Ninjago Bruise One Shots

Restless Velvet

Lack of sleep somehow makes you do strange things. Cole never expected that he'd wake up at 2am, tired but unable to get comfy, to get out of bed and go to the store. Actually, it was probably more surprising that the store was open at such an early time. Although if it hadn't been for the master of earth's crazy obsession with his best friend, he likely would've still been laying there waiting to drift off.

"Are you okay? You've seemed really distant lately," the darker haired boy speaks softly, leaning towards his best friend with a worried expression.

The smaller boy nods, a look of exhaustion upon his face, "just tired, I guess. Missions have been pretty stressful lately."

"Yeah.." Cole sighs.

It hadn't been long since the ninja had defeated Morro and his army. It proved to be much more difficult than imagined and no matter how much rest the team seemed to get afterwards, they still ached. For some reason, however, Jay was taking longer to recover than everyone else, not physically but rather mentally. Everytime Cole asked about it, the lightning master only played it off as getting little sleep, but he wasn't convinced in the slightest.

"I'm sure you'll get a good night's sleep tonight, right?" Cole shot him a reassuring smile.

Jay nods, a lack of enthusiasm as a yawn escapes his mouth.

"Maybe."

The two had been practically best friends since their fight at the Tournament of Elements. They'd been separable. Except as of recent, Cole noticed Jay was growing a little distant. Not only did he seem tired but also as if he was trying to avoid the earth elemental entirely. It was unclear whether his avoidance had something to do with his exhaustion but both were worrying Cole greatly.

"If you wanna talk about anything, I'm always here, zaptrap," Cole gives him yet another irresistible grin, which Jay tries his best to ignore.

"Thanks."

Jay's reply leaves them both in silence for a good few minutes, only starting to concern Cole more. 'Zaptrap' had never been this quiet before, at least not since they couldn't string together a conversation without arguing. Had Cole done something wrong?

Only what Cole didn't know was that Jay had perfectly good reasoning as to why he was trying to avoid his best friend.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Cole speaks up, clearing his throat slightly.

"I dunno. What do you wanna talk about?"

Silence again.

Neither of them meant to fuel the already frustrating awkward tension. What was pissing Cole off the most, however, was that Jay was barely trying to keep the conversation going. He didn't seem interested at all, and that may have been influencing the earth ninja's willingness to stay at the kitchen counter. The only problem would be that if he left the table, it'd only make things worse between them.

"Do you know what I'm craving lately?" Cole asks.

Jay shrugs, keeping his eyes off the boy sat opposite.

"Ready salted pringles," he adds.

The lightning master's head shoots up, a frown but slightly disgusted look upon his freckled face, "Seriously? That is the most boring flavour."

Cole laughs, "It's the best! It's simple but effective."

"If you say so.."

"Alright, Mr Judgy, what have you been craving lately, huh?" Cole crosses his arms.