Work Text:
The kitchenette of The Destiny’s Bounty was a familiar place for Zane.
At least, he’s pretty sure it is. A lot of his memories, his past memories, are still fuzzy from the whole… dying thing. Being killed and then being revived via a robotic copy really put a strain on one’s memories, to say the least. He’d been trying not to think about it for too long. Zane’s hoping on making lots of new memories with his teammates to fill the gaping holes there.
But maybe this time he needs those memories back, he thinks, staring at the pot of noodles in front of him. He knows what goes in next. It’s a sweet and spicy teriyaki sauce that makes the pork and noodles sing and keeps the dish a favorite among the ninja. The thing is, it’s a homemade sauce, and Zane can’t remember a single thing about it past that. Would it need chicken or vegetable stock? Was it cream-based? What if he over spices it? He can’t just pick any old recipe from the internet, this one is special and important and emotionally significant to his team and they would know if something was wrong.
He wracks his brain, trying and failing to find it in any of his memory files. Trying not to panic, he double-checks and triple-checks. His teammates have lost so much, and he can’t even bring back a tiny part of their missing brother — something like one little detail of one little recipe shouldn’t be that difficult to find.
Zane starts a fourth search through his systems and ice blossoms in neat patterns on the part of the cooktop he’s leaning against. Frost starts to creep into the edges of his vision. Even though he has no need for it, Zane hears his voice hitch—
“—Zane?” Cole’s voice cuts clean through his rising panic. “Everything alright in here?”
Zane turns to face him. Cole’s standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe casually, like the room isn’t several degrees colder than it should be. “Yes.”
Cole raised his thick eyebrows skeptically, but he didn’t say anything as he joined Zane to stare longingly at the noodles. “You’re making the sweet n’ sour pork teriyaki?”
His tone is conversational, but it still sparked a rebellious note of panic in Zane. “Yes.” Zane waited a beat, before sighing, another thing he didn’t really need. “I’m — I’m having a little difficulty with it.”
“Yeah?”
Zane nodded mutely. “I’m afraid I’m going to make the sauce wrong. It was homemade and the recipe isn’t…”
“You can’t remember the recipe anymore,” Cole finished softly. He sighed, and then gently grabbed Zane’s freezing hands, grounding him. The nindroid leaned into his touch, warm and soft and comforting. “That’s no problem. I happen to remember it perfectly. How it tastes anyway.”
Zane relaxed a little, smiling slightly. “You’re suggesting that we spend longer on a trial and error experiment to find the missing ingredient rather than trying to search for it again in my memories?”
Cole picked up on the teasing in his tone and grinned. “Well, that way I get to have more of your kickass cooking.”
“Language.” Zane reminded him automatically.
Cole stuck his tongue out playfully. “If that's what gets you going, you wouldn’t last a day lumberjacking. Now you get cooking and I’ll get tasting!”
When dinner is finally served, the dish meets rave reviews. There’s a whole couple of minutes of quiet at the beginning of the meal, rare among the ninja, and it’s not just because they haven’t eaten since lunch.
Of course, Jay takes it upon himself to break the silence. “Zane, this is even better than last time you made it!” He’s met with a round of agreement from the rest of the table.
“Thank you. I was lucky to have a little help.” Zane replied, smiling at Cole. Cole beamed back, his mouth still full with noodles.
It was a lazy saturday, something all the ninja were glad to get after the paparazzi-filled nightmare the rest of the week had been. Cole would’ve loved to spend his late afternoon trying and failing to beat his friends at video games, but they were all busy. Lloyd had to go to some book signing, Kai had insisted on accompanying him, and Jay and Nya had very quietly locked themselves up in medbay for some reason. So instead he found himself drifting back to the Bounty’s gallery.
He floated through the halls, and into the doorway. Or, at least, where he thought the door was. Cole ended up phasing through the wall about a foot away from it. Whoops.
He found Zane, hard at work preparing dinner for the night. They did take turns for who made dinner each night, but Zane ended up with most of the shifts — he never seemed to mind anyway.
“Hello Cole.” Zane said, without looking up from the vegetables he was slicing.
“Zane!” Cole gave a tiny wave. “—How did you know I was here?”
