Chapter Text
“Are you mad at me?”
“Why would I be mad at you?” Jay asked, tentatively shifting his hand around Nya’s waist so she wouldn’t fall over on her unsteady feet. She didn’t push him away, like she had been for months, after they’d (sort of) agreed that things weren’t working out between them, and instead wrapped her arm around Jay’s middle to brace herself.
“Because I barfed on your shoes.”
Jay glanced down at Nya, whose foggy, beer-goggled attention was trained on the floor as if she was about to nosedive into it. “You didn’t barf on my shoes.”
“I’m about to-” She had paled, her eyes widening. Shit.
Jay could never be mad at Nya for long, but he would definitely be grossed out if he had to clean her alcohol-filled vomit out of the fabric of his shoes. “Oh, oh no, okay! Let’s get you to the bathroom, hold it in-” He tightened his grip on her middle, tugging her toward the closest bathroom in the monastery. “Almost there, please don’t puke-”
Jay had just opened up the toilet seat, thanking the First Master that there wasn’t anything left on the porcelain - as living with a bunch of teenage boys often provided - when Nya bent over it. She reached around the back of her head, collecting her blunt-cut hair in a makeshift ponytail as she heaved into the toilet to no avail. All that came out were gags and little whimpers about how stupid she was for letting herself get like that.
“You’re not so dumb, I’ve been there,” Jay whispered, immediately regretting it. “Sorry, I should let you… I’ll get out of here.”
He moved to stand, using the toilet paper as an uneasy source of leverage, but stopped short when Nya’s hand landed on his knee, her Samurai-X maroon nails digging in.
“Stay with me,” she murmured, her voice quiet as if raising it would stir her nausea. “Please.”
Jay hesitated for a moment, then sank back to the tile, settling in. Nya put her hand down on the toilet seat, then rested her cheek on her hand, studying Jay through glassy eyes. They were the slightest bit hazy, like chocolate liquor, and her cheeks were flushed. It was just like the first time he ever saw her, and all of the times he’d been beside her on the battlefield, or trained with her and kicked his ass. Jay had always thought that Nya was the most beautiful person he’d ever met, dangerously so.
Especially dangerous because they were broken up. He wasn’t allowed to think of her that way anymore, and it broke his heart.
Still, they’d been friends before they’d been together. Some part of Jay had to believe that they could go back to that, before the madness and the fighting and the jealousy, when things were fun and light, and everything felt easy.
“You know about my game show?”
Nya nodded, then snorted, rolling her head so her forehead pressed into the toilet seat as she giggled. “You looked absolutely ridiculous. I remember…” she laughed. “I remember Kai told me to stop rewatching your episodes because he couldn’t stand how dumb you looked. Those suits… so stupid,” Nya continued giggling, sitting up a bit before she seemed to remember how drunk she was, then slouching back down. “I always thought you looked cute, though.”
Jay had been grinning as he listened along to Nya’s rambling, shocked to not be the one talking too much, especially shocked by the words tumbling out of her drunken, perfect lips. Lips that curved into the same smile that Jay loved, the one that he’d missed since they’d broken up. She thought he was cute. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, maybe it was just… her.
But he knew better than to get his hopes up for that. Nya had been clear about what she wanted and didn’t want, and what she didn’t want was Jay.
“Why are you being quiet now, Jay?”
He cleared his throat, bringing himself back to whatever nonsense they’d been talking about. Jay retraced the steps of conversation: Nya thought he was cute… cute in ‘stupid’ suits… suits that he was wearing in the tapings of his game show that she’d been watching. Right. He’d been there.
“I was trying to figure out what I was trying to say, sorry.”
“It’s okay. I thought you were mad at me for talking too much, because I can’t talk to you anymore. It’s not fair.”
