#jay and reader

It was only three months ago. He was supposed to have left with the others on Day of the Departed, to have gone to the Departed Realm, but something prevented him from going back. He was swallowed up by the realm and spat out in a glob of dark green fluid with the consistency of wet gelatin. He felt heavier and could no longer float, but why? He was mortified; naked and human in front of the people who hated him most.

What he didn't expect, was for them to keep him with them instead of in a specialized Vengestone cell in Kryptarium Prison. He was given his own room, and was allowed to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The only rules were that he wasn't allowed in anyone's room, and he wasn't allowed outside of the house unless he was accompanied by at least two people.

He thought it was okay at first; free reign of the house and no forced prison schedule for him, so he could adjust to having a body again, but he more and more realized he messed up when he agreed to go with them. He vaguely remembered you when he was fighting against you; how strong you were, and how willing you were to fight for your little brother, but the more time he spent with you, the less he wanted to be around you.

You made him feel weird when you were around; he couldn't speak properly, his emotions would go to the extremes, and his chest would flutter. The feeling was foreign to him, and since he wanted it to stop, he avoided you. However, that only made things worse whenever he did bump into you.

You'd acknowledge him with a shy, "hi Morro," or a "good morning, Morro," and he'd turn tail and run.

Jay confronted him about it one day, "why do you keep ignoring my brother and running away from him? Why do you hate him so much?"

He just scoffed, "stop assuming things, I don't hate him, it's just he makes me feel weird and it's annoying. He makes my heart beat faster, and-"

"Stop, stop, I'm going to be sick...maybe it's better you stay away from him then." And that was the last thing Jay said to him about you.

But the more time he spent away from you, the more he began to notice about you. You were well built, tall, and incredibly strong so you could haul large and heavy objects around, and you were also kind and optimistic, but you were also very shy and didn't like talking to strangers. You didn't look like your brother, sure, but you definitely grew up together. The two of you could talk about machinery and inventions for hours, and sometimes Nya or Zane would join the conversation for a bit. You talked to your little brother more than anyone else, and he was surprised to know you weren't even blood related.

"But Morro, you said you looked up to Wu as your own father, wouldn't you be the one to understand most that blood doesn't make family?" Zane had asked.

He responded in anger, "don't call that old man my father. One day (Y/N) will betray his brother, or the other way around." But it never happened. No, the two of you were inseparable.

Eventually, just last month, you warmed up to him. You would talk to him more, and he found out even more. You were afraid of being alone, which is why you shared a room with your brother; and you used to have to patch him up when he fell off of junk piles, and that's how you became a great medic. You were definitely more of a 'behind the scenes' guy, which surprised him since you were so active in the fight against him when he first met you.

"Why don't you fight more? Aren't you jealous of the others for having elemental powers? What about Nya, and how she used to fight in a mech suit?" Morro scoffed at you one day.

You grinned, and chuckled a little, "oh, no way." You put a hand on your flexed bicep, "these are for passive purposes only. I don't think I could ever hurt someone."

He spoke before he could think, "then why did you try to fight me when - when I was still a ghost?"

"Oh, uh, you were hurting my brother." You were lying.

"I thought Jay was your brother, not Lloyd. Uhm, I don't remember fighting Jay when you, uh, tried to punch me that...one time."

He saw how you tensed up nervously; how you glanced away from him, rubbed your darkening cheeks to make the blush go away, sniffed and stopped talking, then got up and left. From the kitchen, he heard glass breaking.

"What happened?" He asked Jay upon getting up to investigate.

"It's nothing, it's none of your concern, I'm fine, it's not like my brother likes anyone - I need to find Nya..." Then he left too, glass swept into a dust pan, but left behind as he dropped the broom and stomped away.

So now you and Jay were acting weird. Great.

He continued to try and ignore the feelings as he watched you from his spot on the couch; scurrying in and out of your room every day with armfuls of equipment and material, occasionally blasting your favorite music in your room to keep yourself focused. As time went on, the feelings stopped bothering him, and he actively sought them out instead. Now he felt warm and happy every time you passed by him in the hallway, or every time you decided to greet him and ask how his day was going.

Things were peaceful now. He was given more freedom, and could go outside without being watched, but he couldn't go off the property alone still. He could cook whatever he wanted in the kitchen, he could practice his wind power in the backyard, and the ninja were feeling more comfortable around him. Well, except for Lloyd and Jay, but he didn't care if anyone cared about him; he wasn't here to make friends, he just needed to pass the time until he died again.

There was one person he wanted to make friends with, though. "How come (Y/N) doesn't have a girlfriend like his brother?" He didn't want to ask Jay this.

"Oh, he's gay. As - as in he only likes men, if you didn't know." Cole answered. "Why are you interested all of a sudden? Do you want to get out there and meet someone?"

Morro scuffed his foot against the ground and looked away. "I dunno. Maybe, but I don't really like girls that much. Nya's tolerable, but only because her water element won't kill me."

"Well, maybe you're gay too." That one sentence opened his mind.

Over the past couple of days, he continued watching you. Aside from doing typical tech work, you also liked to bake pies and strangely enough, clean. He would catch you in the late hours of the night still awake using a broom so the others could sleep without the noisiness of a vacuum. "I, uh, could help you with that, if you want." You agreed to his proposal, and he used the wind to sweep dirt and dust out of the house, while you would wash things with a wet rag. He didn't really like cleaning; he really liked you though, if he was willing to do this for you.

Things were pretty okay, he thought. Ninjago was at peace, the ninja were all relaxing, save for Lloyd and Jay, and you were tinkering away at something like you always were. He still had yet to see any of the inventions you were supposedly making. What else could you possibly want?

"Hey, uh," you approached everyone in the living room, either watching a movie or trying to play cards behind the couch. Morro was very close to winning Crazy 8's, but only because he could see Kai's cards in the reflection of the window behind him, "something came up on the monitors, you'd all better come look."

In a single file line, the ninja calmly walked behind you towards what they called 'headquarters'. It was fairly large, and had many computer screens, presumably meant to track villainous activity. On the largest screen was a map of Ninjago, with several red dots in Ninjago City, and other red dots scattered around the map.