He turned, meeting Cole with bright blue eyes. “I have sensors designed to detect paranormal activity. You are one big ball of it.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Cole chuckled. He floated forward so he could peek over Zane’s shoulder. “What’cha making tonight?”
Zane’s knife flashed as he continued cutting vegetables, which, upon further investigation, Cole found to be carrots and celery. “Chicken noodle soup. I thought I’d do something hearty and warm tonight, since we’ve had such a grueling week.”
Cole nodded. “It feels like it has gone on forever. And some crazy feelings of deja vu… Soup should be good for everyone.”
“Exactly.” Zane handed Cole his knife. “Chop the rest of the celery for me? I’m going to handle the broth.”
Cole nodded, and he and Zane fell into a rhythm. Cole finished the celery and Zane fired up the cooktop. Cole handed him the chicken and Zane poured it into the pot. He drifted over and watched and Zane stirred the soup contentedly.
Cole thrust his face over the soup, in some vain attempt to smell it or something, but all he got was its heat and the moisture. Disappointment pricked heavy in his chest, but it was expected by now. It had been months.
Still, he missed feeling things. And tasting things. It was cruel irony that Cole kept on drifting by the kitchen when he didn’t need to eat at all.
But Cole wasn’t going to get all caught up on longingly staring into the soup. “Soup looks great Zane! It’s gonna taste amazing tonight.”
“Thank you,” Zane smiled. “I’m curious on how you’re able to tell how great it’s going to taste though.”
“Taste-tester’s instinct!” Cole tapped the counter. “It’s the kinda thing that sticks with you beyond the grave.”
The joke would’ve made most of the other ninja pale or look away nervously, but Zane burst into tiny giggles. “See, you get it too!” Cole added, and Zane started laughing even harder.
Zane was still smiling when he stepped away from the soup, satisfied. “Can you go fetch Nya and Jay? I’ll check to see if Kai and Lloyd are back yet.”
“Of course! Gotta flaunt your talents.” Cole said, zipping off to find the rest of his family.
After his heroic return, the first thing that Cole needed was some space. Regaining feeling in your whole body after a year or so of losing it couldn’t have been a fun experience. Cole had had about a minute of a group hug, before he had too much stimulation, and had to be shuffled off somewhere cool and quiet where he could collect himself again.
Zane, an expert at following schedules, found himself in the gallery after at least half an hour of his internal clock screaming at him about dinner time. He knew that they probably wouldn’t be having dinner together because of the night they’d had, but he had to make something tonight. Not for any logical reason either, Zane just wasn’t immune to his own schedule.
He was halfway into it when he realized he was making ramen. Ramen with the fresh vegetable broth Zane had just gotten. Ramen with the little tofu bits that he definitely remembered were Cole’s favorite. Zane didn’t waste time considering if this was subconscious or not, he knew the perfect thing to do now.
Scooping some into a bowl, Zane took it to the training room. At night it was usually left empty, the ninja’s weapons arranged in a neat but complex organization system on the walls. However, tonight it was occupied, though not by Lloyd’s late-night training or Jay’s surprise triple checks on The Bounty’s security system. Leaning up against one of the walls was a lump, something that Zane’s sensors detected as Cole, wrapped in the team’s heaviest quilt.
“Good evening Cole,” Zane called out softly.
Cole looked up. “Zane!” He pulled the quilt, the part that had formed a hood over his head, off. Cole looked tired. His newly-acquired scar had barely scabbed over, and his thick black hair, fluffy below his ears before, had seemed to grow while he was a ghost — now resting on his shoulders. Despite his eyebags, Cole still looked ready to jump into action for Zane. He was just about to stand too, when Zane instead sat down next to him.
“I brought you something.” Zane said simply, handing him the bowl and a pair of chopsticks.
“What, is this—?” Cole accepted it and peered inside. “First Master, it’s —this looks so delicious — do you mind if I..?”
Zane nodded slightly, all the signal Cole needed to dig in. Cole took one bite and relaxed instantly, and then turned to Zane, smiling brightly. “If there’s one thing I’ve missed more than everything else, it’s definitely your cooking.”
