Jay didn't sleep that night, neither did he sleep for the next or the next.

What day was it again?

The blue ninja took out his phone - which he almost always forgets about - and turned it on, if only for a brief moment and saw it was Wednesday. He squints his eyes, it had been a week already since the incident? He shrugs, shoving his phone back in his pocket and turning back to the tv screen.

It had been a while, everyone in the team had decided bonding was in order (nobody voiced it was because of the growing rift between them all, he doesn't think they can handle it). He shifts in his spot in the couch, leaning into the armrest and settling his arm on it to hold up his head. He ignores the growing pit in his chest that seems to gnaw at his energy and decides to pick up a controller.

Lloyd sat in front of him, leaning back on his feet that were starting to prickle due to vertigo but Jay didn't have the heart to tell him to move. His gaze travels to the screen where lines of code worked to give them the old fashioned game they were playing, Fist To Face 2. He watches patiently for the round to finish to join the others in the all vs. all fighting game. Jay purposefully avoids looking at his hands until one of them starts itching, instinctively, his attention gravitates and he stares.

(Suddenly, he hears female, high pitched screams ringing in his ears as his muscles flexed to hold up Samantha's weight. He feels the burn as his body vehemently held onto Grayson with only just sheer willpower alone. He felt as if he was about to split in half from the uneven distribution of weight. Blood and dirt caked his hands and his rough palms scraped against her nimble and soft ones as he was tugged away to survive the encounter alone.)

"Suck it Kai!" He heard Nya cry out and he turns his attention back to the present, albeit with much effort. Sapphire eyes focus on the girl who started mocking her older brother while Cole, Lloyd and Zane kept playing at the game. Nya was eliminated quite quickly after defeating Kai since she was more focused at laughing at him than her own character which everyone had silently agreed to target.

While the game raged on, shouts and yells coming from the remaining players and cheers and boos coming from the rest of the crowd he started to think. Think about Nya, as painful as it had been before - and it still stung - it wasn't bad. He didn't resent Cole anymore for chasing a woman who was never really after him anyway. The woman had slipped from his fingers like water and found another and he felt like he was finally coming to terms with that.

A small smile slipped onto his face and while he didn't feel joy, he didn't feel any joy in the moment, at least he could pretend. Comfortably numb, he could deal with that, better than it usually was. Finally, Zane's laugh and Cole's groans of dismay seemed to reach his ears and he focuses again.

"Come on Cole, you just got your butt handed to you." Lloyd faked sympathy, patting Cole on the back as he pouted playfully. He snorts and rolls his eyes. "Come on, I'll show ya'll how a real FTF 2 pro plays." Jay challenges with a grin, scooting off of the couch and dropping onto the floor. He relishes in the yelp that Lloyd lets out and doesn't bother to apologize.

Jay goes onto his knees and crawls over to the console, connecting his controller to the mass of wires that sprouted out of the console like vines growing out of a tree. "You're on!" Kai exclaims from behind him. He sits on his ass and butt-scoots back to leaning back on the couch, it seemed that Lloyd had stolen his spot and he narrows his eyes at the green ninja who smiles innocently.

Determined to get his revenge, he lays his back on his legs and goes limp except for his hands as to make his weight press on the green ninja's legs. Nya migrated alongside her brother, sitting on the armrest and putting some of her weight on him as to not accidentally lose her balance and fall. Cole, on the other hand had decided to lay down, using Zane's shoes as makeshift pillows.

The game music started and the new match started loading up. "Select your character!" The tv all but commanded and little arrows scrambled to get their preferred characters. His thumbs drift towards his usual character, Frazer. The character was the one who resembled him the least in any aspect, visual wise and even personality wise in the story mode but he liked his stats, specifically his hp and speed - even if his attack could be a hit or miss.

Kai had chosen Osian, one of his mains but not the one he used the most, she was dainty looking but arguably one of the most op characters in the game. Zane and Cole had both taken the same character, Adil, they resembled Sensei Wu a lot but they had their garments changed to their respective gi colours. Nya had hesitated before picking her favourite character, Aoife, he arguably looked a lot like if Kai and Skylar had a child. Lloyd finally waited till everyone chose their characters before smirking and - while everyone looked - clicked on the random button.

"Screw it, random round." Cole commanded, scrolling through all the options and clicking on the same one that the blonde had. Everyone else followed suit, Jay prayed that he didn't get Adil cause he sucked with that character. As Zane clicked last they all held their breath, the room silent for the first time today.

"Yes!" He yelled, pumping his fist up in victory as he saw that he had gotten Declain, the fastest character in the whole game. "No!" He heard a few of them cry out as the screen revealed their characters. He feels Lloyd shift and he glances up. The blonde practically had stars in his eyes and as he glances down he sees that he got Abdul, the green ninja's favourite.

Jay looks back up and observes the green ninja for a mere second - that feels like hours but the game hadn't officially started as he took an assessment. The blonde strands on his head swooped down his face and was pushed behind his elf tipped ears. His emerald eyes seem to sparkle with glee and his mouth is curled up in a smirk that had slowly started to morph into a toothy smile that showed his pearly whites.

Jay shakes his head, tilting his head down just in time to see the round start. The button mashing and yells of his teammates forced him to concentrate, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth by just a sliver. "Come on, come on Declain." He mumbled, landing a few hits on Zane before retreating and going after Nya who had very low hp due to Kai taking out his frustrations from last round. She was fairly easy to get rid of and he couldn't help but smirk at the frustrated but amused cry she let out at being eliminated.