You spoke up to be heard over the worried clamoring of the ninja, "these red dots are all reported sightings in the past hour of strange people, all of which have been said to be made of sand, ash, dirt, and other earthly materials."

Everyone glanced over at Cole. "What? It's not me, I'm sitting right here!"

You chuckled, "well, it could be many things; considering what we've seen." He'd never seen you so confident like this. No wonder you were mostly left to do behind the scenes work. Everyone assumes Lloyd is the leader, even he did at one point, but seeing you like this, he realized you were the true leader. You told the ninja your plan; to gather intel first before attacking, and that if they were forced to attack to surround the enemy with their given element. "They haven't been doing anything super bad, but they're attacking people who get in their way. Wherever they're going, don't let them get to it."

Jay gave you a thumbs up, flipping his hood down to cover his face, "we got it!"

The others were all getting ready to leave, when Zane brought something up. "Who will stay and watch Morro if all of us are going?"

"Don't look at me!" You protested. "I forgot we had to watch him."

"Why? 'Cuz you're always hanging out with him?" Cole asked teasingly. You didn't respond, and Morro watched as all the confidence you held at the brief meeting vanished into thin air.

"Sorry dude," Kai put a hand on your shoulder, "guess you're stuck with babysitting duty."

Morro watched you cringe. "Don't call it that...he's an adult. You're making it weird."

"Me? You're the one who went 'ooooh, I don't want to watch him because I have a'-" You cut off the fire ninja by grabbing the back of his head and forcing it into your chest to muffle his voice.

"AHAHA! What a funny joke, Kai! Ha ha." You forcefully and nervously laughed as he began beating against your arms to get you to let him go. "I think you should all go. Like. Now. Bye!" You literally dragged Kai out the door and then closed it behind you after the others left; all laughing about it.

Morro had no time to ask you about it as you left to do something else. He figured he'd leave you alone for a bit, but then grew bored and went into the kitchen, where you were making some food. "What're you up to?" He asked, leaning over to see what you were making.

"Oh, uh," you looked over at the toast you burnt, previous events forgotten, "well it was supposed to be jammed toast. I mean, toast with jam. Not good with words all the time."

So that was probably why you didn't talk a lot. "That's okay, I don't mind it." He felt strangely soft right now. Not physically, but in a strangely emotional way. He'd never fallen in love before. "I can understand, and that's all that matters."

He can see you smile shyly. "Yeah. Want any?"

He lets out a short chuckle, "burnt? Here, I'll toast it, you jam it."

You laugh with him, and it feels natural to him. Just the two of you. "Okay! Let's do that." He sets the timer, and you watch him vigilantly. "Oh. That's a timer. I thought it was a heat setting."

He laughs aloud, "I thought you were a technician! You didn't know?"

"I dunno! I know my creations better than others'." You fidget with your fingers a little.

"Do you think...I can se-?" the timer goes off and Morro looks over, "oh, uh, the toast is ready." He pulls them out carefully before laying them on separate plates for the two of you. You spread jam over the slices, coating them evenly before wolfing down your slice.

You left the kitchen, and he followed behind with half of his meal in his mouth still. You didn't do much; mostly moping around the house going between projects. Play a couple minutes of video games, nibble at whatever was in the cupboards, dust off something in the hallways, go outside and toss some oat to the ducks...it went on like this for a solid hour.

He wondered if you were going to do anything, and you finally turned around to face him, "you, uh, don't have to stick by my side every second of the day. I thought that, I, uh, should tell you that." You brushed hair out of your eyes; something you and your brother did often as you had similar, fluffy hair cuts.

Morro's face went pink, "w-well I - I knew that!" He looked down at his shoes, "I don't know...you said you were afraid of being lonely so I didn't want to leave you alone..."

He couldn't see, but you were shyly grinning so hard you had to rub your cheeks so they wouldn't hurt, "oh! I wasn't sure you'd care that much. You kinda used to avoid me a lot. More than the others so I assumed you didn't like me too much."

"Of course I like you!" He blurted, whipping his head up to look into your eyes. He was quick to back out of this situation, "I mean, you're a really good friend and everything even if we don't get to talk a lot and we don't do stuff together."

"Oh..." now he wishes he didn't say anything at all. "Ye-yeah, you're a good friend too."

Things were quiet and awkward. He didn't want to feel this way around you, so working up courage, he changed the topic. "Can I...see your inventions?"

Your head whipped to face him with a surprised look. "You...you really want to look at them?" You became flustered as you continued speaking, "I mean, you just seem so lost and confused when you look at technology a lot of the time that I thought you'd hate what I like doing."

"Oh, not at all." He assures you with a shy grin. "I actually," he gets nervous to admit to you, and starts to flush pink, "wanted you to teach me more since you're really smart and uh, you know what you're doing...and stuff." He plays with his fingers, a habit he picked up from you, and glances away.

"We-well-well yeah!" He loves hearing the excitement in your voice, and peeks up at you to see your blushing cheeks, "we can...let's do that!" You can't stop smiling as you walk him to your room.

He's in awe at the sight. Your bed is on a loft with a desk below it so you could plan your projects, and hanging above your bed were little handmade trinkets and creatures made of scraps of metal and various material like copper wire, mirror shards, and even eating utensils. Your space was fairly neat, you had a large closet with all your items sorted by object, size, and color, and there were designated spots for different things you did; cutting, sanding, soldering, melding, melting - the list seemed endless. You even had a table to store projects you were currently working on.

"Woah, it's really big." He could smack himself for saying something this obvious.

"I kinda stole Jay's room for it - knocked out the wall separating our rooms since he usually sleeps with Nya anyway. More space for me!" You laugh. "Well, yeah, this is it."

"Oh." He didn't want this to be the end, you would just go back to moseying around doing random stuff until the ninja came back, and he would've wasted all his time with you doing- "Wait, what's that for?"