If he weren’t made of titanium and the Master of Ice, Zane’s sure he would’ve blushed. “Thank you Cole. Anything to comfort a teammate.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Cole turned back to his ramen, scooting closer to Zane. Zane was acutely aware of the Master of Earth next to him, so relaxed in sharp comparison to how tense he always was as team leader, trying to lead ninjas that barely knew each other, as a ghost, always uncomfortable in his lack of a body, and earlier, overwhelmed from the experience of regaining it again. It was a nice departure from form.
After a bit, Zane broke the silence. “So, are you going to see your father soon for the Day of the Departed?”
“Am I going to—“ Cole’s eyes widened and he cursed quietly. Zane decided silently not to acknowledge it, just this once. “FSM, I completely forgot about that! Great. Maybe I can still make it if I—“
“Cole.” Zane cut him off, taking his hands gently in a way that felt familiar. “You don’t have to rush out to go meet your father. It’s very late already.”
Cole huffed. “I barely get to see my father, and I miss out the one day that’s all about family!”
Zane stopped him. “This isn’t your fault. There were some very big extenuating circumstances at play tonight.”
“Yeah. Just had to pick today to turn back into a human huh? And then I have to sit and be useless for hours because apparently senses have to hurt so much.”
Zane frowned. “Cole. Sometimes things take time. I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind seeing you the day after Day of the Departed either.”
Cole looked like he wanted to argue more, but he instead took a long breath, grounding himself. “You’re right, Zane. Thanks.”
“It is no problem.” And, to end it on a lighter note he added. “And being told I’m right is something that never gets old the six hundred and fifty-ninth time.”
“What? I’m convinced you’re making numbers up at this point.”
When Cole came back up to The Bounty the next day, he made a beeline straight for Zane, who was meditating in their sleeping quarters.
“Hey Zane?” Cole called softly, cracking open the door.
Zane didn’t look over at all, still facing the wall. “Yes?”
“You’re gonna want to update your counter to six hundred and sixty, because you were right.”
After the whole Oni situation, Cole would’ve loved to just sit back and enjoy their brand new monastery, with all its huge space and nostalgia for the simpler times, when the worst thing that could happen were snakes and skeletons that only wanted to kill him a little. Man, those were the days.
But sitting in his room in the monastery — his own separate room, they were really living it up — only made him feel an undercurrent of anxiety. It was empty, too empty at the moment. It was empty and hollow and bleak, just like the rising, swirling dark cloud of dread that made every breath painful and froze everything it touched in a haze of misery, paralyzing him with fear—
Yeah, he needed to get out of there.
Sliding his door open, he peered into the hallway. Nya’s door was closed — she was taking a nap — but nobody else was around, everyone was either out or hanging in the common area.
Cole resolved to just go out there. Walking out into the bigger space he saw Jay, Kai, and Lloyd playing some sort of co-op game, and Pixal trying to read a book, but getting amusedly distracted by them. Cole bumped into Zane, who had just been leaving.
“Oh, I’m — Sorry Zane!” Cole said, backing up.
Zane was unfazed, smiling brightly instead. “It’s no problem. I was just going to the kitchen to start dinner.”
“To the kitchen to start dinner…” Cole processed for a second. “Can I come along and help?”
“Of course.”
When they got to the kitchen, Zane immediately started preparing ingredients in such a precise and intense fashion that would’ve scared Cole if he didn’t know him. When Zane got into the kitchen he got into The Zone: while Cole and Nya had managed to avoid getting caught up in it, everyone else had managed to walk into the kitchen and mess up the wrong thing at the wrong time, and almost managed to meet the business end of Zane’s fancy set of kitchen knives. It was good for Zane to have his passions, Cole always supposed.
“I was thinking of doing that apple butter pork tonight.” Zane started, placing a large pan on the burner.
Cole, catching on, opened up the fridge. “You mean the one with the carrots and goat cheese?”
“Correct.” Zane flicked a burner on and it roared to life.
“Thank you for letting me help out in the kitchen,” Cole had already retrieved the orange vegetables, and was now starting to cut them into circular slices. “I think my reputation precedes me, no one else lets me in here.”
The pork was now placed in the pan, and it filled the air with a familiar sizzling sound. “I mean, when you mess up a pizza that spectacularly it’s bound to make a lasting impression.”
“What? Whose side are you on?”
“I might not have been able to taste it, but I doubt that I’ll ever forget everyone else’s reactions.”
“Cheese can taste good when it’s caramelized like that. And I don’t think that it got that burnt — the crust was supposed to be extra crunchy!”
