*is banging head against table* What. Have. I. Written?

*sighs* Okay. I strictly only wrote this because of a bet I made with my friend @musicalsaregood 

She was worried about her math test and I told her that she would be okay and she would do great. To boost her confidence, I told her if she did really well, then I would write her a small oneshot in which Cole is gay.

...needless to say, she got a good grade. And weeks later, this thing came into existence. 

*sigh* At least it made her happy....and now she won't quit saying that she's "converted me". Which she hasn't. This was strictly a one-time thing.

So....enjoy, I guess....

~~~~~

In hindsight, Cole should have never decided to make his own tea.

It just a regular Friday. They had finished training Lloyd(who was still getting used to his teenaged body) and everyone was relaxing. Kai and Jay were playing video games, Lloyd was reading a comic book, and Cole and Zane were reading actual books.

It would have been a-okay, except that after a while Cole got thirsty. He probably would have been okay with water or some juice, but for some reason, he found himself really craving a good cup of tea.

He quickly placed his bookmark in between the pages of his book and stood up. Zane looked up from his book as Cole made his way to the kitchen. "Where are you going?" The Ninja of Ice asked.

"Kitchen," Cole answered. "I'm thirsty, gonna make some tea."

"Oh gosh, Cole's going into the kitchen to make something. We're going to die," Kai joked.

Cole frowned. "Ha, ha. Funny. I'm not that bad."

"Yes you are," literally everyone else groaned, though Zane added sheepishly, "sorry Cole."

Cole groaned and shook his head. "Whatever, I'm making myself some tea," he grumbled, making his way to the kitchen.

After grabbing his favorite green mug, Cole went to the cabinet that had all of the tea in it. "Let's see," he hummed. "What tea should I get?"

He searched through the selection, unsure of what to get. He to reach for some peppermint tea, only to bump one of the many containers of tea and knock it over. Several tea bags spilled out and onto the counter.

"Shoot," Cole muttered, picking up several of the bags and placing them back into the container. He went to put back the last one, only to pause and take a look at the tag to see what flavor of tea it was. "Honest-Tea? Is it like those bottles of cold tea in the stores?"

He had tried a few bottles of the stuff a while back, and it was pretty good. He'd never tried it hot before, but hey, tea was tea right?

Cole boiled some water before pouring it into his mug. He added the tea bag to the hot water, stirring it with a spoon and adding a lump of sugar before making his way back to the others.

"Did you burn down the kitchen, Cole?" Jay asked teasingly when he saw that Cole had returned.

Cole rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jay," he replied sarcastically. "I totally burned down the kitchen."

"Ooooh, we better evacuate," Lloyd joined in on the teasing, grinning.

Cole rolled his eyes again and took a sip from his mug. "It's just tea guys. What's the worst that could happen?"

He shouldn't have said that. He completely jinxed himself.

Just after Cole said that, Sensei walked into the room, looking rather grave. "Pupils," he said. "Has one of you recently made tea?"

"Uh, yes, Sensei," Cole replied, holding up his mug. "Why?"

Sensei turned to him. "Did you take a tea bag from this container?" he asked, holding up a familiar container.

Cole nodded and took a sip of his tea. "Yeah, I accidentally knocked it over and saw the bag and thought it looked like it might be good to try." He took another sip. "I mean, I've had cold Honest-Tea from the store before, so I thought I could try it hot. It actually tastes pretty good," he added, sipping at his tea some more.

Sensei shook his head. "Cole, the Honest-Tea that you are currently drinking is not the same kind from the store."

Cole paused in mid-sip. "It's not?"

"No. This tea comes from Mystake's store and is special. When one drinks it, they are compelled to tell the truth no matter what."

"What?!" Cole sputtered, quickly putting down his mug.

"Really?! Cool!" Jay exclaimed, pausing the game(much to Kai's dismay) and turning to face Cole. "Let's see if it works! Cole, have you ever worn a tutu before?"

No, absolutely not, he wanted to say.

What actually came out of his mouth was, "Only once, but it was because of a dare."

Cole slammed a hand over his mouth, horrified and embarrassed. "What the heck?!" he exclaimed. "I didn't mean to say that!"

Jay fell over laughing, Kai and Lloyd quick to join him. Sensei shook his head, though there was hint of a smile on his face. "As I said earlier, the tea compels you to tell the truth."

"How long until it wears off?" Cole asked, blushing.

"Since you did not ingest a whole lot of it, I would expect that it would wear off within an hour," Sensei said.

"Thank goodness," Cole gasped, relieved.

"Oooh, that means that we have an hour to extract embarrassing secrets from Cole!" Jay piped up, sapphire eyes sparkling with mischief.

"What?! No!" Cole protested.

"This is gonna be fun," Kai declared, rubbing his hands together and smirking.

"C'mon guys, this isn't fair! I can't help but tell the truth, and I don't want to tell you guys anything!" Cole exclaimed. "Sensei, tell them that they can't do this!....Sensei?"

"I believe Sensei has already left," Zane said.

"Crap."

"C'mon Cole," Lloyd said, elbowing Cole's side lightly. "This'll be fun!" He smirked. "So. Tell us: Do you actually believe that you can cook?"

Cole's eyebrow twitched. He opened his mouth, to tell them yes, he did in fact believe that he was an excellent, but...

"I will admit that my cooking skills could use a little work, but that's mostly because I like to experiment when I cook. I usually can't follow a recipe, it's too boring."

Someone please kill me...

