Transgender Jay : A Ninjago Story

57 - Hostility

Jay slammed his bedroom door closed, and practically threw himself onto the bed. His blood boiled with anger he hadn't felt in a long time, and on top of that, had to fight back tears. Waves of tears that crashed against his tightly shut eyes like the ocean against a cliff.

What... was... that guy's, problem? Why the hell would he do that?

Had he really stooped so low, become so sour and petty and cruel to go out of his way to cause problems?

Yes, Kai had been pretty damn horrible recently, especially to him but... Jay had never thought that he'd go as far as to take his binder.

Was it possible to feel betrayed when almost all trust had already been lost?

The room felt as if it had dropped ten degrees, and the atmosphere was stale and tense. All the initial motivation from when he first woke up had disappeared, and he couldn't be bothered to even collect the rest of his clothes from the dryer.

What a way to start off the day.

———

Cole and Zane washed up together after breakfast, partially out of respect for keeping Jay's place tidy, and partially to keep themselves away from the other volatile individuals in the house.

"I had half a mind to make Kai wash up his own plate." Zane sighed, passing a handful of clean knives and forks to Cole to dry them with a tea towel.

Cole stayed quiet, the scraping of metal on metal filling the space until Zane broke it again.

"... why do you think he did such a thing?"

He just shrugged, not knowing how to answer. Stealing Jay's binder was an absolutely abhorrent thing to do, the lowest of the low to take an important piece of properly from somebody who should have been called a friend.

But despite how terrible he felt for thinking it... a nagging itch at the back of his head kept saying that maybe... just maybe... forcibly removing his binder was the only way to stop him from wearing it. From slowly damaging his lungs more and more each day, especially with the condition that Zane brought to light. Cole respected his bodily autonomy, and would never dream of forcing him to do something that would hurt him so deeply, though the concerns were all still there.

"... I don't know."

"It feels like many of Kai's actions seem to be without logic lately."

"... yeah..."

They worked through the load slowly but steadily, in comfortable and mutual quiet from that point. Sponge squeaking against the plates, clacking of cutlery, low breathing, and oddly... whirring from Zane's side. He was clearly deep in thoughts of some kind.

Cole wanted to ask, though couldn't bring himself to.

They finished up and Zane drained the water, sadly watching it swirl down the pipe, disappearing. What to do now?

Zane didn't know. No new activities sprung to mind, so when Cole made a decision for himself, Zane - secretly - was almost relieved.

"... I'm gonna go talk to him." Cole spoke.

"... to Kai?"

"What? God no."

Cole knew as a fact that if he came face to face with Kai, he'd have more than just words to embody his distaste. Better to avoid him entirely than start even more problems than there already were.

"... it is good that I left him a plate of food then. Can you take it up?" Zane asked.

"Sure. Anything else?"