Jaya Appreciation Club!

{Repost} Sapphires and Rubies: Our Story

{Alright, so since this is a Jaya oneshot I've written, I'll repost it here in this book. The original book will still be up, but I'll repost this here in case anyone has ever missed that one before!}

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"Nya!" I yell as I pop Elf into the DVD player. "Hurry! It's gonna start soon!"
"Jay, hold on! I'm going as fast as I can... Give me a hand?" She called back as she staggered through the doorway with a mile-high stack of presents, gifts, and goodies galore. I rush over to help her and take the top half of the gift stack as I peck her on the cheek. I notice Kai glare in my direction but choose to ignore it. It's Christmas Eve after all!

"Finally!" Cole grumbles good-naturedly in between chews of his takeout from Master Chen's Noodle Shop. "My movie snacks are almost out already!"
"Your snacks are always out, big guy." Kai shoots at Cole with a smirk, who sends back a bigger smirk accompanied by some flying noodles.
"Hey! Watch the hair!" Kai's arms go up in defense to protect his porcupine mane.

"Well, let's get started! As you guys know, we are about to do our 6th Annual Christmas Swap. Remember the rules!
Number 1- no pranks with them until tomorrow-" she looks at Kai and Lloyd,
"Number 2- nothing living-" she glares at Cole
"And number 3- nothing that explodes when you open it." And smirks at me with arms crossed. "Got it? The consequences, as you remember, are severe." We all nod. I don't want to revisit when I broke the "No exploding" rule, and I shiver.
Coming back to the present (haha, get it?), Nya has read the first name from the pile of presents. "Kai you're first! I think this one has your name..."

~le time skip~

After almost everyone had given their gifts, there were only two bags left- a blue one with lightning bolts on it, and a scarlet one with raindrops.

"Looks like there's only two left!" Nya unfolds the tag on the blue one and reads my name. "Here's yours, Jay!" I rip out the tissue paper and see an issue of the Fritz Donnegan comic series- "Starfarer: the Last Adventurer: Issue 97-Vintage! Signed!" It read on the front.

"No way! Really?! Thanks!" I shriek as I gently tear off the protective wrapping and thumb through, smelling that new-book smell only true fans can appreciate. I noticed a note in the bottom that had the Samurai X logo on it, and I immediately know who sent me this gift. I smile in Nya's direction as she pulls out the final present.

"And... this one is mine!" Nya exclaims as she reads off the final name. She lifts the tissue paper out of the bag and gasps, hands to her mouth. "It's beautiful!" She extracts a long, delicate chain studded with rubies and sapphires out of the bag and holds it up to the light. She turns over the largest stone at the bottom- a blood ruby melded together with a shining sapphire- and I know what she's looking at. I had chipped both of our names into the jewels before I had placed it in the bag earlier, and I could tell she knew it was my handiwork.

She smiled at me as I grinned at her and Kai coughed. "So, we know you guys got each other for Not-So-Secret Santa, but who got each of us? Are you gonna stop this mush fest or will I have to find that list myself?" She rolls her eyes and puts the necklace back into the bag, handing Kai a piece of paper with names scrawled on it. He snatches it from her and scans it.

"I knew it!" He exclaims as he passes the list around the room. Nya quickly gets up from the floor and hugs me for an instant before letting go.

"Thank you Jay. I love it." She whispers before she lets go. I hug back and say the same. She takes both her bag and mine to the table and sets them next to each other. The excitement of Secret Santa over, Zane switches on the movie as it turns to the menu screen.

"Hey Nya, uh, wanna sit with me?" I ask as I pull a blanket from the giant stack in front of the coffee table. "There's lots of room!" "Dumb move!" I tell myself. "That was so awkward! What if she doesn't-"

"Of course!" She chirps as she plops herself next to me on the couch. She grabs one corner of the blanket I have as I grab the other and spread it over the both of us. She snuggles closer to my shoulder as the opening credits play and I sneak my arm behind her head to give her a place to lay it. Cole winks at me as he sees that happen and I blush and look away, leaning my head a little on top of hers.

I can't believe Cole and I almost became total enemies over Nya. I know this sounds selfish, but I'm glad she chose me. I mean, not that I want Cole to be unhappy, but I saw her reflection with me in the cave for a reason...right? Anyway, I'm so glad there's no hard feelings now. I don't think I could live with myself if I caused our little family to split over this.

...

As the movie progresses, everyone gets more sleepy and dozes off where they sleep. Well, everyone but me. Nya's breathing slowly starts to even out about an hour after it starts, and her head slips from my head, to my chest, to my lap. I shift the blanket to cover her as it slips off and arrange myself so her neck isn't craned awkwardly. The movie ends, and she starts to stir.

"Jay?" She mumbled sleepily, eyes cracking open.
"Yes?" I answer, not sure if she's really awake.
"Kiss me." She says. I'm a little surprised at this, but definitely not in a bad way. She slowly sits up and repeats herself with more authority. "Kiss me." So I do.

My lips meet hers and I feel ecstatic. If this is heaven, don't let me come back to earth! My hand reaches up to tangle in her hair and pull it from its ponytail. Her hands touch my face and run through my auburn curls. We pull apart after a few seconds, blushing and out of breath. I pull her face to mine and our foreheads meet.

"I love you so much." I whisper to her. "I know it so much." She returns with a smile I can barely see in the flickering light of the end credits. I reach to the table and pull out her necklace.

"You know why I gave you this?" I ask her. "Because I wanted you to know how much I think about you. Every single pair of stones on this chain represents a year I've loved you. They get bigger as you go down, see? To represent my love for you growing. See the 5 rubies on the left, 5 sapphires on the right, and 1 big mixed stone at the bottom? The ruby is you, the sapphire is me, and the bottom one is us together. If you'll have me that is."

I turn the biggest stone over and pop a latch open. It opens to reveal a sapphire-and-ruby studded ring with a diamond in the center. I pull it out and get down on my knee to present it to her. Her hands went to her mouth and her eyes started watering.

"Nya Smith, will you make me the happiest man in the history of Ninjago and be my wife someday?" She nods, still crying, and slips the ring on her finger. "Oh yes! Oh Jay!" She almost tackles me in a hug that lands me on top of Lloyd, who had fallen asleep right in front of the TV. We giggle and kiss again and again, oblivious to the guys waking up around us. I held her in my arms as I cuddle her, still on the floor wrapped in a blanket that we dragged down with us.

The lights come on and I hear Kai yell, "What's happening?" When he saw us. He caught sight of the jewels on her finger and I could hear the gears turning in his brain before it clicked. His jaw dropped and eyes went wide before yelling, "MY SISTER IS ENGAGED TO HIM?!" That effectively woke up the other guys very quickly and they gathered around us and peppered us with congratulations,  questions, and other comments.

After a minute or so of this, Nya grabbed my hand and dragged us to her room, which was separate from the common bedroom the rest of us guys shared.

"Let's just sleep here tonight, okay?" She told me, sitting down on the edge of the bed. I shrugged and grinned.

"Fine by me." I told her as I locked the door to make sure the guys didn't wake us up in the middle of the night. We crawled under the covers in our pjs and snuggled together, with only a few kisses before she fell asleep with a smile. "Merry Christmas Nya." I whispered just before falling asleep with a smile too.

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{This is my first Jaya oneshot I ever wrote, so the style is different than my more modern work. Thanks for all the love on this book so far lovelies! ☺️}