A strange-looking watch caught his eye. It was meant to look fancy, but the clock part seemed to look more like a screen than an actual clock. This makes you excited. "Oh, oh, oh! This?" You grin and hold it out to him delicately, "it's something new I was working on, since I like to plan ahead sometimes. It's just a prototype for now, since it doesn't actually tell the time yet, but it's for if the ninja need to dress up fancy for an occasion, and need to communicate to each other."

"You really do think ahead." He smiles with you. "Does it do anything else?"

You start to ramble to him about your watch, and how it can not only communicate but also record things, track people, and Cole's watch would tell him where the nearest bakery was. He laughed at that, and continued to ask you about each and every project you were working on. You went from communicating watches to compactable weapons to attachments that would automatically drive a car in case the ninjas had to fight without a driver. The longer you went, the more genuinely interested he became.

"To be honest, Morro," you turned to face him slowly, "I really didn't think you'd like any of my stuff." You're blushing again, but don't seem to mind showing him this time.

"Well, yeah, I didn't know what any of it meant or was so I wasn't interested, but now that I do, it all seems so..." He trails off, looking into your eyes.

"Exciting?"

"Yeah." He breathes. The two of you are close, he can smell you from here; a scent that makes him feel at ease. He doesn't know if he's ready for a kiss yet, and turns to look at something else. "You get to do all these cool things without even fighting."

You seem disappointed, as your blush fades, but you continue talking to him like nothing happened, "well, I don't like fighting, but I like helping. This is the best I can do, and I guess I'm pretty proud of it all. Like a dad with all his kids."

He rubs his cheeks to hopefully remove his blush. "You should be proud, you've worked hard to-"

"You're blushing a lot today, are you okay?" You sound concerned, but he recognizes that smile. It's the same one you give to him when you tell him you saw something cute.

"No - yes - you - you're" He rubs harder and even starts to try and cover his face as you make him more flustered. "You're really cool and I want to know you better!" The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them, and he slaps a hand over it to keep from talking any more.

"I...think you're cool too, Morro." You sound shy again.

Before he can respond, the front door opens with a loud thump and worn-out sounding 'we're home' from the ninja. "Uh, uh," he fidgets, panicking about what would happen if he was caught with you, but also not wanting to leave you so soon. Mind made up, he's not tall enough to do so normally, so he grabs your face by the cheeks and pulls you down to kiss your forehead, then skitters off anxiously towards the kitchen to act like nothing happened.

"Woah dude, no offense but you look like you've seen a ghost." Kai and Cole walk in for a couple drinks to relieve their dry throats, while the others decide to either get their wounds treated by you or take a quick shower.

"Uh, none taken."

"Yeah, what happened?" Now, Kai, he could absolutely not trust with the knowledge of kissing you. Even if it was just on the forehead. He had a big mouth and liked to use it.

He laughs it off, "chased by birds. I was trying to feed them but I guess they don't like me."

Kai seems to buy it. "Yeah, I get it. Seagulls hate me for no reason." He then sniffs himself, "I'm gonna shower real quick."

Once he's gone, Cole leans in, "that wasn't the real story, was it?" How did he know?

At least he was someone Morro could trust not to tell everyone about what happened. "Well...(Y/N) and I got to bond a lot." He smiles to himself as he recalls what happened in your room. "He really likes to talk about his inventions, and he really likes me too."

"What did you guys do?" Cole whispers to him.

"Well, I was kind of scared of kissing him at first; I've never kissed anyone before, but I got to kiss his forehead."

Cole shrugs. "It's a start, I guess. It's not like he's going anywhere though, so you've got all the time in the world to get where you want to go."

He could work through this. Love was new to him, and probably you too. "I think I'll tell him I like him a lot next time. Baby steps, right?"

"Right." He stretches and puts his glass in the sink. "You've got this." He's about to leave the kitchen, when he turns around, "and Morro? Don't let Jay hear about this. He doesn't like the sound of you being his brother in law. Yet."

Wu was your first real father. Lloyd was your first real cousin, to the point he felt like a brother. Then came Kai and Nya, the siblings you never had. Cole, the friend you missed out on, Zane, the calmness you never felt, and Jay, the laughter you hadn’t experienced.

If your parents were jailed, dead, kidnapped, then so be it. They used you up, hurt you, then cast you out of your home, and you still had the scars to prove it. You never told anyone your birthday, and you always skipped out on Christmas and other gift-giving holidays because you felt unworthy. Unworthy of receiving love and kindness from others for just...existing. Besides, you were hardly a help to the ninja. You couldn’t fight, you didn’t have any powers, all you did was keep “home” clean, whether that was The Bounty, the monastery, or other places.

Unfortunately, Christmas was coming soon, and you didn’t want to be here for it. “Where are you going?” The voice startles you, and you drop your shirts.

“Geez, Lloyd, knock first.” You grunt before picking your clothes back up and neatly placing them in your suitcase. “I’m going to, uh, a friend’s house. I mean I’m helping Skylor with her restaurant, and I’m staying there. And besides, It’s just gonna be for two weeks. I’ll be back.”

He just closes the door, and sits down in front of it, effectively trapping you in your own room. Sure, you had a window, but that wasn’t an option when The Bounty was in the clouds. “I’m not letting you do this to yourself. Ugh, I should’ve paid more attention to the date, but that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that you aren’t going anywhere this Christmas, (Y/N).”

You groan, “I’m serious, Lloyd.”

“So am I!” He protests, then stands up and goes to give you a hug. “I need you here, Wu needs you here, the team needs you here. Y’know, Wu accepted it when it was just you and him, but now that we’re all together under one roof, not having you around just changes the whole atmosphere.”

You begin arguing with him, “but I don’t belong here! You get to go on big adventures and missions with the other ninja, while I have to stay home! No one out there even knows I exist, all I do here is clean, and cook. Zane’s even starting to replace me as the chef around here! You know what that means? I’m only good for cleaning!” You huff then fall face first on your bed. “Who would want someone like me around?” You sigh sadly.

“Well,” he lays down on his stomach next to you, “I would, and Wu would, and so does everyone else.” He gives you a gentle smile, “and even if Zane takes over cooking, you’re still a better baker than him. Your cakes are so good, I bet if Cole was interested in dating, you’d be first on his list.” He laughs.

