to live a normal, happy life like any other, despite how different he seemed from everyone else. After all, he wasn’t made for the purpose of being a robot—but a son. And if he could be a son, then he could be a friend, and even the love of somebody's life. Which, also, wasn’t an overstatement since Cole loved to remind him so much.
It felt nice, being another step closer to understanding the people around him, as well as his own place in the world.
And right now, the only place he needed to be was by Cole's side, watching as the rain finally let up.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.”