~~~

For the next several minutes, Cole was forced to expose some of his most embarrassing secrets to his teammates. Nothing was safe; not his childhood, not his time spent at the Marty Oppenheimer, not even his time spent before he met Sensei. Cole's face felt like it was burning off and it didn't help that Jay, Kai, and Lloyd were practically rolling on the floor laughing. Zane tried to stop them from going too far, but he couldn't quite hide the small grin of amusement on his face.

Cole begged that things wouldn't get any worse than they already were.

Then Jay asked a question that sealed his fate.

"Soooo, Cole," he said, smirking. "Do you have a crush that you would like to tell us about."

Cole's eyes bugged out. Oh no, oh nononono.

He tried to keep his mouth shut, but the inescapable urge to tell the truth made that impossible.

"W-well," he stammered. "I don't want to tell you, but I....do have a crush."

"Really?!" Kai exclaimed. "Hah! Who knew that Cole would have a crush on someone? Who is it?" he asked, smirking. "Do you think she's hot?"

"Do we know her?" Jay asked before his face darkened. "It's not Nya, is it?"

"Ugh, I don't understand why you would have a crush," Lloyd complained, sticking out his tongue. "Girls are weird!"

"It's not a girl."

Everyone's head whipped towards Cole, who sorely wished that he could crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

"...I'm sorry, what?" Kai gasped. "I don't I heard you right, but, it sounded like you just said that your crush isn't a girl."

Cole bit his tongue trying to keep quiet, but the urge to tell the truth was too strong. "No," he found himself saying. "You heard right. My crush isn't a girl."

Everyone was staring at him. "What?" Lloyd asked. "I'm so confused. I thought having a crush on a girl is when you....ugh, like-like a girl."

"Only if you're straight, or bi."

Please stop talking, Cole chanted to himself. Please stop talking, please stop talking...

"But, you...are straight, Cole. Right?" Kai asked slowly, looking at Cole like he had grown a second head.

Cole squeezed his eyes shut. Don't say anything, don't talk, don't even open your mouth.

But the Honest-Tea's effects were too strong and Cole found himself confessing to everyone his deepest, darkest secret.

"Heck no, I'm freaking gay."

Most of his teammates gasped and Cole died on the inside. Why oh why did he have to find and drink that stupid tea? This would have never happened if he had just left the stupid tea alone.

"Ummmmmm, what does that mean?" Lloyd asked, looking really confused.

Cole found himself answering even though he really didn't want to. "It means that I don't like girls in that way, Lloyd."

"Oh," Lloyd looked slightly less confused. "So, you think girls are weird and have cooties?"

Kai snorted, finally coming over his shock. "No, Lloyd, it means that Cole likes guys."

"What?!" Lloyd exclaimed before gagging. "Ewwwwwww, that's gross!"

Cole groaned and hid his face. "I can't help it, it's just how I am," he mumbled.