“You can always talk to me,” Jay murmured, catching Nya’s eye and offering her a smile he hoped wasn’t laced with any deeper meaning. It was a good thing she seemed too drunk to notice. “I was gonna say, back when I was on the show we’d have these massive afterparties when we were done taping. I got… pretty used to handling my alcohol, but it didn’t happen immeditely.” Nya sat up a bit, then squeezed her eyes shut and stuck her head in the toilet. Jay winced at the incoming flood of barf, but it didn’t come. “And I’m a professional at being hungover, so I can help you through it tomorrow, if you want.”
“That’ll be good,” Nya mumbled, taking a deep breath before screwing her eyes shut as the vomit finally came. Jay grimaced at the sound, the smell, and the knowledge that Nya was suffering from trying to escape something, as he always had when he’d get drunk. He’d always wished that there was someone there for him when he’d get accustomed to the feeling of tile under his knees and porcelain under his chin, but nobody from the parties in his honor had ever come. They’d always been too busy dancing and kissing and getting even drunker.
The most Jay could do was make sure Nya wouldn’t feel that lonely while she emptied her insides out.
Slowly, he shifted his hand to rest between her shoulder blades. It seemed like the safest touch, especially when Nya let him linger there. She’d stopped barfing, but still had her head in the bowl. In one smooth motion, Jay pressed his hand into Nya’s back in a promise that he wouldn’t fully leave her side, then grabbed a paper cup filled with sink water and returned to the floor.
“You wanna drink?”
“No. Alcohol is evil, my stupid brother was right.”
Jay chuckled. “Water. To get the barf taste out of your mouth.”
“Oh,” Nya sat up, wiping her lips on her sleeve and taking the cup from Jay, bringing it up to her lips. In a moment lacking any logical ‘we broke up, you can’t act like this anymore’ thought, Jay reached forward and brushed Nya’s hair out of her face, where it had fallen in front of her eyes and tangled across her cheeks.
Nya continued sipping her water as if he hadn’t done anything, and Jay experimentally moved his hand back to her back, ready to hold her hair for her if she got hit with another wave of nausea. She didn’t.
They sat in silence for a while, even after Nya’s water was gone and she seemed to have surpassed the last of her vomiting. She swayed every few moments, and her drunken eyes were trained on Jay, but neither of them said anything until she seemed to speak without thinking. “I miss you.”
Jay’s heartrate spiked, his eyes widening. Nya drunkenly continued.
“Are we still allowed to be friends when I still like you so much? Because… I want to be your friend. I miss being your friend, I miss you… my Sparky.”
“Nya… are you being serious right now? Or… do you not know what you’re saying because you’re drunk?”
“I know what I’m saying,” Nya muttered, squeezing her eyes shut, smacking her lips a bit. Jay figured he knew what was coming, bringing their conversation to a screeching halt right when he wanted it to give him the answers he needed. “Oh my First…” Nya groaned, covering her lips quickly before facing the toilet again. Jay carefully ran his hands through her hair, holding it out of harm’s way. “How is there still more?”
“Jay!” A squeal, then a bright blue blur barreling into his middle. A blur that smelled like the ocean underneath all of the alcohol. Nya jumped up, climbing Jay like a tree and latching on like a koala. He couldn’t help but laugh and reach around her, hugging her like they hadn’t seen each other in years instead of just hours. Clearly, Nya and Kai had found something to occupy their time while the rest of the team was on duty. “Oh, I missed you so much! Things are so boring around here without you, please never go on patrol ever again.”
“I missed you too, honey. Oh, hello-” Jay grinned into Nya’s lips as she pulled back enough to kiss him, tasting a mix of dark and light liquor through the sloppiness. That was sure to hurt in the morning. He chuckled as he lowered Nya to the ground, keeping his hands planted on her hips so she wouldn’t tumble to the carpet. “How much have you had to drink?”
“Kai and I lost track after five.” Nya grinned, snagging another kiss, her entire body pressed to his; lips to toes. “But there were more than that, we made a drinking game out of Prime Empire.”
“Well, I’m sure that went great,” Jay joked, knowing Nya’s tendency to be terrible at video games, coupled with her and her brother’s drunkenness, was sure to end badly. Drunkenly. “Do you wanna go to bed?”
