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“I was abandoned by my parents too!” Jay shouted to Unagami, the hesitation in his tone almost unnoticeable.
Jay sat on his bed, holding a small locket in the palm of his hands.
He stared at that locket, the letter J engraved in it.
His stomach growled.
How long has it been since he last ate?
Probably a long time.
A knock on the door made him look up.
“Jay? Are you hungry? Dinner is ready.” Nya’s voice carried into the room, filling Jay with a warmth he didn’t realize he missed.
“Oh,” he paused to clear his throat, “yeah, sure! I’ll be there in a second.”
“Okay!” Nya spoke quickly. “I’ll make you a plate.”
Oh, how he loved his yang.
She was the greatest person he had ever met.
When she got cubed… He didn’t like thinking about it.
-
After stowing the locket away, he made his way down the hall to the dining room, where everyone was already sitting and eating.
Nya looked up at him and smiled, waving him over to the seat next to her.
When he sat down, he stared at the plate Nya had so kindly made him.
“I got you some ramen since I know it’s your favorite.”
Jay smiled at his yang.
“It’s perfect.”
He gave her a small kiss on the cheek, making her blush.
Kai groaned from across the table.
“Will you lovebirds take that somewhere else?”
Jay smirked.
“What if I took it to the bedroom?”
Kai slammed his fist on the table, letting out a small growl.
Cole, who had been drinking soda, spit it out all over his plate.
“MY DINNER!” He screeched, trying to savor the now soggy eggs on his plate.
Lloyd snickered, while Zane merely continued on with his eating, ignoring the chaos surrounding him.
“Say that to my face, and I will kill you, Jay Walker.”
“I was abandoned by my parents too!”
Jay’s smile faltered at the small memory. Was it even called a memory if it had happened merely one day ago?
“Jay, are you okay?” Nya murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Jay tensed momentarily, before remembering that it was his yang, and he had nothing to fear.
“Yeah, sorry.” He looked down at his plate. “I was just thinking about… something.”
Nya frowned, but turned back to her plate, seemingly done with the conversation.
Jay breathed a muted sigh of relief, gazing at the ramen on his plate.
He had expected his stomach to leap for joy at the sight of food, but it didn’t.
Instead it churned, and Jay suddenly felt extremely nauseous.
“Jay?” A voice broke through the odd silence.
He looked up at Nya.
“Hmm?” He hummed in response, a confused expression on his face.
“Are you gonna eat?” Nya eyed his plate, which was untouched.
Shit.
He didn’t want to make Nya feel like she had made him a plate for no reason, but… he just couldn’t eat.
His stomach felt sick.
“Oh, y-yeah. Sorry, I was just… thinking about yesterday.”
Nya gave him a concerned stare.
“Well, you should eat, you’ve been through a lot.”
Jay nodded, looking around to see that everyone else was staring at him, as if egging him on.
He lifted the ramen to his mouth, chewing and swallowing it quickly.
His stomach churned.
He continued eating, however, until half of his plate was finished.
By then, everyone else had finished and was clearing their plates.
He followed in suit, quietly dumping the leftover noodles into the trashcan before putting his plate in the dishwasher.
“Jay, you okay?” Cole’s voice from behind him made Jay jump, almost kicking Cole in the shins.
“Holy shnizzle, you scared me.” Jay sighed in relief.
“You should never swear, it’s a sign of weak verbal skills!”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?” He repeated, more firm this time.
Jay chuckled. “Heh, of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You watched all of us except for Zane get cubed, Jay.” Cole deadpanned.
Jay shifted on his feet.
“Well, when you put it that way…”
Cole put a hand on Jay’s shoulder.
“You know we’re here for you, zaptrap,” he smiled. “You can tell us anything.”
Jay looked down at his feet. He felt nauseous again.
“I know…”
He pulled away.
“But I’m fine, Cole. I’d tell you if something was wrong.”
Cole looked unsure, but simply nodded.
“Okay. But you have to tell us if something's wrong, okay?”
Jay smiled.
“Of course I will, cake muncher.”
He was quick to run off, ignoring the shouts behind him.
“My body is a temple!”
The nausea in his stomach had risen to his throat, and he found himself running to the bathroom.
Jay quickly shut the door, hunching over the toilet as the contents from dinner came spilling out of him.
By the time he was done, he was out of breath and his face was red.
He leaned on the bathtub side, sighing in relief as the cold surface touched his skin.
Jay hadn’t even noticed that the door had opened until a voice cut through the air.
“Jay? Oh, shit!”
Through blurry vision, Jay looked up to see a light-blue blob in front of him.
“Jay, you gotta talk to me, okay?”
Now that the blob was closer, Jay realized who it was.
“Nya?” He coughed out, his throat burning.
Nya let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it’s me. Hey, listen, just stay here. I’m going to get Zane.”
Jay shot up. “No! Don’t get… don’t get Zane.” He sank back down, his head pounding.
“Jay, I have to. He can help more than I can.”
Jay shuddered.
“Ugh, this is all my fault.” He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.
Nya gasped. “Jay, no it’s not. You saved us, Jay. You saved us all!”
Jay opened his watery eyes, staring at Nya as if she had just spoken the worst lie.
“Then why does it feel like I did all of this?” He whispered.
Nya wrapped her arms around him.
“I don’t know, Jay. But we’re gonna get you help. I promise.”
Jay sniffled.
“I love you so much, Nya. You’re amazing.”
Nya laughed wetly.
“I love you too, blue jay.”