You snort, trying to hide your laughter, “gee, thanks.” You then sigh. “But you’re you. How do I know you’re not just saying these things? How do I know the others even want to spend Christmas with me?”

“I can’t speak for them, and they’re all out for a few hours, but I believe they like having you around.” He grins, then sits up. “How about this, spend this Christmas with us, and if you don’t like it, I’ll never ask you for your birthday ever again.”

“Or ask me to celebrate Christmas with you?”

“And that, yeah.”

“Okay, deal.” You hold your hand out, and he shakes it. “So,” you start to unpack, “what should we do?”

He shrugs, “uh, I’ll race you to the couch! First one there gets to pick the-“ before he could even finish, you stumble over him, shoving his head down into your blankets, and out the door. “No fair, you pushed me!” The scrambles to get out, but by the time he gets to the living room, you’re already holding up your favorite video game. “Aw, man! I wanted to..” he trails off as he mumbles with a pout.

You teasingly stick your tongue out at him, “you asked me to stay, so I’m making the most out of it.” You pop in the disc and soon you’re absolutely kicking his butt as he desperately tries to win against you.

Even though he’s still a sore loser sometimes, a habit he found difficult to unlearn from his childhood, you were surprised he wanted to play with you for the three hours it took for the ninja to come back.

“Wow, (Y/N)’s still here?” Kai asks, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, usually they’re long gone when Christmas is around the corner.” Jay snickers.

“Well, I convinced them to try it just this once.” Lloyd winks, and you sigh.

“Really, it’s not that big of a deal...”

The other ninja already did their shopping, so as the days slowly pass, one by one, you complete errands and even go shopping with Lloyd for presents. You think you have things that the others would like, but as Christmas comes closer, you start to worry that they won’t like them at all. Not to mention that your wrapping skills were awful.

Soon it was the dreaded day. You were woken up at around 7, which is earlier than usual, and you tiredly make your way to the living room, where the tree is all decorated with handmade items, tinsel, lights, and candy canes. Atop of it is the bright star the team insisted you put on this year. Below it were dozens of presents, and you could already tell which ones you wrapped. It looked horrible, and you just wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment. Whatever, might as well get this over with.

"What about breakfast?" You ask after a loud yawn.

"Oh," Nya starts to explain to you, "we eat after opening presents, because all our friends and family come over at noon for a big feast. Usually Zane makes it, since you're not here," she laughs awkwardly, "but now you can! I mean, if you want-"

"Yeah, sure, I guess." You shrugged. Since today was supposed to be an important day, maybe you and Zane can work together and make something really nice. Like a feast.

You sit down beside your cousin as your father separates then hands out presents one by one. You didn't really know what to do with yours, so you just kept yours to the side and watched everyone else open their gifts.

Jay tore through his, and stared at the toolbox in both confusion and awe. "(Y/N), how did you even get this? Last time I checked, they were out of electric blue!"

You shrugged, "color matching isn't that hard for me to do anymore when you guys destroy the walls every other week."

"Aw, it's custom too! I love it, thank you, (Y/N)!" He gives you a tight hug, and you shyly grin and hug him too. It felt...strange to have people happy over the gifts you got them, but at the same time, it was a positive strange.

"I want to open mine next!" Kai yells, absolutely shredding the paper like an excited little kid, and holding up the video game you got him. "Woah!" He squeals, " it's the newest Fist to Face! Now with multiplayer!"

"Yeah," you rubbed your neck, "I thought we could play it together sometime."

"Where did you even find this? It was sold out everywhere!"

"That's not true, they sell video games at the card shop on the outskirts of Ninjago City. It's rare, but they do. It was to bring in more customers." You explain.

Lloyd grins, "me next!" He sticks his tongue out as he opens his present, and drools over the assortments of chocolates; caramel, coconut, strawberry, etc. "Can I have one now?"

"Definitely only one." You warn him.

He pops one of the chocolates into his mouth, and you can almost see the glittering and hearts in his eyes. He sucks in air, then breathes out delicately. "Woah, this is beyond gourmet, this is richer than any other chocolate I ever had. Just one of these is so good and chocolatey enough to last all day! did you make this?" You nod with a happy smile, and he counts them all. "And there's enough to last me to my birthday when I can get more! You planned all this, didn't you?" You nod again with a laugh, and he hugs you tightly. "Thanks, (Y/N), you're the best cousin ever!"

Cole gasps, "if (Y/N) has been magically finding or making all this sold out stuff that we want, does that mean they got me-" he pauses to take the wrapping paper off this gift, "yes! Kitty Keyboard!" You and Cole start laughing together, as everyone else looks on in confusion. "Don't worry about it, it's an inside joke." He plays a little internet tune on it, and you both snort and giggle as it meows when he hits the keys. "Let me guess, you got this at a random store, too?"

You shook your head, "actually, I got it used because someone was already selling theirs, so I took it apart, cleaned and fixed it, then put it back together brand new. I even added this little bit..." you press the keys on the far left and right at the same time, and it automatically plays a tune from your favorite meme, making the both of you double over in laughter.

"It's perfect, thanks, (Y/N)." He hugs you, resting his cheek on your head as you nuzzle his shoulder. You felt warm, but not in an overheating way; in a way that made you feel like you were truly loved by your family.

Nya eyeballs her gift for a second, "this one looks pretty big and flat, is it a necklace, maybe a new outfit?" She curiously peels back the wrapping, and gasps, "even better, a clean motherboard for my Samurai X suit! Ugh, it's gotten so dusty and dirty from all the battles lately, this is going to help a lot! Thanks!" She gives you a hug as well, and Zane realizes he's next.

He opens his carefully, telling you that he's proud of your wrapping, especially for a first try. He smiles at his present; a sorting container with different labels for different seeds. They were all sorted alphabetically, and separated by vegetable and flower seeds, and each compartment had a handful of seeds.

You explained your gift to him, "I figured since you like gardening so much, that you should have some fresh foods to grow for cooking with, and the flower seeds I got don't usually grow around here, so you have to take extra care of them, okay?"

