Ninjago - One-shots and short Stories

An Acquired Taste // Jay x Nya

I apologise for not having updated this book in a while; I'm trying to finish one of my other stories, but I should be back soon 😉.

This one shot was first published in the Jaya Clan Writing Challenge book on our shared account Sop4bluefanSuncake51, but I thought I might as well post it here too 🙂.

My challenge, given by Amy4Walker , was to 'write a Season 8 Jaya moment'. The story is set at the beginning of episode 83 but mentions something that happened earlier in the season and has been bugging me ever since 😉.

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Just an Acquired Taste?

"Mo'. Mo'." Little Wu sqealed as Nya kept spinning him around. Following the arrests of Harumi and the Sons of Garmadon, the Ninja were celebrating their victory at Laughy's, by Dareth's invitation, i.e. the brown Ninja's insistence.

"Phew, you're getting heavy from drinking all that tea; I think I need a little break now, okay?" Nya put him down.

The boy pouted. "Ninja neve' quit." He stated firmly.

"And I'm not quitting." The Master of Water chuckled, planting a quick kiss on his tiny nose. "I promise I'll dance with you again later, sweetie, but first, I'd like to sit down for a bit and talk to Jay now, okay?"

She hadn't spent much time with her boyfriend recently. First, the team had temporarily split up searching for Wu, and then the last couple of days had been rather busy - to put it mildly. And it almost felt to Nya as if Jay had even avoided being alone with her... taken together, she really needed to talk to him right now.

"'kay." The child agreed, visibly disappointed.

"What about I'll song you a song instead?" The Master of Earth suggested, lifting him onto his shoulders.

"Yay." Wu cheered. "I wunt Li'l Glow Wo'm. Pweeeaaase."

As Cole started singing his signature song, Nya made her way over to the table where some of her teammates, including her boyfriend, were sitting.

Only Lloyd and his mother were sitting on a separate table in a corner. Understandably, the green Ninja didn't feel much like celebrating as he was still struggling to come to terms with with the princess' betrayal – and how easily she had managed to play him.

While Kai and Zane were happily chatting to each other, Nya noticed that Jay was not taking part in their conversation, which was very unusual for the chatty blue Ninja. Instead, he was silently staring at his drink – that he had hardly touched – his purple party hat was sitting on the table instead of on top of his messy brown curls.

Nya gently touched his arm, causing the Master of Lightning to turn his head to look at her with those stunning sapphire orbs she loved so much. Yet, right now they were not sparkling as bright as they normally did.

"Hey." Nya smiled. "Mind if I join you?" She winked at her boyfriend.

"Sure." He replied, less than excited. "Choose a seat."

"Thanks." Nya beamed at him, sitting down next to her boyfriend and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"So, the Ninja have saved the day once again, right?" She started, expecting him to crack a joke or boast about his abilities. But neither happened.

"Yeah, I guess we did..." He mumbled.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly, placing her hand on his arm.

"Did you mean it?" He suddenly snapped.

"Wha-what?" Nya was perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

"What you said at the palace."

"Oh, of course, I did. I didn't like her at first but then she got me with all that talking about..."

"No, not that." He interrupted her harshly. "When we were training and giving some 'dating advice' to Lloyd. You said that my sense of humour was an acquired taste." He looked upset.

Nya understood. "Jay, I'm sorry..." So she hadn't imagined it, he had avoided her since that conversation.

"I know that the guys don't always enjoy my sense of humour but I thought that you liked it. You've always said that I'm the only one who can make you laugh. And that has always been my favourite thing to do. But turned out you were laughing about me rather than my jokes."

"No, I..."

"Why did you never tell me?" He continued undeterred. "Haven't you learned that keeping things from each other was what broke us apart the first time? Or did you think that I am too weak and just couldn't take it?"

Nya looked into his eyes. "That's not true. I do like your sense of humour." She stated. "And I love it when we joke around or when you try to cheer me up. I really do." She took his hand into hers. "But I just didn't think it was the right advice to give to Lloyd. Harumi didn't come over as the kind of person whose affection could be gained by cracking a funny joke."

"And unfortunately for him, it turned out that the way into her heart is through the destruction of Ninjago." Jay muttered somberly.

"Exactly." Nya nodded. "Also, he's not you. As I've told you before, you're the best you. Which includes your sense of humour. And Lloyd's the best him. If he's ever to win a girl's heart it should be by being himself. Not by trying to be someone else. I even went back and explained that to him afterwards. But I should have talked to you about it as well..." She apologised. "I am sorry if I upset you."

"Well, I could have asked you about it rather than avoiding you..." Jay admitted meekly.

Nya smiled at him. "There's only one you, and that one is for me."

"For you alone." He smiled back at her, running his hand through her raven black hair. "I am yours."

"And I am yours. Forever." She cupped his freckled cheeks with her hands. "And how we do that is none of the others' business." Nya drew him in for a deep kiss.

"Uhm, I'm afraid if you start making out at our table, it will become our business..." Kai's voice interrupted them.

Blushing heavily, the couple broke apart.

"And here's another reason why I didn't want to talk about our relationship during a training session." Nya mumbled. "We should have invited Skylor..."

"I've tried, but she is working today." Kai stated.

"So, you're just jealous of us..." His sister smirked. "Get used to this." She kissed her boyfriend again, not letting anyone disturb them this time.

"Do you know what is an acquired taste?" The blue Ninja asked when they finally pulled away. "This song."

Cole was still entertaining their littlest team member, repeating the same song over and over again.

"No, it isn't." Nya shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever get used to it."

"C'mon." She put the party hat on Jay's head and pulled him from his seat. "Let's show them how it's done."

"Wait for us." Kai jumped up from his chair, followed by Zane. "Let's all sing together. And I have an idea which song we're gonna do."