Zane turned from his spot at the stove to smile cheekily at him. “Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“You want to say that to the trained ninja holding a knife?” Cole replied, holding it up for effect.
“Yes, because I am a trained chef in my element. There’s nothing in this kitchen that I couldn’t use in many different ways to defend myself.”
“You’re the elemental master of cooking now?”
“Correct.”
They both shared a laugh, and then fell into a comfortable silence. Cole finished cutting the carrots, sweeping them aside when he realized—
“This is really nice.”
Zane turned from the pork. “Yes?” he prompted gently.
“Yeah,” Cole tried his hardest to not let his voice choke up as he continued. “In the Oni… cloud… mist… thing it was so dark. And empty, and just full of nothing ever.” He fought the rising bile in his throat. “Nothing ever but hate and misery. It was awful.”
Zane looked sad. “Cole, I’m—“
“But this — this is making something. It’s full of life and passion and —“ Cole cut himself off, heat rushing to his face. “Thank you for letting me be a part of it.”
Zane was at his side at once, his cool hands over Cole’s. “Of course Cole. I couldn’t cook a proper meal without my best taste-tester around.”
Cole let a not-wet-at-all smile dance on his lips. “Well, who else here has my talents? Kai?”
“He couldn’t taste anything if it wasn’t covered in five layers of hot sauce.” Zane agreed.
“Yeah…” Cole wanted to stand for a bit and enjoy this moment, there were so few still moments in the ninja’s lives that it was worth savoring. But something else pricked at the back of his mind… “Zane! The pork!”
Zane tensed immediately, and rushed back to save it just in time. He and Zane shared a releived smile, before the two settled back into a relaxed rhythm as they made the meal together: season the carrots, get out the cookie tray out, and place the carrots and tenderloin on the tray together so it would finish cooking in the oven. It was easy to work in the kitchen with Zane, even though Cole had avoided cooking as much as he could, when he wasn’t being yelled out loudly by Jay or Kai. Maybe it was just their battle-hardened teamwork coming through, he didn’t know.
Now that the meat was in the oven for a while, Zane was a little more relaxed — he didn’t have to worry about it for a bit. He was now focusing on making the titular apple butter, which involved a lot of applesauce and a little bit of butter, big surprise there. Cole didn’t have anything else to do at the moment, so he scrolled through Chirp mindlessly.
“Is there any reason in particular why you wanted to assist me tonight?” Zane asked suddenly.
Cole looked up and shrugged. “Team building exercise?”
Zane turned around from his familiar spot at the cooktop and gave Cole A Look. “Really?”
“Well,” Cole wanted to hold on a little longer, but he quailed under the nindroid’s suspicious gaze. “Thought I was due for a change. To mix it up a little?”
“Is learning how to cook the right change for you?” Zane asked, trying to not sound super curious.
“Well, I don’t know. It could be.” Cole frowned. He didn’t really have a good reason, reflecting on his split-second decision. “Everything else is always changing, so I thought I should give it a try.”
“Hm. That’s very insightful of you, Cole.” Zane said warmly.
“I—“ Cole felt himself snap out of his contemplative mood so abruptly that he startled himself. “Thanks Zane. Glad you think my jumbled up thoughts are insightful.”
“You usually are, even if you don’t notice it.” Zane said, as sincerely as he could, before turning back to his work as if he hadn’t said anything important.
Zane’s been trying not to drift off as easily.
It was never a problem before. Being a nindroid, a robot, it was very easy to set his mind to one task and just do it. Bond with teammates. Train for the future. Save the world. Zane could throw himself into his tasks until he was the very best at it, for himself and everyone else that depended on him.
But in the Never-Realm, he got lost completely. He got lost in ever swirling winds and snow, in easy lies and broken promises. In the pleas and cries for mercy that went unheard, whipped away into a blizzard that he maintained, motionless, for countless years.
Out of the Never-Realm, for good he hoped, Zane would accidentally get lost. He wanted to remember who he would be sparring against today. He wanted to crush his teammates mercilessly in video games. He wanted to be able to pay attention, the whole time, during briefings. Zane would try to start and then get swept up and away in blinding flurries until someone would have to gently snap him out of it again.