"Of course I will." He sends you a cheery smile, then gives you a hug. "It's a wonderful and thoughtful gift, thank you, (Y/N)."

Finally, your father opens his gift. It’s an assortment of pre-made tea leaf mixtures, each labelled with different uses and their ingredients. “I know that you have your tea how you usually like it, but I made these for things like if you have a cold or if you’re having nightmares. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to, I just thought-“ he cuts you off before you can continue rambling.

“It’s perfect. Thank you, (Y/N).” He opens his arms for a hug, and you get up to do so.

“You’re welcome, Dad.” You smile. You hadn’t felt so loved before, and you actually liked it a lot.

“(Y/N), you haven’t opened any of your gifts?” Zane asks.

“Oh,” you look over to the pile nervously. You still weren’t ready to open them, you didn’t feel worthy for free things from your teammates and family. “Maybe - maybe after breakfast, yeah?”

Zane shakes his head in desperation, “no, no, you have to open mine before it goes bad.”

"Huh?" You look through the gifts to find one wrapped in white with silver snowflakes, and you realize it's his. You carefully peel back the wrapping to see a box, and when you lift the top off, you see neat little gingerbread muffins decorated intricately with frosting.

Zane sits down beside you and puts a hand on your shoulder. "This is your first Christmas, and to show you how thankful I am, I made these for you. However, I don't think they'll be as good as the ones you make." He chuckles. "This gift means a lot because you're the one who inspired me to get better at cooking. You know, I use your recipes? I don't think I would be half as good if I didn't try to learn from you." He then frowns, "(Y/N), you're crying. Do you not like it?"

You didn't even realize you were crying, until you wiped a tear off your cheek and sniffled. "That's - that's the nicest thing," you hiccup, interrupting your speech, "that anyone's ever said about my food." You throw your arms around his neck and hug him tightly. "Thank you, Zane, I love it so much."

"Well, (Y/N), you inspire me, too." Kai admits with a shy smile. "Open my gift."

Still crying over Zane, you try to keep your tears from falling on the wrapping paper as you tear it off and reveal the oldest installation of your favorite game; one you were too young to get when it first came out, and you haven't seen it since. You whip around to face him, fresh tears welling up in your eyes as you wait for his explanation.

"You inspire me to fight every day, so I thought I'd get you your favorite fighting game. You make me want to get better at both video games and being a ninja, and it's an honor to protect people like you." He smiles and comes over for his hug.

Before you can say anything, Cole picks up his present and hands it to you, waiting for you to open it. "I know it's not as personal as the others', but I got you this bath kit to remind you to take care of yourself, because you're important. Not just to me, but to everyone else here. You take care of us, making sure we're fed, tidy, healthy, and clean, so sometime you should let us do the chores, so you can take care of yourself for once."

You chuckle, trying not to keep crying again, "are you saying I'm dirty?"

"No!" He protests, "I mean it, you stress out every day, so I got you lotion that's supposed to help you relax. I even got everything in your favorite colors and scents! And a rubber duck!" He squeaks it and you both laugh before hugging.

"Thanks, Cole, it's really nice of you to do."

Nya comes close to you, holding out her gift. You take it next, and open it. It's an assortment of keychains, pins, clothes, stuffed animals, and figurines from your favorite shows, movies, and books. "I know it's a lot, but I really did have to make up for all those lost Christmas mornings and Birthdays!" The boys groan about how they didn't think about that first, and you have to insist that it's okay, and that you really didn't need much anyway. "Shush, shush!" Nya hushes them impatiently. "Anyways, (Y/N), I realize that even though we all have items from our favorite franchises, you have nothing, so I decided to get you items from your favorites too. You deserve to openly show off your favorite shows and stuff, and this is the best way to do it."

You put on a shirt over your pajamas to show it off, and you hug her tightly. "Thank you, Nya. I really do love everything you gave me."

You reach for Jay's present, and he chuckles nervously as you open it. "My idea is kind of similar to Nya's, but basically you have really interesting hobbies!" You hold up the art supplies, music supplies, craft supplies, writing supplies, and other hobby items, listening to his explanation. "But you're so busy spending your money on us; for our food, home, clothes, and first aid, that you hardly have anything left for yourself, to help you improve on what work you make, and I thought I would change that for you this Christmas."

You give him a hug next, and soon your cousin gave you his present. "You're my cousin, my best friend, my older sibling, my family. I've looked up to you a lot, especially when I was younger, but even though I'm older, none of it has changed. You've comforted me when I was down, laughed at all my jokes, and have shown me so many beautiful things, and there's no way I could ever repay for every little thing you've done for me." He watches as you open his gift, which is a scrapbook with several pictures. Pictures of you and your father, pictures of you and Lloyd, pictures of you with your family, your friends, the ninja, and just everything. "I hope this makes up for a lot of it."

You have cried through everyone's gifts, and Lloyd's was no different. You close the cover to keep it safe from your wet tears, and you hug him tightly. "Everything I've ever loved is in this book. Thank you, Lloyd."

"Well, not everything." Wu interrupts, standing up now. "You've forgotten about my gift." He smiles sweetly as you approach him, but before he gives it to you, he starts to explain himself. "I believe you're forgetting one last friend, someone you left behind long ago."

Behind his back is a little stuffed tabby cat with button eyes and scraggly whiskers. Some of the stuffing is leaking from a break in the front left paw, he's dirty and crusty, and a whisker is missing, but you remember him perfectly. "Tiger?" Your voice is soft as you speak to him; the old stuffed animal from your childhood. It was the one thing you missed from your old parents, as you were forced to leave him behind when you were kicked out. You loved him so much, and seeing him again was both painful and relieving. He helped you through all the bad times in your life, and leaving him behind broke you, but now you had him again. It didn't matter where or how Wu got him, all that mattered was that he was here again. You can't help it anymore, you collapse to your knees and sob openly and loudly for everyone to hear. "You're back, you're here. I've missed you so much, we have a lot of catching up to do." You murmur into his fur as you hug him close.