"Hey, it's okay Cole. We're not judging you," Kai reassured, standing next to Cole and squeezing his shoulder.

"Though I do not understand why you did not tell us this earlier," Zane finally piped up.

"Because people always used to make fun of me," Cole answered, and then, before he could stop himself, added, "and I also have a crush on you."

Cole slammed a hand over his mouth, blushing furiously. Crap, crap, crap, NOOOO!

"OOOOOOoooo!" Kai and Jay gasped, grinning.

"Ewwwwww," Lloyd gagged.

Zane blinked, looking surprised and slightly embarrassed. "Ah, I beg your pardon?" he squeaked.

Cole curled up in a little ball, too embarrassed to respond.

"Wait a minute," Jay suddenly gasped. "Is that why you always look embarrassed whenever Zane hugs you?"

"And why you always look at Zane like you want to kiss him?" Kai teased.

"I do not!" Cole exclaimed, sitting up and glaring at Kai. Then, grimacing, he added, "though you are right Jay."

Jay laughed. "Zane and Brookstone, sitting in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Cole groaned and flopped over. "Zane, please," he begged. "Kill me."

"What? No," the Ninja of Ice said, shaking his head.

"Do it, just stab me," Cole moaned. "Why me~?"

"Relax, Cole," Kai snickered. "We're just teasing you."

"By having me speak out my biggest secret in front of my crush," Cole snarked back. "Yeah, I'm sooooo feeling the love."

"Are you mad at us, Cole?" Jay asked nervously.

Not really, Cole thought. "Yes," is what he said.

His eyes widened imperceptibly. Yes! He mentally cheered. The tea finally wore off!

Outwardly, he kept up an annoyed face while Jay begged for forgiveness. He only agreed to give it to him when Jay promised to make him brownies.

Hey, what could he say? Jay's brownies were legendary.

Jay went to the kitchen to make the sweets, Kai and Lloyd not too far behind him. Cole sighed and picked up his book, walking towards the bedroom with the intent of reading in his bed.

"So," Cole jumped when Zane suddenly spoke. "You have a crush on me."

"Uhhhh, y-yeah," Cole stammered, blushing and rubbing the back of his head. "S-sorry that you had to hear about it. Especially like that."

Zane looked at him dead in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Cole's blush deepened. "W-well, I-I didn't know how to go about it. I mean, like I said earlier, I'm gay, and people tend to find people like me weird."

"People consider me weird," the nindroid objected. "I do not see the problem."

"W-well, there's also the fact that I wasn't sure if you might feel the same way," Cole said, face completely red. "I didn't know if you'd like it too much if I asked you out. I liked our friendship too much to risk it..."

Zane's eyes softened and he smiled. "I can understand that," he replied. "I am glad that you value our friendship so much."

Cole turned his gaze to the floor, smiling shyly. "Heh, heh. Yeah..."

"Out of curiosity, where would you have asked me out to?" Zane asked.

"O-oh. I dunno, maybe out for ice cream? Or a walk in the park?" Cole shuffled awkwardly, still staring at the floor. "I know, I know, it's really lame. But, I dunno..."

Zane chuckled lightly, making Cole look up. He blinked when he suddenly noticed how close he and Zane were. Had Zane moved while I was talking? Cole wondered.

"That sounds like a splendid activity," Zane told him. "I would not be opposed to such an activity."

Cole gaped. "R-really?" he squeaked, unsure if this was really happening.

Zane smiled and chuckled again. "Really," he replied. Then, turning away slightly, cheeks turning a slight pink, he murmured, "If you had asked, you might have discovered that I feel the same."

Cole stared, a million things running through his mind.

Then, he felt cool, soft lips brush against his cheek and his mind instantly stilled.

Maybe, he thought as he watched Zane lean back, blushing slightly. Maybe drinking that tea wasn't so bad of a thing...

End

~~~~

Gaaaaaaaaaah, that ending was sappy as heck. -_-

And once again, this was a one-time thing. If you ship Glacier and/or believe that Cole is gay, then good for you. I respect your opinion and I hope that you respect mine. 

Well, thanks for reading this. 

@musicalsaregood COLE IS NOT GAY!!!!!