He didn’t want to inconvenience his family any further, to halt their plans because he couldn’t focus for them. So he found himself alone in his room instead, legs crossed neatly, eyes closed. Maybe he was planning on sleeping. Perhaps he was meditating. Zane didn’t know. He was frozen where he was.
There was a distant knock at the door, and the sound of what could be said door being pushed open. Then a clear voice rang out. “Hey Zane, you okay?”
It was Cole. Zane breathed out a little, releasing some unnoticed tightness in his chest. He gathered himself up to respond as if he was unshaken. “Yes.”
Cole got closer, until he was right in front of him. “You’re sure? Because you’re kinda missing something…”
Zane’s eyes flew open, and he searched his teammates face for some sort of hint on what he was trying to clue him in about. It turned up inconclusive. “I’m missing something?” He repeated cautiously.
“Tonight’s your night?” Cole tried. “For dinner?”
Oh. Oh. Zane shot up out of bed. For the first time in a while, he felt like cursing. “Dinner! I should get started then, before it’s even later—“
Cole caught his arm before Zane could walk past him out of the room. “Hold on. I don’t think I can make you cook in your condition.”
His condition ? Zane’s anxiety spiked to dangerous levels. “I can assure you that my all of my systems are in perfect working order—“
“That’s not what I meant.” Cole said firmly, not letting go of his arm. “I think you should take a break from making dinner, just for tonight.”
“No,” frustration welled up in his throat, threatening to choke Zane if he could. “I’m not going to sit and be useless just because of what happened. I’m a member of this team, and I’m going to contribute my fair share.”
“Just for tonight.” Cole repeated. He let go of Zane’s arm heavily with a metallic groan both of them elected to ignore. Then, more lightly, he continued. “And you’ll give your fair share of effort, you’re helping me as my taste tester.”
Zane had to stop, genuinely stop, as his confusion threw him for a loop. He wanted to protest more, starting with a “I’m going to do this by myself if it kills me” with a “you know I don’t have tastebuds, right?” and “that’s not really that fair of a share” for good measure. All he could manage at the moment was a confused “Huh?” before being attacked by a blanket and very gently dragged down the monastery hall to the kitchen.
It was the heavy quilt that only came out in emergencies, a part of Zane noted. It was usually reserved for nightmares and late night group therapy sessions, and usually Zane was the one draping it over shoulders, not the one being tightly wrapped in it. The pressure felt nice, he realized.
Cole steered him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table, then darting to the counter, where some ingredients were already laid out. Of course he had already planned it. Zane absentmindedly wondered how many more strategies Cole had come up with when comforting his teammates.
“Okay. So I have some stuff set out,” he motioned to his pile, which included chicken, arugula, and barbecue sauce. “And I’m gonna use it to make a flatbread.”
“A flatbread,” Zane repeated, then after a beat he smiled. “Not a pizza?”
Cole shut him down immediately. “No. That name is cursed. I’m never ever calling anything I ever make again a pizza, please don’t bring that upon me.”
“Sure Cole.” Zane felt lighter than he had been in a while, despite the heavy blanket and the small room. “But I can’t stop everybody else from calling it a pizza, you know that, right?”
“Stop being right Zane. You’re killing me.”
For all of Cole’s claims about needing Zane for culinary assistance, he didn’t really need it. The recipe was relatively simple, really just a matter of assembling the ingredients together and putting it in the oven, and despite what everyone would claim, Cole was actually turning out to be a half-decent cook. Really, the most Zane helped out was by being someone Cole could talk the process through with, and maybe stop him from adding that much sauce, come on.
Despite being sidelined, Zane didn’t feel useless. Cole always had a special talent for making people feel included after all, and he was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it this time.
After a long couple of minutes of trials and tribulations (for Cole mostly, he’d barely managed to get it out of the oven unburned), Cole finished the flatbread and set it out on the table, in front of Zane. “Ta-da! It’s been finished And not burnt!”
Zane gave him a little round of applause, which Cole gladly took, bowing in turn. “This is the best looking food I can recall you making.”
“Unfortunately, you recall correctly,” Cole admitted sheepishly. He then quickly added: “But! With your steady guidance, I’ve been able to top my personal best!”
“You’re a decent cook already.”
“Wonder where I learned it from.” Cole shot back without hesitation.