It takes you a while to calm down, but after you do, you help everyone clean up the wrapping paper before putting your presents neatly away in your room, leaving Tiger on your bed to snuggle with later. "(Y/N), it's nearly brunch. Would you like to make it?" Zane pops his head into your room just as you finish up.

"Yeah! We can do it together, Zane." You offer with a smile.

He nods excitedly, and you both race to the kitchen. "Okay, okay, you can chop all the fruits and cook the eggs and bacon while I prepare the batters and the toast and hash browns. This is going to be the biggest Christmas feast yet."

"Yes, head chef!" He winks and you both laugh together. You chat and bake and cook, making several assortments of foods with Zane for a wonderful meal. The others are cleaning up or setting up the dining room, and everyone is bustling around. Guests slowly trickle in and compliment the delicious smells from the kitchen. "Honestly, (Y/N), I'm very happy you're here with us this time. Usually I can only make pancakes and sausage, or eggs and toast, but with you here, we can get a lot more done. Plus, you make everything more delicious."

You feel flustered at his kind words. "Thank you, Zane. That's really nice of you to say. And I'm glad you're here to help out, too."

By the time all the guests are here, there's an entire feast laid out in front of them; crepes, pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, toast, bacon, hash browns, muffins, apple sauce, french toast, jam and syrup, assorted fruits, and juices and milk to wash everything down. You and Zane had outdone yourselves, and everyone loved it. Jay's parents showed up, Cyrus Borg showed up, and Dareth, and Skylor, and Cole's dad, even Ronin, a few other elemental masters, and other people you haven't met yet.

You haven't felt this happy, this loved, this powerful in a very long time. Maybe Christmas was the push you needed to truly get back onto your feet, the proof that people truly did love you, despite everything that's happened to you, and who you grew up to be.

You knew who you were now, and even though Lloyd won that bet against you, maybe it wasn't a bad thing that he did.

"(Y/N)?" It was late at night, as Lloyd snuck into your room. "I wanted to see if I could sleep with you tonight, like when we were younger."

You sighed and held up your stuffed animal. "What do you think, Tiger?" You ask him childishly. You then nod, "he says you can."

The two of you giggle as you make room for him, and start to drift off together. You were woken up again by Kai and Nya, who wanted to sleep in your room too. They agreed to sleep on the floor, as they brought their pillows and blankets. Then came Jay, and Cole, and Zane, as they all filled up your room with the gentle sound of breathing and the soft feeling of love.

He listened to the monitor beep. It'd been like this for days. He looked to the bite mark on your shoulder, wishing it was his and not someone else's. He would've gladly endured the scolding from his teammates if it meant there was no poison in your veins. The doctors worked tirelessly to save you, but the outcome looked bleak.

He held your hand, rubbing his thumb over it and avoiding the IV wire in the back of it. "You're going to be okay, just hold on a little longer." You weren't awake, but he hoped you were listening. "Who's going to help me take care of mom and dad when they're older if you don't?" He chuckles weakly, head resting in his arms beside yours. Sure, you were Ed and Edna's biological kid, but you still treated him like your younger brother of blood, and he was grateful for that.

You grew up together, and did everything together. You played every morning as kids, helped your dad out with building; Jay was better at it than you were, but you didn't seem to care, you just liked coming up with ideas more than the actual construction, and sometimes you'd even try to cook dinner together as a surprise for your parents. You weren't even a ninja, but you followed him to the monastery and lived there with him, supporting him all the way. You even promised to be his ring-bearer, for some reason. He tried to convince you to be his right hand man instead, as you were his sibling, but you didn't like that idea as much. "No one remembers the right hand man, but as the ring bearer, all the attention will be on me as I hand them to you!" You laughed mischievously. He didn't appreciate the idea at first, but now, he'd let you do it with no complaints.

"I just need a sign, a twitch, a whisper, anything." He sniffed, now moving his hand from your hand to your face, as he prodded at it gently, trying to get a reaction from you. This wasn't even supposed to happen. Rogue Venomari attacked the monastery while you were there alone, looking for a relic Wu hid that was supposed to give Serpentine the power of the Great Devourer, and let them grow as much as they consume. You were there though, and you defended the monastery with all your might. By the time the ninja came home, they found you curled up in the front room, foaming at the mouth and convulsing on the floor. Some cried, others screamed, but Jay was the first one at your side, questioning you and trying to find out what was wrong before he started panicking.

He was confused on one thing, though. Usually Venomari would just spit in their attacker's eyes, so why did one of them bite you? Was it because you had your eyes closed, and you were overpowering them? Then again, they were rogue, so maybe they had a different way of handling things. One thing was for sure, though, you gave them a run for their money, and they haven't been spotted anywhere.

He just...he just wished he was there. You stayed behind because the mission he went on was dangerous, and he didn't want you to risk your health, so he had you stay home. It wasn't like you didn't know anything about combat, but you weren't as interested as the others, and only learned it for self defense. Everyone was quick to blame themselves for what happened to you; "my powers were useless, I should've stayed behind" "I'm the weakest, I should've stayed behind" "I'm their friend, I should've stayed behind". But Jay didn't want to hear it. "It's...it's nobody's fault. What happened happened, and we can't do anything about it. Besides, they'll get better, doctors have all sorts of antidotes." He laughed it off with a nervous chuckle, and that was that.

You never did get better. He let out a sad whimper and leaned over to press his forehead into your cheek. "You believed in me, so I believe in you. Why won't you wake up?" His voice cracked as he started to cry, but he refused to give up on you. As long as your heart was beating, he would-

What was that noise? His entire body went rigid as he stopped crying immediately. This was not supposed to happen. He pressed the nurse button, three times just in case, then two more times, before a handful of doctors rushed into the room. "They're flat lining, get the defibrillator while I start CPR." One of them ordered the others around before she began pushing on your chest.

"Sir, you're going to have to sit outside, we need the space." He was kicked out, and could only watch through the window as doctors surrounded your bed and tried to get your heart pumping again. One of them caught him looking, and closed the curtains so he wouldn't have to witness something so scary. The only problem is that he wanted to watch. He wanted to watch them save you, and you would wake up, and you would be feeling better, and you'd give him a big hug like always.

