Jaya Appreciation Club!

Braided Bonds

"There you go! You've got it!" Nya let go of Jay's hands and he started to braid the hair on the doll himself. She grinned and watched as he stuck out his tongue and scrunched his nose up in that cute way that reminded her of a bunny. "Almost done." She'd been teaching him how to braid the past few days and he was doing pretty well, honestly.

She never would've thought he wanted to, but here they were. She remembered the day he asked her to teach him. She still smiled thinking about it.

~~~

'Just a simple side braid. Nothing fancy. At least this one I can do by myself.' Nya told herself and started brushing through her dark locks. She started the braid and was humming to herself while she worked through the tangles that managed to escape the brush.

"Hey, Nya, have you seen- What are you doing with your hair?" Jay came through the doorway and immediately noticed Nya messing with her hair. He never got to see her do it properly since it was usually up in a ponytail after she let it grow out so much.

"Hmm? Oh. Braiding it, I guess. I don't know if I like it though." Nya let go of the ends and it fell back over her shoulder to untwist. "It just... doesn't feel very much like a ninja-y hairstyle, you know? Well, not that you'd know, but-"

"I like it." Came Jay's immediate response. He walked over and took the ends, then put them back over her shoulder so they could be seen in the mirror. "Why don't you finish it? I've never seen you in a braid before."

Nya took the half-done braid and smiled softly. "Yeah. Sure." She could see him continue to smile in the mirror while she smoothed out her hair again and parted it, then separated it and started the braiding over.

"Wait, wait, wait. How do you do that so fast?" She glanced over to see Jay's confused face. She hadn't realized he'd been studying that close.

"It's not hard. I just haven't done it in a long time." She shrugged and Jay nodded slowly. He watched in fascination as she reached the end of her hair and tied it off, then flipped it over her shoulder. "What do you think?" She asked. She wasn't sure if this style made her look too girly. Her hair hadn't been this long in ages.

"Can I do that?" Jay's question surprised her and she laughed.

"I mean, you might need more hair to do that on yourself." Jay laughed too but shook his head.

"No, no. I mean do it on you! Can you teach me?"

"Oh." She'd never thought about it before. "Sure, I guess. I'm a little rusty though." Jay shrugged. He didn't care. And so began the braiding lessons.

~~~

So that's how they got here, sitting on the main room floor with dolls, two weeks later. Jay was a marvelous student, Nya thought with a smile. He'd gotten the basic braid after a few days of trial and error. She still laughed about how hard it was for his quick, nimble fingers to grasp the concept of crossing 3 strands of hair over and over again.

"There! A French braid! I think..." Jay turned his doll towards Nya so she could see. She'd helped get his hands in place so he could start since he'd never done a French by himself before.

"That's great! Besides the bumps. But they'll go away with practice." It wasn't a 10/10 braid, but it was much better than her own first attempt at a French braid.

"Thanks! I'm pretty proud of it, myself." Jay grinned and started to detangle the doll's hair. He noticed Nya's attempt to stifle a yawn and smiled gently. "Hey, if you're tired, you can take a nap on the couch. I'll let the others know not to bother us."

She shrugged tiredly. A nap sounded good. "Yeah, okay. Just make sure you come back soon." She crawled onto the couch and felt a light kiss pressed to her forehead before she fell asleep.

~~~

Who-knows-how-long later, Nya woke up to a gentle tugging on her head. Her first thought was, "Who is it?!"

"Shh. Stop fussing. I'm just braiding your hair." Jay whispered. Nya relaxed and closed her eyes again. She was laying on her side facing towards the back of the couch, so she couldn't see much anyway.

"Finished." Jay gently tugged one more time on her hair to make sure it would stay and got up from his knees to let her get off the couch. She rolled over and sat up, then he sat next to her. She reached up and felt the back of her head and her eyes widened.

"Are... are these flowers?" She felt the beginnings of a French braid but right below that were soft clumps. Jay nodded and smiled sheepishly, the beginnings of a blush on his cheeks.

"Daisies. I found them outside. Do you like it?" He asked hopefully.

"They're gorgeous! I don't even have to see it to love it!" Nya grinned and hugged him tightly. He hugged back and smiled.

"You know I have to do yours now too, right?" She whispered in his ear. Oddly enough, Jay was excited.

"Can you do it now?" He asked and she laughed, then pulled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Sure, little bluejay." That's how the others found them an hour later, braids galore in Jay's curls and the couple laughing. Flower petals were spread all around the room and eventually, everyone joined in and got a flower crown or a braid placed atop their heads. Braided bonds were hard to break!