Zane’s next thoughts were similarly self-deprecational, but he tamped them down fiercely before they could finish their arc. “Thank you for making me help you Cole. It was really what I needed.”
“Hey that’s my line!” Cole chuckled. “But really Zane. It’s what family does. Don’t forget that.”
“I’ll try not to. I promise.” Zane murmured back. His unspoken “this time” hung in the air heavily.
They were back on The Bounty again, sailing around Ninjago looking for adventure that was around every corner. It was nostalgic, to say the least. Besides the obvious that came with readjusting to living on a flying ship again — the constant rocking back and forth from being in midair, the tighter spaces, and the presence of only one bathroom for a ship containing a minimum of seven people — there were other things that they needed to get used to.
One was their chore rotation. After staying at Shintaro and That Whole Situation, the order they were doing was forgotten. With what going on a whole adventure under a mountain entailed, they were really just content to just get a new one… later. They were all putting it off until later.
So now whoever called dibs first got to decide dinner for the team. It became a fierce competition. The rules would go as follows: whoever had their turn last night would announce the question when it was time, and there would be a mad scramble to say dibs first, luckily involving everyone using their hard earned ninja skill set to accomplish that. Cole tried to stay relatively out of the more competitive side, but he still found himself getting caught up in it, unfortunately. There’s only so many times Kai could use his turns to make them go out to Chen’s Noodle House. He’d had enough, and it was time for executive action.
Jay had his turn last night, where they’d made tacos that were admittedly pretty good. Now, he was in the doorway of The Bounty’s small lounge with a strange smile on his face, and Cole could feel it coming in his bones. He stole a look at his immediate competition: Lloyd sat across from him scrolling through his phone, Zane was reading a book from his recent trip to the library next to him, and Kai was a ways away, already looking up from his puzzle with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
“SO!” Jay shouted, like he was the referee of a fighting match instead of the previous night’s chef. (Knowing how Jay had risked almost getting impaled by Nya the previous night to earn that position, Cole figured it was fitting.) “WHO? WANTS! TO! FIX DINNER TONIGHT!?”
“Me!” Cole didn’t waste any time. He stood, pushing his chair away.
Someone else also had that idea it seemed, because there was an “I will” at the exact same time. It was surprising too, because Zane had made a point to avoid this kind of outright bloodshed.
Kai, whose “DIBS!” had fallen a few seconds late, smiled with renewed vengeance as he watched the two. Lloyd hadn’t even tried, and now he had joined with Jay to watch bewildered as the two ninja who opted out of this had joined in at the same time.
Cole wasn’t going to give Kai the bloodbath he wanted. In fact, to spite him entirely, he was going to choose peace. He extended his hand across the table to the White Ninja. “Why don’t we work together then?”
Cole didn’t know if Zane wanted to stick it to Kai, or was looking forward to cooking together — probably a mix of both. Zane met his hand and they shook on it. “I would love to.”
And together they departed for the kitchen, leaving the weight of the first compromise in the short history of Ninja Dinner Dibs to come down on the surprised onlookers.
Cole and Zane immediately went to the opposite sides of the small kitchenette. It was largely unchanged from The Bounty’s previous models, a part of Cole noted, feeling comforting in its approaching antiquity. Cole was reaching to grab a sheet pan, while Zane was setting up a frying pan on the cooktop.
“I had plans on making steak sandwiches for dinner tonight,” Zane starts. “Though I hadn’t planned on having to share the duty with someone else — I can change it if you had a different idea.”
Cole shook his head. “I didn’t really — I’m glad you had actual dinner plans. I was just thinking about something with potatoes? I just called dibs because I was sick of Kai taking us out every other day.”
“That’s the reason I decided to join in as well actually.” Zane turned to pull out a cutting board from the lower cabinets and some beef they had in the fridge. “Surrendering your morals is worth it when you won’t have to witness a fourth round of endless noodles.” He took out a knife from the block, spinning it with a flourish before starting to cut the meat into strips.
“You’d think Kai would find another way to see his girlfriend.” Cole snickered, fetching a handful of potatoes, a knife, and another cutting board for himself.
“Cole,” Zane scolded, but his tone was light and teasing. “You know they aren’t ‘Official’ yet. Kai’s made that abundantly clear over the years.”
