Undeniable Treasure | Ninjago Bruise

10

He followed Jay to his room and put his foot in the way, stopping Jay from slamming his door closed.

"I need to be alone," Jay told him, tears in his eyes.

"Jay, please," Cole told him, worry in his voice.

"Cole, leave me alone," Jay replied, trying his best to close the door.

"I'm not gonna do that," Cole stated, "Just let me in, okay?"

"I can't," Jay told him, "Please, Cole, I'm begging."

"You aren't okay and I'm not gonna leave you like this. You need someone there for you right now. It's just like before, I need to make sure you're okay before I even think about leaving you alone," Cole explained.

"I'm fine," Jay responded.

"No you aren't," Cole sighed, "Please just talk to me, Jay. At least let me be there for you. I'm your best friend."

Cole hated seeing Jay like this. He'd grown so close with the happy, joyful, positive side of Jay and it hurt so much to see him upset. The thought of him hurting made him shiver. He wasn't going anywhere until he knew that Jay was 100% okay. Right now, he was at 10%, maybe 20% max.

Jay, on the other hand, was confused himself. He couldn't quite comprehend what he'd just done. He'd made himself a promise that he wouldn't let Nya out of his life again but now he had and... he didn't know why. But there was that part of him telling him to break up with her and he listened to it. But again... he didn't know why. He wanted to talk to Cole about it but his head was telling him to not let him in. If he'd spent any more time with Cole when he was like this... a complete wreck... then he may have ended up falling head over his heels for his best friend. But was that really a bad thing?

He definitely was feeling weird around Cole now, that's for sure.

"Jay," Cole distracted him from his thoughts, "Please just let me help."

But no matter how hard he tried to get Cole to go, he knew he wouldn't win. The master of earth wasn't going to leave until he got his way. The only thing he could do was give in.

Jay let go of the door and wandered into the room properly, sitting on the tidied bed. He heard the door creak open and then close quietly but he didn't want to look up. He didn't want to think about it. He placed his head in his hands and let everything out. The tears kept falling and falling and he didn't even remember the fact that Cole was in the room with him until he felt the bed go down beside him and strong arms wrap around him.

"It's gonna be okay, I promise," Cole's soft voice spoke.

It was soothing. Having Cole next to him, comforting him... it made everything so much better. It's like all his pain and suffering had disappeared, even if it was for just a moment. That's what he wanted his everyday life to be like.

Jay dropped his arms into his lap and cried into Cole's chest, not caring what he'd think of him. He was so lucky to have Cole in his life. Why had it taken him so long to realise it?

All those years... All those fights... All those missions... They'd all led up to this. Their friendship. But it wasn't just some random friendship you see in the movies. This was special. And to be honest... was it even a friendship or was it so much more?

Cole had always been there for Jay. He'd always put Jay before himself. He'd always protected him. Jay had been blinded. He'd been manipulated by Nya to even notice his amazing best friend. Cole was so much better than Nya ever was.

Cole was strong and kind and caring and... Jay was stupid. Why did Cole still care about him after all those years? Why did he still want Jay even though he'd let him down so many times? It made no sense.