Unmistakably, Lloyd took down Zane with remarkable ease since Zane had gotten Aoife which he never used but was taken down by a combination of Jay and Cole -Jay landed the last hit which made the green ninja lightly kick him on the back in response. "Come on guys!" This made the lightning ninja stick a tongue out towards him and since he took his attention off of the screen had his hip lowered severely by Kai.

"Crap!" He mumbled, dodging the two other ninjas as they scrambled after him. After doing a few trick shots that the other two hadn't mastered to get away they turned against each other. They had both been forced with Frazer -which only Kai was relatively good with. So it was no surprise when Kai ended up quickly taking Cole down using a barrage of combos.

The last Frazer landed back on the platform but was punched in the back by Declain who's fist was surrounded in a blaze of dramatic lighting and classic gaming music. The lighthearted tune chirped eagerly from the tv while Kai groaned out dramatically because of his defeat. A smile sprung on the blue ninja's lips as he whooped in victory, the others joining in.

"As long as Kai didn't win I was good with anything." Nya joked, looking at her brother with a competitive glint in her eye and a Cheshire grin. "Oh, I'm definitely going after you next round." Kai announced, the same mischief reflected in his hazel orbs as his sisters. Cole pushed himself up in a sitting position and lightly elbowed Jay in the side, his expression clearly showing his amusement.

"How long till they start throwing punches?" He teases, Zane and Lloyd hearing in as well. The ice ninja makes a pensive face and Jay comically places a finger on his face, exaggerating his pout. "Two minutes, give or take." He bets, Lloyd chuckles above him and the ginger tips his head back to land on the green ninja's lap to mock glare.

"I calculate approximately one minute before they begin." The blonde comments, Jay opens his mouth to retort only for his brain to fall flat on any comebacks. Instead, all he can think about is the mop of blonde hair on Lloyd's head, the green and bright eyes that held a mischievous glint to them. The dazzling smile that curled those pink lips and the dimples that appeared at the man's cheeks. Jay felt his breath disappear -much to his chagrin.

Lloyd and Cole's cheering break him out of his trance and he turns to see that Nya and Kai had in fact started to playfully grapple, toppling off of the couch and writhing on the floor. Cole takes a can of pop and takes a sip while Zane sits back and watches. He leans back onto Lloyd's legs again and the green ninja threads his hands through Jay's hair, it was surprisingly domestic for a group of ragtag ninjas.

"Dinner boys!" A female voice yelled, Jay lurches forward, looking through the slit between the wall and the door to see ginger hair. "Skylor!" Kai cries out, being interrupted before he could run to meet his girlfriend by his sister who had grabbed him by the middle and thrown him on the floor, jumping up and running towards the kitchen. "Hey, you can't hug my girlfriend before me!" He whined, hot on his heels.

"Watch me flame-breath." Nya's laughter and taunts spurred them all to get a move on, Jay getting up first and holding out his hand for Lloyd to take whom laced their fingers and pulled himself up. His heart stopped at the familiarity and Lloyd's face suddenly looked a lot more feminine and his clothing had strangely turned yellow before fading into obscurity. He took a rattled breath and mustered a small smile, following Zane and Cole into the kitchen.

"Skylor, good to see ya." He greeted, giving the girl a side hug, the master of amber gladly returned the embrace, gesturing to the table. "Had been planning on a visit for a while and got my guys to make some food for y'all. PIXAL said she was gonna get here a bit later with Misako after finishing some stuff at the museum." She explained, plastic bags filled with takeout containers littered the table, most of them emblazoned with her company's logo except for a few ones that were strangely labeled as Walgreens.

Nya and Kai had already dug into their bags which were kindly labeled for each individual person. "Thanks Skylor, didn't realize none of us had planned on cooking today." Cole thanked and Jay echoed the statement. Skylor sat next to Kai and opened her own takeout food, the others all took the other side of the table, Jay being sandwiched between Zane and Lloyd.

Jay opened his own container and was glad to see that she hadn't filled it to the brim - unlike his brothers whom takeout had been practically stuffed. He collects the packet of chopsticks and lays it on the table. He glances around to see that everyone was eating in a peaceful setting, a few comments being thrown every once in a while.

He starts eating.

The food tastes like ashes.

He slowly nibbles on a piece of one of his dumplings, listening to the conversation around him, content with not speaking up and just enjoying the conversation. Jay glances around, his eye catching on a certain blonde if only for a second only to tear his vision away to Zane, who was speaking.

The conversation slowly bled out into background noise, his body feeling kind of floaty and irregular as his mind becomes unfocused. Jay feels a tight squeeze in his chest, as if someone had tied a knot with his heart and ribs. He feels his body sway lightly but not enough to be noticeable by the others.

He hears the conversation around him only for Lloyd to tap his forearm lightly, it takes him more effort than he would like to admit to turn to the blonde. "Hey, you okay?" Jay consciously takes a deep breath and prepares to reply.

"Yeah, just a little lost in thought."

Cole butt into the conversation with a small tap of the table. "I never thought I'd see the great motormouth not talking for once." Jay rolls his eyes, ignoring the pang of hurt and small whisper in his head telling him he's always the butt of the joke.

"I don't know why it so hard for you to understand, I can be quiet I just choose not to just to annoy you." He claps back with a smirk. He takes another hesitant bite of his food, letting the conversation flow out of his unfocused ears like water down a stream only for the domesticity to be interrupted by a shriek of an alarm.

The team stands up in near unison, looking up at the ceiling as Nya ran out of the room to see what it is only for PIXAL's voice to unexpectedly filter into the room. "Bank robbers have been spotted by police near the museum!"

"Let's go team!"