NINJAGO: Amateurs of Adulthood

A1

Jay hit the pile of bodies with a thud, instantly feeling bad that he might have injured someone during his fall

"Jay!" Kai called out, gritting his teeth before swinging more punches at HeartBreaker

"Ooo, this one should be so much fun." HeartBreaker giggled while they blocked each and every hit Kai threw at them. "I can feel all the sorrow and jealousy in his heart! Looks like somebody fell too hard, aye...?!" HeartBreaker teasingly asked before pulling a long white string on the base of the tank bag

In moments, Jay felt a sort of energy being sucked out of him. His eyes glowed a vibrant pink while a mist like substance of the same color escaped his lips. His body felt weak and lifeless, though he tried to fight it, he felt himself falling into a deep sleep. However, it wasn't the peaceful kind, Jay faded into sleep with hate in his heart, as if glass shards were stuck inside his throat, and tears would spill out of his eyes at any moment.

"Jay!"

"Fight it, Jay!"

"Jay!"

"Get up, Jay!"

The redhead couldn't even tell who was talking to him, his vision was blurred, and his hearing muffled. Jay had almost forgot...the insanely nostalgic feeling of heart break.

Jay sat in a tree, high above the crowd as fireworks danced in the air, he froze. This night would always be ingrained in his mind, it was the night Nya broke up with him.

Jay watched his past self carefully, they were in the crowd, laughing and talking in their casual clothes while they watched the fireworks. Jay was holding a bucket of popcorn while Nya held the big, blue teddy bear that Jay had won for her in a ring toss game

His heart ached, the sadness that he was so convinced he had gotten over had come back and slapped him in the face harder than he expected

When the fireworks settled, people started to walk away, but Jay and Nya walked slower than others, until they just weren't walking at all. Jay watched himself with a heavy heart, the redheaded boy was so excited, talking to his girlfriend about the entire FNAF lore for what seemed to be the 4,000th time. He braced himself for impact, this was the moment his heart was going to be shattered, he remembered it all too well

"...Jay." Nya said, in almost a whisper

"And then they released Security Breach a while ago so-"

"Jay...!" Nya said louder, getting his attention

The redhead smiled and turned to face his girlfriend, "Yes~?"

"I..." Nya laughed at his smug answer, before clearing her throat and speaking up again, "I need your full attention for this..."

Jay turned towards her fully this time, cocking his head in confusion, "Hm?"

Jay's jaw tensed as Nya took in a deep breath. "You know...you know, I really love you...and I'm never not gonna love you..."

Jay cringed as he watched himself smile. He turned away from Nya and started to take a few steps forward. "I know~"

"But I think we should be friends."

Jay stopped walking.

He stayed up in the tree, looking down at himself, looking down at his world slowly crumble.

"...What...?" Jay asked turning around to face Nya. She stood firm, but remorse was written all over her face

"I...I can't keep you like this anymore, not while I know it doesn't feel the same." Nya declared, staring Jay in the eye, looking for some sort of positive emotion

"Are you-...Is this a joke...?" Jay asked. He cringed from the tree remembering how his voice cracked when he asked that

Nya shook her head in silence. "I love you, Jay...I'm just not in love with you...anymore..."

Jay stood still, watching Nya with watery eyes and parted lips, desperately waiting for the part where she would bust out laughing and say it was all a joke, but it never came.

"Wait, wait- wait..." He said all of a sudden, covering his eyes with one of his hands while the other held the bin of popcorn close to his waist. "We've been together for two years I-... when did you- how did you even get to this conclusion? Tell me...just tell me so I can make it better and we can-"

"Jay." The black haired girl cut him off, "I can't do this."

A single stray tear ran down the right side of Jay's face. He remembered how much this next part was going to hurt as he watched himself cry and stumble over his words

"...B-But...the engagement..." Jay whimpered

Jay's heart hurt having to watch this over again, but he just couldn't look away. He watched Nya fiddle with the Yang pin before taking it off of her shirt and extending her hand out to Jay

"I'm sorry..."

Jay took the Yang pin from her hand and just stared at it, he examined it for so long he almost forgot where he was. He just wished that this was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that he would wake up from at any moment

The bin of popcorn fell from Jay's hands as a muffled sob escaped from his throat. The freckled boy quickly turned to opposite direction and ran away. There was nothing else he could do, he had to run, he'd rather break down on his own than let Nya see him crumble. He knew it was a weak move, but this was shattering, he didn't know what proper emotion to feel, but he knew it was nothing good

"Jay...!" Nya called out

Jay watched his past self run from the scene in pain. Yeah, the hurt had subsided a bit since that day, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt at all.

The images around him blurred and faded, they switched to the boy's room at home, Jay remembered this part of the night, when he went home and cried for hours in Cole's arms. Zane was out buying all Jay's favorite snacks while Kai didn't really know what to do. He'd comforted the redhead as long as he physically could, now he stood in the kitchen, waiting for his sister to come home so they could have their own little chat.

Jay remembered it well, he was sitting in own bunk, watching his past self ball his eyes out on Cole's bed while the taller boy cradled him like a baby

Jay rolled onto his back in Cole's lap and covered his face, even though it was obvious there was no stopping the tears

"Fuck, what did I do wrong...?" Jay sniffled and whined

Cole caressed the back of his head and kissed his forehead. "You ain't do nothing wrong, you were perfect..."

Jay watched himself sob into Cole's chest as a strange feeling started to fill his own

Was Cole always this...warm?