One of the nurses dashed out of the room. "Are they going to be okay?" He tried to smile hopefully, but his voice cracked, showing how scared he was.

The nurse flashed him a rushed smile, one he couldn't tell was positive or not. "I can't-I can't talk right now, sir." And she was gone.

So he waited, and waited...and waited. Staring anxiously at the clock as the minutes ticked by in seconds, he listened to the muffled yelling and machinery going on until finally, nearly 10 minutes later, it was quiet. The door opened, and he rushed in. "(Y/N), are you okay? Are you..." He trailed off. Why were you sleeping? "Why did you take them off life support if they aren't awake yet?" He refused to register the possibility of death, but he'd have to face it eventually. "(Y/N), are you tired? It's me-" you hand was cold. "Do...do you need a blanket?" He sniffed, tearing up as he tried not to cry in front of the doctors. "Come on, (Y/N), say something." His voice began to crack again as he hugged your body. "I want you to come home."

"Sir, I'm sorry. They...they didn't make it." The doctor tried to console him.

He wanted to yell at them, demand why they didn't put all their effort into saving you, but he knew better than to be rude over something that couldn't be helped. He just needed this last hug, even though you, his older sibling who could comfort him over anything, could no longer hug him back. "I'm sorry, (Y/N). I'm so, so sorry." He whispered to you as he sobbed into your shoulder. "I would've done anything to prevent this."

Years later, he stood in front of your grave, with someone new by his side. "Dad, who's that?"

"Well, that's (Y/N), my older sibling." He answered with a sad smile.

They pouted a little, "but (Y/N)'s my name."

He chuckles, "I know. Sometimes parents name their kids after something they love, to show them they love them too." His kid had your eyes, and was even your gender. It was almost like he was an echo of you.

"Did you love your sibling?" They asked with a curious look.

He nodded, "a lot. I loved them very much. They were my best friend, and believe it or not, the stuffed animal you're holding used to be theirs."

(Y/N) Smith-Walker thought for a moment, staring at the slightly worn toy they were carrying around. "Then why are they under the ground?"

"They're taking a long, long nap. You won't get to see them until you're much older." Jay watches his and Nya's child kneel down in front of your stone and speak to it.

"Hi, (Y/N), I'm also (Y/N). Dad says we'll get to meet someday, and then maybe we can be friends, too!"

Well, he certainly wasn’t expecting this. Not only was he adopted, his biological father was the Cliff Gordon, and he had an entire extension of family he didn’t know about.

So, logically, after the events with Nadakhan, he went to visit his aunt and uncle.

“Where are you off to, Zaptrap?” Cole asked, not looking up from his video games.

“Oh, uh,” he wasn’t sure how he was going to explain to the others that he was adopted, his parents are dead, and he’s now off to see the rest of his biological family. “Just...out, I guess. Nothing in particular.”

“Huh, really? Usually you’re up to something...do you have a secret girlfriend I don’t know about?” He teased.

“What? Never!” He cried out. He knew his heart belonged to Nya. “I’m visiting family.” It was technically true.

“Tell Ed and Edna I said hi, then.” Cole waved him off before going back to his games.

Hopefully Jay wouldn’t run into anymore problems. Having memorized the address already, he summoned his elemental dragon and made his way there with ease. The house was pretty far away, at the far edge of Ninjago in an isolated village. The closer he got, the more nervous he became. Would his aunt and uncle even like him? Would they be proud of him for being a ninja? What if they-

By the time his mind stopped racing, he saw he was already at the doorstep to their house. It was a pale shade of blue, and nicely sized. Various blue flowers sprouted from the front yard; so they liked the color blue, that was good. “You can do this, Jay, they like blue and blue is you.” He held his breath as he rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, a middle aged woman came and answered the door. “Uh, hi there, ma’am! My name is Jay Walk - I mean - Jay Gordon. My father was Cliff Gordon, do you happen to-”

“Jay?” She spoke with affection, “is it really you, my dear?” She began to tear up, “it’s been so incredibly long, we all thought you were dead! Please, please come in!” She shuffled to the side to let him in.

Well, this was going better than he thought, but what did she mean by ‘we’?

“Honey, come down, we have a visitor I think you’d like to see!” She called upstairs, then she turned to him, “go have a seat in the living room, I’ll go ready some snacks and juice, you must be starving.”

“Oh, no, you don’t really have to...” he trailed off. He went and sat in a chair, as told, and looked around. There were a couple toys and books scattered around the area, and he wondered who they belonged to. There were baby photos on the wall, but it was hard to tell who they were of. If a kid lived here, it sure was quiet. Were they...he’d better not bring it up.

A man who looked a lot like Cliff showed up at the bottom of the stairs, and looked him up and down. “Who’s this?”

“Jay!” His aunt exclaimed, coming out with a pitcher of juice, cups, cheese, and crackers all on a tray. “It’s our nephew.” She beamed.

“Well I’ll be!” His uncle’s eyes widened in surprise and disbelief. “The Jay Gordon! Look at you, all grown up. We all thought you were dead.”

“Scott!” His aunt snapped at him, “you don’t say something like that to your nephew!”

“Oh, uh, it’s fine!” Jay assured them, “I know this thing is kind of sudden.”

“Don’t worry yourself at all, dear! Your uncle just doesn’t know his manners.” She pours some juice and hands it to Jay, who thanks her and starts to sip at it. “When Cliff, your father, decided he couldn’t raise you on his own, we offered to take care of you, but somewhere along the way, he lost you! It was quite the tragedy, and we all thought you were gone. What a miracle it is to have you with us, now!”

“Funny story, actually, I was adopted by this really nice couple, Ed and Edna Walker. They’ve been taking care of me this whole time.” He explained with a grin.

“Oh dear, how thoughtless of me!” His aunt began to fret, “we’ve been calling you Gordon all this time, would you prefer Walker?”

“Walker is okay, but it’s fine if you call me Gordon.” Jay could really use a break. Sure he talked a lot, but he hardly knew his aunt and she was already acting like she’d known him all his life.

As if the Cloud Kingdom heard him, he heard a tiny voice from the top of the stairs, “mama, are the people gone? I’m hungry.”