Cole couldn’t help but snort. “He’s never gonna make his move on his own. Maybe some teasing will light a fire under him.” He continued cutting the potatoes into long strips, barely avoiding slicing his finger open.
“Perhaps,” Zane glanced quickly at the doorway, as if he was making sure that no one was listening in on them. “Is the stove on?”
“Yup. The oven on?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, cool.” Cole laid the parchment paper across the sheet, and slid the cut potatoes onto it. Across the kitchen, Zane was seasoning the beef with indistinct spices, some that Cole was sure Zane had copped from Vania — the nindroid had been eager to try new foods in the spirit of adventure. Cole’s cookie sheet went into the oven and he set the timer, then washed his hands, then pulled out his phone and started playing music to fill the tiny spaces in their kitchenette.
It was mostly campy pop songs that were popular when Cole was younger, all about girls loving boys and boys loving girls and girls being betrayed by those boys that they loved. Cole sang along, as loudly and as terribly as he wanted — there were no stuck-up judges to peer at him here — and he was encouraged when Zane joined in, probably singing haltingly because he was trying to read the lyrics off of lyric websites in his head. Together, they opined their teenage heartbreak to the world while their dishes cooked.
They were still jamming out when Cole’s timer went off. Still feeling the girl power in the moment, he danced over to the oven, pressed the timer to shut it off, and popped open the oven door. He leaned down, grabbed the cookie sheet and gave a little dramatic twirl while shutting the oven door, lost in the moment. Cole went to go set down the potatoes on the counter when he finally noticed something, burning hot in his hands—
Cole gave a surprised yelp, dropped the cookie sheet roughly on the counter, and tore over to the sink, shoving his burning hands under running water, cursing all the way. He had been so distracted in the moment that Cole had full on grabbed the hot tray with his bare hands, like it hadn’t just been in the oven, FSM he was stupid. His injured hands pulsed hot under the cool water, but Cole breathed a tiny sigh of relief — at least he had acted quickly.
Zane was hovering over his shoulder now, a tall guardian angel, face pressed in concern. “Cole! Are you alright?”
Cole smiled back at him. “Yeah. Just did something dumb.”
“You were simply swept away by the wonders of pop songs made for teenage girls.” Zane said lightly. “Let me see.”
He fished his hands out of the water and showed them to Zane, who had gone full nurse mode by now. The Ice Elemental took them, ever so gently, and cooled his hands down just right so it felt even better on Cole’s burns. The Black Ninja sighed and leaned into the contact fully, pressing his head into Zane’s chest. “I’m healed doc, it’s a miracle.” He murmured, voice muffled.
Zane let him for a little while, before gently pushing Cole off again. “Excellent. Now I’m going to get back to my dish.”
“What? Shock! Betrayal!” Cole cried, staggering back overdramatically.
Zane didn’t turn from his pan full of steak strips, the traitor. “I thought you were healed?” He called.
“Not that healed! I think I still need some specialty treatment!” Cole replied.
“You can have some more ice once dinner is served. I’m almost done.”
“I won’t make it through the night,” Cole was shaking his head, putting on his best starving Victorian orphan. “I will have surely succumbed from my wounds before then.”
“Unfortunate.” Zane responded. Then inspiration struck, and he eagerly turned back to Cole with a smug expression on his face, learned from years of living on the same ship as Jay. “Then Perish.”
Dinnertime comes swiftly after that. Cole’s patching up his burnt hands while Zane gathered everyone else, by the time he returned to the table everyone else was seated.
“‘Bout time!” Kai grins. “What’d you do to your hands?”
Cole proudly displays his bandaged and battle-damaged hands. “I just… cooked so hard that they simply couldn’t take it.”
To his credit, Zane gives Cole a whole 30 seconds before ruining his Tough Guy Moment. “He forgot to use ample hand protection when he needed to pull something out of the oven.”
The rest of the table bursts out into wheezy snickers. Nya is the first to be able to form a complete sentence. “H-he grabbed a hot tray with his bare hands?”
“Correct!” Zane replied brightly, and Cole’s teammates erupt into laughter around them.
Cole’s cheeks burn, though more out of smiling so much than embarrassment. He locks eyes with the nindroid across the table from him. “How could you?”
Zane simply shrugs nonchalantly, as if he isn’t smiling wide too.