“I think we should go into the city and kick some Dancy Pants ass! I think we’d be so good, show those kids who’s boss!”
“I think those kids’ll end up kicking our asses. Also, it’s midnight.”
Nya’s eyes widened comically, the edges bloodshot as her nails dug into Jay’s biceps. “It is?”
“Mmhm. Let’s get you to bed, okay?” Nya nodded, leaning in when Jay wrapped his arm around her shoulders, taking one hand (not phased at all when Nya grabbed his butt with the other one) to help guide her through the hallways. When either of them were this drunk, it was like manuevering through a maze. Hopefully, someone else was on Kai duty, or he was passed out on the couch. Hopefully he didn’t barf if he decided to wander.
“I love you so much, Sparky. I miss you so much when you’re gone,” Nya muttered, the words spilling from her lips quickly as Jay hoisted her over the lip in the doorway, then closed their bedroom door behind them. “I think we should run away and not have to ninja anymore, and then we could be together all the time.”
“I’d like that, honey. Maybe for our anniversary.”
“No, all the time, Jay,” Nya’s words slurred a little bit and she swayed, but didn’t fall over. Jay started the tedious process of getting her into bed, grateful that she seemed to have had the foresight to get into her pajamas before getting drunk. It made it a lot easier, in theory, but Nya was like an octopus when she was drunk. All grabby limbs, unable to sit still. “All the time! And we could swim and paint, and you could teach me how to paint, because I can’t do it… I suck at it.”
“You’re not too bad- Nya, please, just sit still for a second.” Jay hadn’t stopped grinning through the process, but Nya’s movements were making everything take nearly three times longer. “Do you want to kick off your slippers?”
“Oh, yeah.” Nya kicked forward, her slipper launching into the corner of the room. She burst out laughing, wobbling again, and Jay wrapped his hands around her middle so she wouldn’t fall over. He couldn’t help but laugh along with her. “Sorry, Sparky. I’ll be more careful,” she slurred, backing her other foot out of her slipper so it wouldn’t fly away.
“You’re alright. Maybe we can work that move into battle sometime,” Jay said, brushing a little kiss to the corner of Nya’s lips, which turned upward and creased a dimple int her cheek as she swayed, wrapping her arms around him and holding him closer. “Now, you should get in bed and hope for the best for tomorrow morning, because you’re probably gonna be in a lot of pai-”
“I love you so much, Jay,” Nya interrupted, pressing her chin into Jay’s chest, looking right into his bright blue eyes. “I’m sorry I don’t say it enough, but I feel it all the time. So deeply it hurts, it’s in my bones. My bones hurt from how much I love you.”
“I love you too.” Another kiss landed on Nya’s lips, hers opening up quickly, holding on tight to him. Octopus. “And don’t you worry about saying it, I know how you feel. Your face is very obvious.”
“And my bones?”
“Well, I can’t see your bones,” Jay mused, grinning as he gently steered Nya to the bed, holding her gaze as he eased her down. “But I can tell your bones hurt. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, it reminds me that I love you.” Nya seemed unsatisfied by Jay simply tucking her in, still needing to change out of his gi and armor and shower before joining her, no matter how tired he was. “Are you leaving again?”
“Not for long, I just need to change and shower and then I’ll be back.”
Nya pouted. “Can you change and not shower? I’ll miss you too much.” She reached out from under the covers, grabbing Jay’s hand and holding it in both of her own, her element leaking through her skin, as it always did when she as inebriated.
Jay sighed, counting himself lucky that he hadn’t been splattered with anything disgusting while on duty. He could simply change, then crawl into bed and be there when Nya woke up - hungover and complaining - in the morning. “Alright, I’ll be right back.”
By the time he was changed, his teeth brushed, Nya was already asleep, her face pressed into the pillow. Jay breathed out a chuckle and brushed Nya’s hair out of her eyes, pressing a kiss to her forehead, then climbed under the covers beside her, holding her body close to his for as long as he could, because drunk Nya always tossed and turned and kicked in her sleep. Not that Jay could really complain about anything when Nya was by his side.