So they did have a kid, and they were still alive... He had a cousin?!

“Come downstairs, (Y/N), come meet your cousin!” Your mother urged.

It was quiet for a bit, but then he could hear tiny footsteps coming down, until a little face peeked out from behind the banister. You were so cute! His own little cousin! You shyly stared at him, not saying a thing.

“Hi there! I’m Jay.” He smiled at you. This appeared to be the wrong thing to do as you squeaked and ran back upstairs.

“Oh, don’t mind them. They’re incredibly shy at first, but once you get to know them, they become a little chatterbox! You see, (Y/N) doesn’t have very many friends, so it would be nice if you could visit them sometimes.” His aunt told him.

Jay grinned, “of course! I’d be happy to.” He spent the rest of his time talking with his extended family, about himself, his work as a ninja, and a little about you. He learned that you were obsessed with the color blue, knew everything there was to know about dolphins, and even chewed stuff a lot when you were little.

He ended coming over once or twice a week when he had the day off, and soon after a month, you actually opened up to him. You were from avoiding him, to getting things from the living room while he was in it, to playing with your toys and reading out in the open. You hadn’t spoken a word to him until today. “Jay!” You peeped, waving to him from the kitchen.

He was surprised to hear you speak to him finally, but brushed it off for the sake of not wanting you to feel weird for talking. “What’s up, (Y/N)?”

“Look what mama got me!” You showed him a necklace with blue rubber balls around it. “She did it so I could stop chewing on my clothes.” You explained, talking to him as if you’d been friends since forever. You put the pieces in your mouth to show him.

"It looks really nice." He complimented. He didn't hear a thing from you for the rest of the day, but he didn't mind, at least he made some progress.

That's all he got for his next three visits, a little greeting and an update on what was happening in your life, until today when you were in the kitchen. "Jay!" You squealed, running up to him for a hug.

"My, isn't that a surprise!" His aunt giggled from the living room, reading the newspaper, "usually little (Y/N) hates hugging, and being touched in general. It looks like they really like you!"

He was surprised to hear of this. You were warming up to him! A lot, it seems! "Well, what's got you excited?" He followed you into the kitchen and you pointed to the oven.

"Mama and I made cookies. You can have some, and even bring some to your ninja team, too!" You started to chew on your necklace a bit, looking out to see your mother. "I want to show you something, it's a secret." You whispered, then started to run up the stairs.

"Hey, uhm, am I allowed to go upstairs?" He quickly asked his aunt, not wanting to overstep his boundaries.

"Of course! Just don't break anything, okay?"

He agreed, then followed you upstairs to your bedroom, where you locked the door after and had him sit on your bed. Your room was coated in the color blue, and you had several pictures of dolphins drawn and hung up on your wall, and little dolphin figures and toys scattered on the floor. Other things you had were neatly stacked on shelves or put in drawers. "You have to promise not to tell mama and papa about this, okay?" He nodded, and you sighed, breathing in and out once before you closed your eyes and focused on something.

A breeze flew by his face, and he looked around to see if your window was open, but it wasn't. Next thing he knew, the toy dolphins were floating around, jumping and swimming around as if they were real animals in an ocean of air. He awed at it for a moment, before turning to you. "So, wait, you have elemental powers? Of wind?" He sure hoped Morro wasn't related to you in any way, because then there was a chance he just helped kill off his great uncle, or something, for a second time. That would be an awkward conversation.

You nodded, "but you can't tell anyone! My parents would freak out, the kids at school would make fun of me even more, and-!"

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Jay assured you before you could rile yourself into a panic. You were already starting to chew on your necklace again, "I promised I wouldn't tell, right? And a promise is a promise. Plus, I have a secret for you." He winked. "Do you think you can make the air go in a really fast circle, right there?" He pointed to the ceiling, and you nodded, pointing with your fingers and waving your arms in circles. "Watch this," he used his index finger to zap the air, and the blue lightning spun around, containing itself and making a bright light in your room.

You squealed in delight, and used your element to move the lightning and shift it into different shapes. "Look, a cat! Now a tree! Now a dolphin!"

He spent four hours in your room with you, playing with your element and mixing it with his, and generally having fun with his beloved cousin. His aunt eventually called the two of you down for dinner, and boy were the two of you statically charged. You kept kicking each other under the table and zapping each other, giggling like children. Which was appropriate for you, but him, not so much. Nobody here judged him, though.

"Mama, can Jay sleepover today?" You asked.

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him." She answered, going to the living room to watch television.

Jay worried about if his team would mind, but he figured they might not even notice. He was going out without them more and more often. But at the same time, it wasn't like he could keep you secret from them forever. "Yeah, I can spend the night. I'll have to go early in the morning, though. I don't have anything packed."

He went back up to your room, where you played with your powers a little more before delving into the topic of dolphins. It wasn't exactly surprising to know that you knew nearly everything there was to know about dolphins, but it was still something, since most kids your age didn't know this much. This went on until you started to explain to him color theory and why blue was your favorite. "I like it mostly though because it makes me calm down. I can look at it and it makes me go to sleep at night."

"There's this girl I like, her name is Nya, and she also likes the color blue. I think she'd like you a lot. She also has water powers, so I bet she can talk to dolphins for you."

"Really?" You awed.

"Yeah!" Obviously it would take you a bit to become comfortable enough to talk to her, but he believed you could do it eventually.

Soon enough, the two of you had to go to bed, and Jay slept on the couch. When he woke up, he was surprised to see you all curled up on his chest, hugging your dolphin stuffed animal. Man, you loved those things. At least he knew what to get for your birthday in three months.

After a breakfast of blueberry pancakes and orange juice, he said his goodbyes to his little cousin and flew off on his dragon. When he got home, it was already after noon, and he was ready for some lunch.

"Where have you been?" Cole asked with a teasing grin. The other ninja were gathered around the living room, also curious about where he was.

"Yeah, you were gone all night." Nya added.

He shrugged, might as well rip the metaphorical band aid off. "I just had a sleepover at my cousin's house. No biggie."