say you like me. || ninjago drabbles

Greetings

Requester: merpy-merms (that be meee)
Pairing: Cole × Kai
Notes: heey look i posted 👌

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There's a Goomy perched on his head.

Kai isn't sure if he cares, or if he even notices with how his eyes are downcast, stuck hard on the pad of paper in his lap, scribbling and scratching away with deft strokes of his pencil, shoulders bundled and hunched over his project. He never once spares a glance away, even as the goopy pokemon wriggles and cooes with every scribble, or when Kai takes a seat at the edge of the bench and exchanges a glance with Litten, who sits, quiet, on his shoulder.

He debates if he should even mention the obvious, but ultimately goes for it after three long beats of one-sided, awkward silence. "You...You know there's a Goomy on your head, right?"

"Yeah." The response is quicker than he expects, but the boy still doesn't look up. "He's mine though."

Obviously. That explains his nonchalance. Kai nods, more or less to himself, and crosses his legs at the ankle, watching the soft brushes of the pencil glide across the paper with subtle glances, twiddling his thumbs idely. By the looks of it, that kid's good — great, even. Better than he'll ever be and ever get. He can't see it all that well with how he's trying to watch and how much distance is between them, but there's a loose circle with antennae, long and short, stretching out from the top; it bares circles on either side and it's split in half — no, that's a smile. He's no expert, but it looks like...

"You're drawing Goomy," Kai relishes in a whisper, as to not disturb him. The boy's pencil flips in his hand, fumbling easily in his fingers, and erasers something he can't see on his paper. Then, brown eyes glance up, and his small body follows, flipping pages so it shuts.

"Mh-hm," he mumbles. There're bags under his eyes, or maybe it's just eyeliner. He doesn't know. "Messed up a little, though. It's not your fault; Glowworm moved and some goop got on my nose." He motions towards his head while he rubs his nose, and a small "Goo!" from his pokemon suggests that it's confirming his statement. "Cool Litten you got, too."

The fire cat creature flicks its tail in response and Kai reaches to scratch its chin. "Thanks," he responds, a smile tugging his lips upward. "His name's Flame. I'm Kai, by the way."

The raven reaches to take the practical slime ball off his head and sets it by his feet, then runs his fingers through his hair. "Cole," he says, and his face distorts. "Oh my god, that's disgusting." He flicks his fingers, sending globs of goop in the air; some smacks Kai right in the face, and a bit more lands on Flame's fur. The duo grimace in unison, Kai swiping away the goop and Flame turning to lick the moisture on his back.

"Oh!" Despite how unaware he seemed just a few minutes ago, Cole seems to notice what had happened immediately. "Sorry! Glowworm, he— uhm... he's really slimy. Kinda gross."

Goomy cries indignantly at his feet, but Kai only shrugs, removing his Litten from his shoulder and setting him on his lap. He's still trying to lap at the slime, but he's struggling to reach, so he takes care of it himself, wiping it away easily and flinging it to the ground. "It's fine," he says. "Besides, you sorta reminded me that Flame needs to get groomed sometime this week." He chuckles a bit awkwardly, realizing instantly that he sounds like he's lying, even though he isn't — in fact, he's even sighed up for an appointment on Thursday.

The raven laughs along, whether he knows it's a lie or not. "Glad to be helpful!"

It drops to a comfortable silence between them again, with Glowworm sliding around and Flame bounding to join him as they explore the grass, but it's gone in a moment when Kai speaks up: "I know a little restaurant close by here. You wanna go?"

Cole raises an eyebrow. "We literally just met and you already wanna go out? Slow your roll!" Either way, the brunet can hear the tease in his voice as he stands and collects Glowworm in his arms and letting he slither up his head, rubbing away his stray goop ; Kai mimics him, retrieving Flame from the grass. He claws up his arm and settles back on the shoulder he'd been on before.

It's a little greeting, a domestic introduction, but it's one that pays off in the end.

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probably not gonna write a ninjago / pokemon au oneshot again (cuz i'm s t r u g g l i n g to write total drama / pokemon au oneshots on ao3, buutt,,, y'all can make up kai's and cole's teams!!

i just gave cole a rockruff named rocky and glowworm the goomy, and kai has flame the litten👌