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Everyone’s afternoon was completely free. As soon as Master Wu uttered the words, almost everyone was out the front gate, eager to spend their free time to the fullest. The reason Wu let them go in the first place was because he wanted to run a few errands, leaving Nya and Cole standing next to each other.
Cole gave her a curious, and slightly amused look, “You're not gonna go hang out with Jay?”
“He’s just going to the arcade, it’s hard to talk to him when he’s playing a game.” She rolled her eyes. “One time I tried to talk him into playing ddr and he got all embarrassed, mumbled an excuse about his leg hurting.”
“I can’t even blame him there, ddr is stressful.”
“Of course you’d think that, you hate dancing.” She smiled and lightly punched his arm, he smiled back and let her link her arm through his as they walked back inside. “Which I can’t believe, because I know you were good at it at one point, I’d love to know how to dance and I suck.”
“I don’t hate dancing.”
“No?”
“Eh, it’s complicated.”
“Think you could teach me?”
“Nah, you need an actual teacher for that.” They stopped in front of the door to his room and he opened it for her, “Please, just not my dad.”
Hearing him talk about his dad was scarce, so Nya took the opportunity.
“Yeah? Why not?” She sat down on his bed.
Her eyes followed him as he crossed the room to a box of old records.
“Oh right, I guess you never actually met him. Weird. Anyways,” he started sorting through them, “I’ve always loved classic rock, so when I started collecting records, he noticed and got me some for my birthday.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
“That’s what I thought too, when I saw the size of my present, but it turned out, hold on.” He started flipping through them faster before he made a noise of accomplishment and pulled one out. “It turned out to be soundtracks.”
He handed her the cover and she laughed in astonishment when she read the words ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ “Oh he didn’t know you at all.”
“Nope.”
He sat down across from her and folded his hands in his crossed lap, “It’s funny cause I don’t think I’d dislike musical theater so much if he didn’t shove it onto me, my mom was a huge fan of it too, she also liked to dance, she just wasn’t as vocal about it as him. After she passed away, he thought he could bond with me over it, but I didn’t wanna be reminded of her. We grieved differently.”
The pain on his face was old, but it was still there. Nya set the record aside and sat on her heels to lean over and wrap her arms around his neck. He rested his temple on her shoulder and hugged her back. His hands were big and firm and they never shook, even now. It was a testament to how good he was for the element he controlled. They sat like that for a couple of minutes before his head shot up and he accidentally knocked his head into the side of hers.
“Ow!”
“Sorry Nya, but that reminded me of something! Come here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed towards his closet.
She rubbed her ear to try and stop the stinging while he rummaged through his hanged clothes until at the very end he found what he was looking for and pulled out a gorgeous pink kimono. Nya couldn’t stop herself from gasping.
“Cole, it’s beautiful.” She breathed.
“It was my mom’s, she loved to dance in it, but wore it around the house too.”
“She had incredible taste.” It looked like it was made with silk, it probably was. Nya felt her fingers twitch trying not to reach out and touch it, it ended up not mattering because the next thing Cole said was:
“Here.”
“Huh?”
“Here. Take it.” He held it up with his hand on the hanger and his other arm underneath it.
“What? Why?”
“You said you wanted to take dance lessons, right? You can have this for when you go, or again, you can just wear it in general like she did.”
“Cole, no, I couldn’t.” But admittedly, she was already reaching out to take it from him.
“Why not? I don’t have any use for it, it doesn’t fit me, obviously.” He grinned and Nya snorted. “Plus, I’d rather actually see it being worn than never seeing it because it’s collecting dust in the back of my closet.” He placed it in her arms.
She just stared at it for a bit before laying it down on his bed and hugging him again, wrapping her arms around his torso while he put his around her shoulders with his chin resting on her head.
“Thanks.” It was muffled since her cheek was pressed against his chest, but he understood anyway.
“‘Course.”
—
A couple days later, while everyone was either in the dining room or kitchen, waiting for or preparing dinner, the door to the living room slid open and Nya shuffled her way in. She stalked behind the couch once she spotted Cole sitting on it, playing what looked like a horror game, since there was an old man with a chainsaw passing him. She quickly put her hands on his shoulders.
“Hey Nya.” He mumbled without looking away from the TV.
“You didn’t even jump! How did you hear me over the game?”
“I didn’t, I felt your footsteps.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes.
She drummed her fingers on his shoulders for a few moments and when he still wouldn’t look away, “Cole.”
He groaned in exasperation and paused the game, “What is- First Spinjitzu Master. Nya!” He stood up and jumped over the back of the couch. “It looks so good on you!”
“You think so?” She batted her eyelashes
“Dude, come on.” He scoffed, but it didn’t hide his small smile.
“Haha, you’re right, I know so.” She looked down to fix some of the fabric, even though it was perfectly straight and needed no fixing.
When she looked back up, Cole had turned his face away. “Cole!” She reached up to tuck a few of his locs behind his ear to reveal that his eyes were watering, but he was smiling.
She brought her other hand up to turn his face towards her and she smiled as well when he avoided eye contact with her.
“It’s weird seeing it on a person again, but in a good way, and I’m glad you’re the person wearing it.” He finally looked at her and she dropped her arms as he blinked away the tears.
“Honestly, I was scared it wasn’t gonna fit me, either be too big or too small, but it seems like she had a similar work out routine to me.” She adjusted the obi a bit. “Of course that’s not all that goes into body type, so I was pleasantly surprised when it fit almost perfectly.”
“Seems like fate to me.” He reached over to fix her bangs.
“Definitely.” She grinned.
He put his hand on his hip and grinned back. “Wanna see me get past this stage?” He jabbed his thumb at the screen.
“Sure! What game are you playing?”
“Oh Nya, you’d love it! It’s a horror game-“ as he rambled on, they crossed over to the other side of the couch to sit down and he picked up his controller. He handed it to her when he finished describing the general premise.
She looked up at him with her eyebrow raised.
“I can’t teach you how to dance, but I can teach you how to get through this creepy house. It can get frustrating, but don’t give up, I’ll tell you what to do.” He paused. “When it comes to what buttons to press, at least. I’m gonna make you figure the puzzles out.”
She nodded, “Got it.”
Nya had just unpaused the game when Zane slid the door open. “Dinner is ready. I made spaghetti pomodoro and it turned out great!”
“Oh no, I gotta change out of this before I eat if that's what we’re having.”
“You go do that. We can play through the chainsaw fight afterwards.”
She almost asked about it, before biting her tongue. Later.
“K, see you in a sec.”